The US giant said on Tuesday it wants to expand training programs already offered in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa to several other countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Objective: to reach a million people in one year.
Google wants to expand its training programs in digital techniques across the continent.
In a press release, released Tuesday, April 12, the California search engine announced the launch of digifyafrica.com: “An online training portal that will host a set of tutorials and courses on digital.”
In addition to this digital platform, Google is partnering with the South African agency Livity Africa, dedicated to supporting young people, to widen the geographic scope of two training programs (all free): Digify Bytes, which offers intensive sessions one or two days on digital marketing, SEO and business strategy in the digital age; and Digify Pro, “a 3-month immersion program to train digital specialists in positions in businesses and digital agencies,” Google said in its release.
These courses, already offered in Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya, should be extended to a dozen other countries in sub-Saharan Africa, announced Google, without giving a list of the states concerned. In total, the American giant intends to train 1 million young people in Africa in digital techniques in one year.
The program is expected to reach around 400,000 Nigerians, 300,000 South Africans, 200,000 Kenyans and 100,000 other young people across the rest of the region, the group said.
Bridging the digital skills gap
“By 2020, there will be half a million Internet users in Africa, opening up new horizons for African businesses and digital entrepreneurs […], but digital skills remain underdeveloped, and African economies have therefore struggling to exploit all the possibilities of the internet, “regrets the American giant. It is this gap that the Californian company hopes to help fill.
“Google wants to stay in Africa for the long term and we are investing in talent. We hope that those trained will become digital pioneers, “said Google’s South Africa boss Luke McKend, quoted by the American site Bloomberg.
Restructuring
Since August 2015, Google is a subsidiary of a holding company called Alphabet Inc., which brings together in different branches the different trades developed during its growth by the American giant (biotechnology, investments in startups, artificial intelligence, fiber optics, etc. .).
Google achieved a turnover of 74.54 billion dollars on the 12 months ended December 31, 2015, against 65.67 billion on December 31, 2014, for an operating margin of 23 billion dollars, against 19 billion a year earlier.
In Africa, the American giant has offices in Senegal (Dakar), Ghana (Accra), Nigeria (Lagos), South Africa (Johannesburg), Kenya (Nairobi), Uganda (Kampala) and Egypt ( Cairo).
Source: Jeune Afrique
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