from DION HENRICK in Cape Town
CAPE TOWN, (CAJ News) – THE largest data science academy in Africa plans to train 5 000 data scientists within five years to address the shortage of these skills in South Africa and globally.
Explore Group, founded by South Africans, has so far trained 1 000 data scientists over the last two and a half years.
The Explore Data Science Academy offered the training.
Explore currently employs 60 data scientists in its and projects 100 by the end of this year.
“We now plan to grow from a small data science teaching institution with a purely SA focus to an international player in the data science and data management universe,” Explore founder and Chief Executive Officer, Shaun Dippnall, said.
In three years, the Explore Data Science Academy has announced a series of major expansions that include new market opportunities both locally and internationally.
The plan seeks to position Explore as a global player in data science over the next five years.
These plans include the setting up of a division serving global utility businesses, off the back of its data science work in the United Kingdom.
Dippnall said the Explore story demonstrated how a small South African tech start-up, given favourable market opportunities and a core staff of skilled, committed and hard-working people, could become a world-class operation.
This despite trying circumstances experienced this year.
“Our international growth plans are founded on the premise that much of our project work will be done here in South Africa which, given our rand pricing against global currencies, has substantial cost advantages,” Dippnall said.
He said there was a large pool of talented people in South Africa and Explore would like to offer them careers in local companies as well as in its international consulting operations.
“This means more local jobs in the pipeline,” Dippnall concluded.
– CAJ News