• This past week ALX kicked off its inaugural tech training initiative, with 1 500 youth from South Africa a part of it.
• The company is targeting as many as 32 000 youth across the African continent.
• The initiative is being carried out in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, as ALX aims to create the continent’s largest pool of technical talent.

This past week technology training provider ALX held an event for its inaugural initiative to train youth in South Africa and the rest of the African continent.

The company had close to 1 500 local youth join it for the event, with ALX also targeting as many as 32 000 via this new initiative, which is being conducted thanks to a partnership with the Mastercard Foundation.

“ALX’s in-person Karibu (meaning ‘welcome’ in Swahili) ceremonies took place simultaneously in eight cities across the continent: Casablanca, Morocco; Cairo, Egypt; Accra, Ghana; Lagos, Nigeria; Kigali, Rwanda; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Nairobi, Kenya; as well as Johannesburg, South Africa,” it explained in a press release sent to Hypertext.

The company notes that orientation activities took place throughout the week at the Karibu as learners commenced their training in a suite of newly launched all-tech programmes. The programmes include data science, data analytics, cloud computing, and Salesforce administration, along with ALX’s blended learning software engineering programme.

“This first cohort of learners will receive training in some of the most in-demand skills of today, preparing them to launch and grow their careers in the global digital economy,” it added.

ALX says this initiative is designed to create the largest pool of technical skills in Africa, which remains a critical issue moving forward.

“By the end of this century, 40 percent of the world’s population will be African. Yet Africa only has 3 percent of the world’s software engineers. Given its abundance of young talent, we see Africa as well-positioned to solve the massive global shortage of technology skills. Our mission at ALX is to harness this wealth of human capital by developing millions of digital leaders from the continent in the next decade,” highlighted founder of ALX and CEO of African Leadership International, Fred Swaniker.

“Platforms like ALX are using the power of technology to provide a new kind of education that connects to a measurable need in the market. This is emblematic of the approach we at the Foundation take under our Young Africa Works strategy, which seeks to enable 30 million young people to access dignified and fulfilling work by 2030,” added Reeta Roy, President and CEO of the Mastercard Foundation.

With South African unemployment at an all-time high, here’s hoping this initiative can indeed develop much-needed skills and assist young people find the jobs they desperately want.

[Images – Provided]