Oracle launches Capacity-Building Programme to close IT Skills Gap in Africa
Oracle Corporation has today launched a four-pronged Capacity-Building Programme aimed at Closing IT Skills Gap in Africa.
The program was devised as a response to the rapid adoption of new technologies by governments and businesses in Africa, exacerbating the shortage of suitably skilled practitioners to use the systems to best advantage.
The dramatic advancement of technology over the past five years has resulted in a gap in IT competencies and skills availability in Africa. Most Organizations are adopting new technologies at a rate which is outstripping the availability of appropriately qualified staff. Oracle wants to close this gap with this new initiative.
“Today IT holds the promise to promote social inclusion, combat corruption, expand the digital economy and enable stronger links between citizens and governments, businesses and customers, NGOs and the communities they serve,” Alfonso Di Ianni, Senior Vice President, Oracle East Central Europe, Middle East and Africa said.
He said organizations can do this and at the same time dramatically help reduce costs and improve efficiency. This can only be done if organizations have ready access to people capable of setting up and maintaining these systems.
This program will consist of four elements – employee readiness, ecosystem readiness, workforce readiness and youth readiness,
Oracle is calling out on governments, the private sector and non-profit organizations to implement a long term skills strategy that will help fulfill demand for relevant IT skills in Africa.
