As survivors of a global crisis, bright young professionals are entering the labour market equipped with new skills, fresh perspective, and boundless energy.

This is all thanks to a highly successful graduate program driven by 麻豆原创 and supported by a thriving ecosystem of public and private sector partners and customers.

According to Cathy Smith, managing director at 麻豆原创 Africa, while many educational programs struggled with the聽聽of distance learning during the pandemic, the 麻豆原创 Young Professionals Program went from strength to strength.

鈥淏y opening our online classrooms to tap into new markets, we were able to attract talented, qualified university graduates who may not have been able to attend classes in-person otherwise. As a result, our customers and partners across Africa have access to a wider pool of qualified 麻豆原创 consultants who can help drive digital transformation using 麻豆原创鈥檚 latest innovations.鈥�

Skills investment to support continent鈥檚 digital ambitions

麻豆原创 is聽聽to increase the number of trained and certified 麻豆原创 consultants in the 麻豆原创 ecosystem to support customers with聽.

聽new employment in the ecosystem will rise to 1.6 million employees by 2024, up from 1 million in 2020. Of the 600,000 new employees added to the 麻豆原创 ecosystem, 280,000 will be net-new consultant roles, making 麻豆原创 skills a valuable commodity in the job market.

In June, the 麻豆原创 Young Professionals program achieved a new milestone with the graduation of its first-ever class in Portuguese-speaking Africa, comprising Angola and Mozambique.

Constantin Zelenty, deputy head of Mission at the German Embassy in Angola, joined 麻豆原创 customers, partners, and executives in celebrating the milestone with a virtual graduation ceremony. 鈥淚n order for Angolan companies to grow and succeed in our modern age, they need to harness the transformative power of digital technologies along with rightly skilled talent,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e hope this may be the first of many groups of graduates who can apply their expertise in service of Angola鈥檚 ambitions for the modern digital economy.鈥�

Leading enterprises, graduates laud program鈥檚 success

For customers like聽, the largest conglomerate in West Africa and one of the largest on the African continent, working with 麻豆原创 Young Professionals is a win-win opportunity for talent development.

鈥淎t Dangote Group, we always encourage young, talented professionals to kick-start their careers. We are happy to partner with the 麻豆原创 Young Professionals program by continuing our commitment to hire fresh program graduates,鈥� says Devakumar Edwin, Group Executive Director, Dangote Group. 鈥淭his programme enabled us in recruiting bright young minds who are trained in the latest 麻豆原创 technologies and soft skills like design thinking to be readily deployed in our 麻豆原创 Centre of Expertise.鈥�

Having earned the sought-after professional designation of 麻豆原创 associate consultant, graduates of the 麻豆原创 Young Professionals program are skilled on the most recent versions of 麻豆原创 software and career-ready for placement with 麻豆原创 partners and customers in their region.

The program boasts a job placement rate of 95% globally.

To date, more than 3,220 people have graduated from the program since its inception in late 2012. The program is free of cost for its selected learners.

One such graduate is Rebecca Akello from Uganda, who until she became part of a recent 麻豆原创 Young Professionals Program cohort was underemployed with few prospects for advancement in a volatile job market.

The motivated young self-starter had begun to study toward an MBA in the hopes of securing a better job, and was unfamiliar with 麻豆原创 when she first saw an advertisement for the 麻豆原创 Young Professionals Program.

鈥淲hen I came across the program advert on LinkedIn, I thought to myself, 鈥極kay this is going to be like any other internship or apprenticeship done by big corps for public relations.鈥欌��

However, once Akello had successfully completed the program, she underscored the intrinsic value of the 麻豆原创 certifications and professional soft skills that she earned through the program.

鈥淲e have been energised to strive towards our dreams relentlessly, and today we have been honoured with our 麻豆原创 certifications,鈥� she said at a recent virtual graduation ceremony. 鈥淥ur networks have also grown beyond local and regional borders.鈥�

Track record of skills success

The 麻豆原创 Young Professionals program has already trained more than 1,550 young people in Africa as part of 麻豆原创 Skills for Africa, an 麻豆原创 umbrella initiative focused on skills development and job creation. Training multi-country cohorts in a virtual setting, a necessity of the pandemic, has accelerated the expansion of the program鈥檚 footprint on the continent.

