With the recent news of Google planning their first Cloud region in South Africa - set to generate 40 000 jobs by 2030 - and Amazon establishing offices here, Alison Collier, Managing Director of Endeavor South Africa believes these events add impetus to the drive to address the country’s ICT skills shortage.
“There are incredible tech skills in South Africa but unfortunately demand continues to outstrip supply – the same pattern we see across Africa. We are faced with a seriously high number of unfilled tech jobs already and with projects such as Google Cloud coming, the demand for highly skilled ICT workers will only increase. This will impact both potential GDP growth and job creation” she says.
Pete Kropman, Head of Growth at Explore AI Academy – a local Endeavor supported tech-enabled business - believes it’s not just South Africa that’s experiencing an ICT skills shortage, but rather that demand is scaling across the globe.
And because of this increase in demand, South Africa is vulnerable.
He goes on to explain, “It's no longer just banks and telecom companies looking for people who can analyse data and build models, it's everyone from logistics companies, retailers, manufacturers, mining companies – tech has become an essential to all industries, rather than only to a few verticals.”
And since the phenomenon of working from home - accelerated by the COVID pandemic - local companies looking to recruit talent are now competing against international businesses.
“With our local tech skills comparable to the best in the world, this global demand leaves fewer talents left to work locally,” he says.
The problem begins at school
The skills problem can be traced back to South Africa’s primary and secondary education which remains problematic.
Stats indicate fewer than 260 000 out of the 1 million learners who started school in 2010 wrote maths in 2021, with less than 8 000 learners passing with distinction. Furthermore, the country’s Grade 8 learners ranked close to the bottom across countries in maths skills in the 2020 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, ranking of 59th out of 60.
This is highly concerning as Kropman explains, “mathematics is the cornerstone to be able to cope with the demands of coding and the complexity of problem solving. Yet a solution has begun to emerge in the private sector, he goes on to explain, “what encourages me is the number of private sector schools, such as Curro and Spark schools being created, to address the current education problem, notwithstanding the multitude of basic headwinds that presently exist in the country, such as basic electricity supply.”
Applied on-the-job training is key
How then to address this skills shortage?
While local universities have delivered good candidates for the ICT job markets, Kropman points out that these institutions by nature are slow to add courses or change curriculum.
This is particularly relevant for the tech environment where changes happen rapidly.
“Over the past few years, we’ve seen fundamental changes taking place as frequently as every six months to a year,” he notes. “It’s also true that the emphasis at our universities remains on theory and not nearly enough on practical and applied skills, or problem solving and teamwork - all fundamental elements required to succeed in the modern workplace.”
Kropman notes the Explore AI Academy was born in recognition of this ICT skills shortage and the problems experienced in addressing it. “We realised that we could be more agile and relevant in the content we teach by using real life examples.” The academy trains data scientists and data engineers, with a curriculum that is not only concise and hands-on but is also informed by the current needs of the market, informed by the solutions leg of their business, with ExploreAI creating software solutions for local and international companies.
The courses are compressed into a 1-year curriculum, with a further emphasis on teamwork, problem-solving methodologies, as well as soft skills. “As our students are learning a particular concept, they are also using this to solve real-life problems,” he adds.
Initiatives are emerging from the private sector
Solutions such as the Explore AI Academy are vital in our country, with the 2022 JCSE - IITPSA Skills Survey report pointing out that there is an “urgent and persistent need to raise the game in the education pipeline”.
And there are more initiatives coming from the private sector - the TechXit Collective, for example, consists of several high growth entrepreneurs and technology leaders, with the common aim to create skills capacity building programmes designed to fill 1 million digital skills related jobs in South Africa, over the next ten years.
Collier believes private sector efforts to drive ICT skills training, such as the Explore AI Academy and the TechXit collective, are crucial to the future of our economy. “By addressing the ICT skills shortage, we’re not only directly impacting the sustainability of local companies today, but also laying the foundation for the emergence of South African tech entrepreneurs and tech skills required by all our firms in the future. This has a serious impact on job creation and the growth of the local economy,” Collier concludes.
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