Cloud computing provider AWS has announced it will be training 10,000 Kenyan students in local universities with key tech skills in a plan that seeks to impart ICT-based competencies to this demographic.
According to Robin Njiru, who serves as the Regional Lead for AWS in East and Central Africa, this activity has been put in place following an MoU with ICT Authority, which is currently hosting the Connected Kenya Summit in Kwale County, alongside 50 other partners.
Amazon will start the program in June this year. The 10K students will be trained for one year. Afterward, the company will pick another cohort of 10K students for the same exercise.
Computer Learning Centre (CLC), an AWS Training Partner in East, West, and South Africa, will deliver AWS Training on foundational and associate levels to a group of educators to enable them to deliver AWS Academy to the said public universities across Kenya.
“in a country where 70 percent of people are below the age of 30, it is critical for us to leverage that demographic and harness it to make sure that when other parts of the world are actually getting older, then we can harness this demographic by skilling them to get meaningful jobs,” says Robin.
The budget for this activity between AWS and the government (ICT Authority) has not been revealed. The sessions will target 10 local universities, which will be spread out across the country.
To connect students with employment opportunities, AWS is working with several organizations like Gebeya, a Pan African start-up that hosts a custom platform on AWS that is accessible online to all citizens who want to pursue technology career paths and find jobs.
Also present during the announcement was the PC for the Ministry of ICT and Digital Economy John Tanui (former CEO of Konza City) and ICT Authority CEO Stanley Kamanguya.
At the start of the event yesterday, ICT service provider and American corporation Cisco revealed it had signed a similar MoU with ICT Authority. This one, however, plans to boost the implementation of the Digital Master Plan, which was launched by former ICT CS Joe Mucheru in last year’s staging of the Connected Kenya Summit.
Cisco and the ICT Authority of Kenya will work together on important strategic projects, including:
- creation of public Wi-Fi hotspots, 1450 digital hubs
- unified communications system for the government
- development of a comprehensive cybersecurity framework.
The two partners will also collaborate on a training program to enhance the skills of information and communication technology (ICT) professionals in Kenya.
So far, some key announcements have been made by multiple execs from different tech fields in the country. A roundup of Day 1’s announcements can be read here.
Telco Safaricom has also revealed some key developments on its side, and its plan to partner with the Kenya government in the installation of the NOFBI across Kenya.
