SAP Identifies Digital Skills Gap in Africa, Proffers Solution
Emma Okonji
SAP Africa has released a new report titled ‘Africa’s Tech Skills Scarcity Revealed’, which seeks to unveil the specific challenges and opportunities for African organisations seeking greater tech skills availability.
According to the Managing Director at SAP Africa, Cathy Smith, there is an urgent need to invest in skills development and training to ensure Africa can capitalise on its youth dividend.
According to the report which was released at a webinar conference organised for African journalists, “More than half of the world’s population growth between now and 2050 will take place in Africa, where 1.3 billion people are expected to be born by mid-century. With the correct investment in skills development, Africa’s economy could transition away from its reliance on natural resources to build the world’s future tech workforce, bringing untold economic and social benefit to the continent and its citizens. However, as our research reveals, African organisations still face some difficulties with attracting, retaining and upskilling suitably skilled tech workers.”
The research was conducted among organisations in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa in the fourth quarter of 2022.
The report found that a lack of skills is having a negative effect on the continent’s digital transformation efforts.
Four in five organisations surveyed reported some negative effect from a lack of tech skills, with 41 per cent reporting that employees are leaving due to the pressures they experience as a result of understaffing. Other consequences include not being able to meet client needs (reported by 46 per cent), reduced capacity for innovation (53 per cent), and losing customers to competitors (60 per cent).
The report added that nearly all organisations expected to experience a tech skills -related challenge in 2023. More than two-thirds (69 per cent) also said they expect to experience a skills gap in the year ahead. According to the data, the top skills challenge for African organisations is attracting skilled new recruits, although in South Africa the retention of skilled employees narrowly edged out attracting skills as the top challenge.
In response to the ongoing tech skills challenges, the report said organisations were taking bold steps to ensure they have access to the correct tech skills. Forty-one percent said that upskilling of existing employees would be a top priority in 2023, while 40% said the same about reskilling employees.