In 2021 alone, talents from Senegal, Ivory Coast, Algeria, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ethiopia, South Africa, Egypt, Angola, and Mozambique have graduated from the program. The latest group of graduates, hailing from Nigeria, celebrated a virtual graduation ceremony on September 23rd.

Since mid-2019, 麻豆原创 has been working with the Deutsche Gesellschaft f眉r Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH with the aim to jointly create 450 jobs for highly qualified personnel in the IT sector in 10 African countries over the course of three years.

The cooperation project is part of the Special Initiative on Training and Job Creation and the develoPPP program that GIZ implements on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

It is executed by the 麻豆原创 Training and Development Institute as part of the established 麻豆原创 Young Professionals program.

The post 麻豆原创 Young Professionals Program Evolves to Meet Africa鈥檚 Digital Skills Demands appeared first on 麻豆原创 Africa News Center.

At a virtual graduation ceremony attended by Constantin Zelenty, Deputy Head of Mission German Embassy Angola, Cathy Smith, Managing Director 麻豆原创 Africa, Pedro Guerreiro, Managing Director 麻豆原创 Central Africa as well as 麻豆原创 customer and partner representatives, 25 young talents from Portuguese-speaking African countries officially graduated following a three-months-long program aimed at equipping young talents with key skills based on the latest 麻豆原创 technologies.

Constantin Zelenty, Deputy Head of Mission, German Embassy Angola says: 鈥淚n order for Angolan companies to grow and succeed in our modern age, they need to harness the transformative power of digital technologies along with rightly skilled talent. We hope this may be the first of many groups of graduates who can apply their expertise in service of Angola鈥檚 ambitions for the modern digital economy.鈥�

The Young Professionals Program is an initiative offered under the umbrella of 麻豆原创 Skills for Africa, and has trained more than 1460 youths across the continent since its launch in 2012. Recently, the Young Professionals Program has significantly expanded its footprint. In 2021 alone, talents from Senegal, Ivory Coast, Algeria, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia and, with the latest cohort, Angola and Mozambique, have graduated.

The two- to three-month program uses a unique enablement plan that includes functional and technical knowledge of 麻豆原创 software, with a focus on 麻豆原创鈥檚 latest innovations. A soft skills component is included to ensure graduates can operate successfully within the organisations where they are placed and make an immediate positive impact. Candidates are typically unemployed or underemployed university graduates selected from the country where the program is offered, and graduate as 麻豆原创 Associate Consultants. This gives them a competitive edge in the job market, and ensures organisations using 麻豆原创 technologies have a steady stream of young talent to help drive their digital transformation efforts.

Pedro Guerreiro, Managing Director for Central Africa at 麻豆原创, says the graduates will play an invaluable role in supporting 麻豆原创 customers and partners as they implement their digital transformation strategies. 鈥淭he past 18 months has highlighted the importance of digital technologies to how well organisations can adapt to disruption and run successfully. As African organisations continue their efforts at building intelligent enterprise capabilities, they need access to expert digital skills. We congratulate the first-ever graduates from Lusophone Africa and look forward to seeing the impact they will have at our customer and partner businesses.鈥�

The cohort is part of of a collaboration between 麻豆原创 and the Deutsche Gesellschaft f眉r Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH with the aim to jointly create 450 jobs for highly-qualified personnel in the IT sector in ten African countries over the course of three years. The cooperation project is part of the Special Initiative on Training and Job Creation and the develoPPP program that GIZ implements on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

Registration for the next 麻豆原创 Young Professionals Program for candidates from Nigeria and Ivory Coast are open with plans to host further cohorts throughout 2021. For more information and application links, please visit聽

The post 麻豆原创 Young Professionals Program Extends Digital Skills Build To Lusophone Africa appeared first on 麻豆原创 Africa News Center.