Google Inc. is scaling up its digital skills training programs to accommodate a million Africans in the next year, including about 400,000 Nigerians, the Tech giant said in a statement today.
Google is aiming to deal with high unemployment numbers on the continent.
The U.S. tech giant plans to train 400,000 Nigerians, 300,000 people in South Africa and 200,000 Kenyans, who will receive free digital training while another 100,000 people will be selected from other sub-Saharan Africa countries.
“Google is in Africa for the long haul and we are making an investment in talent,” Google South Africa country head Luke Mckend said. “We hope that the people trained will become pioneers in the field and do great things in digital for companies and for Google.”
The company has partnered with Livity Africa to develop training programs and is rolling out a new online education portal for learners in the region. “We’re also talking to a number of other potential partners across Africa with a view to scaling the digital skills training program and helping to reach even more young people in more countries,” Google said in a statement.
African Internet bandwidth increased 41 percent between 2014 and 2015, according to a TeleGeography Global Internet Geography report.
Research conducted by Google suggests Africa will have 500 million Internet users by 2020.
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