Since launching its Digital Skills Africa training programme in April, Google has seen 500 000 young people on the continent taking up 89 digital courses. Google set out to upskill one million people in a year and looks set to reach that target by April 2017.

“We’re excited that over 500 000 people in Africa have acquired digital skills through our program and we’re grateful to every organisation that has partnered with us to make it happen. But we’re only half way towards our goal. As we mentioned when we launched the program in April, we want anyone in Africa to be able to access digital skills training. Through this new online portal, more people will be able to gain the skills and knowledge to help them build and grow businesses and find and create new jobs,” Google South Africa country director Luke Mckend, said in a statement.

Google has also launched an online training portal for those who are unable to attend physical training classes, which will go a long in helping it reac the one million mark.

“Although 500 000 people have acquired digital skills since we launched the program six months ago, there are people across the continent who are unable to attend face-to-face training sessions and who want to acquire digital skills in their own time, from their phone or computer. The online portal will make it possible for them to take advantage of the free digital skills training program,” Mckend said.

The portal, which offers online courses on a wide range of digital subjects, including web analytics, social media management and mobile marketing, is available in English, French and, in the near future, Portuguese.