With the advent of technological evolution, the world is changing rapidly; from how we communicate to how we conduct business to how we work. Daily lives and communication have been subsumed by the use of social media where interactions with people across the globe takes places in the new world of social; a world of interconnectivity and speedy communications. The ease of conducting and operating a business has drastically improved. Businesses can sell their products and services to individuals and other businesses halfway across the world through e-commerce and service exchange platforms. Technology has helped advanced manufacturing processes to produce great quality products through a high degree of automation and artificially intelligent machines.

This level of automation is affecting all industries and transforming the value chain of businesses from production to logistics until the product/service is consumed by the final customer. This has sprung forth a new age for industries across the globe: the 4th industrial Revolution. This age is characterized by artificial intelligence, robotics, big data, machine learning, highly automated jobs and businesses with skill sets such as critical thinking, complex problem solving, creativity, STEM-oriented skills ushering us into an era unlike any we have ever had. As businesses are getting prepared for the future of work, the types of jobs and skillset needed to operate these businesses and organizations are changing rapidly.

According to the International Finance Corporation, 230 million jobs in Sub-Saharan Africa will require digital skills by 2030. The main question is this: how many people in Africa are prepared to unlock the potential and opportunities that these skillsets will bring and how does this affect the ability to access decent work for the future? At this point, it is critical to evaluate our education system on the continent and how learning needs to shift from skills that education offers to skills that will advance economies across Africa (digital skills). The average poverty rate in Africa is 41% and digital skills have the ability to lift the continent out of poverty by providing access to global work opportunities that provide financial independence and overall economic empowerment.

At Tech4Dev, we are closely working with our remarkable partners across Africa to provide digital skills empowerment to men and women all over the continent. Our Nigerian Women Techsters (NWT)program is bridging the digital divide between men and women in the technology space by teaching 2,400 women between ages 16-40 in Nigeria to code, and providing them career advisory, opportunities and business mentorship in the technology industry. Based on the results of NWT, we are scaling NWT to Women Techsters Africa, where we are providing similar coding training and opportunities for 5 million women across 30 African countries by 2030.

Our Basic Digital Education Literacy program was born out of the need to tackle a lack of access to basic digital skills. We operate a catch-them-young approach here where we are training children between the ages of 6-16 in basic use of digital devices and online applications while merging this with teaching on critical thinking and problem-solving. We believe that if we could teach basic digital skills 500,000 children on a yearly basis, we prepare them for intermediate and advanced digital skillsets needed in the workplace of the future. Nakise.ng is our online employability resource platform that provides employability skills training materials and resources to undergraduates and young graduates of tertiary institutions. These resources address training of skillsets that are needed for the workplace and provides insights into skills employers need and are actively looking for across different industries.

Tech4Dev is calling on volunteers and partners to join us on this journey towards equipping the African citizen for the future of work by providing them skill sets and opportunities that give them access to decent work and financial independence, with the hope of reducing poverty across the continent.