Insights from Microsoft’s LinkedIn economic graph shows the ten in-demand jobs of the future.
The ten jobs according to Microsoft were identified as having the greatest number of job openings. They have also had steady growth over the past four years and pay a livable wage.
The economic graph, which is a digital representation of the global economy uses data and analytics to track workforce trends. Providing a window into emerging skills gaps and predicting future in-demand jobs and skills.
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Microsoft 4Afrika, Microsoft’s business and market development engine in Africa is rebranding its employability and capacity building programme, AppFactory to SkillsLab.
The SkillsLab programme will as before, develop digital skills, coding capabilities and workplace readiness of young university graduates. As well as give them priority access to jobs through the Microsoft Partner Network at the end of their training.
Seven years on, Microsoft notes the initiative has about 2073 graduates from 19 SkillsLabs across the Middle East Africa region. It also boasts of 85% employment rate achieved within three months of graduating.
Africa has a unique opportunity to be a skills hub for the world.
Amrote ABDELLA
“Outpacing the rate of change driven by emerging technologies, there is a need for nimble and continued learning opportunities that can derive tangible benefits” says Amrote Abdella, Regional Director, Microsoft 4Afrika.
“Through its skilling initiatives Microsoft aims to address these challenges by skilling and upskilling individuals to adequately seize these opportunities,” she continues.
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Making sure your resources are highly skilled, is what Microsoft executive, Kunle Awosika, notes will drive innovation in Africa. He made the remark addressing over three hundred delegates. Representing CIOs, CISOs, CTOs, heads of IT, etc. in the banking and financial industry from across East Africa. At the second Africa BFSI Innovation Summit 2020 in Nairobi, Kenya.
Kunle Awosika, Small, Medium and Corporates Lead, Multi-Cluster Countries at Microsoft, shared insights on empowering digital transformation in the financial services industry (FSI). How these organizations can use emerging technologies to create better services and be agile. Microsoft is playing a big part in the evolution of industries he notes. Driving efficiency, automation and performance in financial services.
Skills is a critical part …
One of the challenges we are facing in Africa and within our region is this particular focus area of skills. He shares talking about the skills gap in our market. We see this as we engage our customers and partners. This is the biggest problem to driving innovation today within the banking sector, financial industry and many of the industries that we work in. Skills concern is the right of passage for you to move to the next level. We need to make sure our resources are highly skilled, this is what drives innovation at the end of the day.
Microsoft at Africa BFSI Innovation Summit
https://youtu.be/gxxwuunO7gE
Microsoft has been working through various learning platforms and partnerships to bridge the skills gap in the region.
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Microsoft announced the Africa Development Center with plans to recruit about 100 full-time software engineers by the end of 2019. Latest details show the company is far from reaching this target. As only about seventy roles and positions have been filled as at January 2020.
Jack Ngare, Managing Director, Africa Development Center Kenya, made this revelation speaking as a panelist on the Monday Report’s town hall session on Citizen TV Kenya. The town hall discussion was on the ‘Future of work – Rethinking Our Education, Training in Relation to Work Opportunities’.
Jack was answering a question on if Microsoft considers only technical skills for employment. He shared the “Africa development center is nearing seventy [software] engineers. We recognize at a lot of things related to skills. The last thing we look at is your university degree. We have a couple of engineers who did not go to university. These are Kenyans we are talking about. We respect more the skills and what your capabilities are. Your work ethics and attitude towards work.”
He noted that Microsoft is pumping resources into organizations through partnerships such as the AppFactory with Africa Digital Media Institute to upskill students.
Watch Microsoft Africa Development Center recruitment conversation below.
Microsoft plans to recruitment 500 software engineers for the Africa Development Center by 2023.
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This 3rd one is in partneship with Africa Digital Media Institue(ADMI), a digital media and technology training institute. The partnership will see ADMI establish a dynamic apprenticeship platform for mobile application and game development students.
Microsoft 4Afrika Regional Director Amrote Abdella, said this at the launch of the AppFactory. “Students will acquire skills in programming, cloud computing, and data analytics to address the mismatch of skills in the games and mobile application market.”
Africa Digital Media Institute founding director Wilfred Kiumi shared that “Globally, game development had estimated revenues of $137.9 billion in 2018 and in Kenya, it is predicted that the revenues will be over $31 million by 2022.” He talked about the excitement to launch a new era for skills development and youth empowerment.
The AppFactory academy will be hosted at the ADMI Africa campus in Nairobi. It will also be the first AppFactory to focus on equipping graduates with skills for the gaming sector.
