from PEDRO AGOSTO in Luanda, Angola
Angola Bureau
LUANDA, (CAJ News) – SOME 25 young talents from Portuguese-speaking African countries are the latest to graduate from a technology skills programme that has empowered over 1 000 youths in the continent over the past decade.
They have graduated under the Young Professionals Programme, a flagship digital skills build initiative of Systems Applications Products (SAP), the Germany-headquartered global technology company.
The initiative is offered under the umbrella of SAP Skills for Africa, and has trained more than 1 460 youths across the continent since its launch in 2012.
It has capped the first-ever graduates from Lusophone (Portuguese) Africa.
Constantin Zelenty, Deputy Head of Mission, German Embassy Angola, said in order for Angolan companies to grow and succeed in the modern age, they need to harness the transformative power of digital technologies along with rightly skilled talent.
The envoy was speaking during a virtual graduation ceremony following the three-month-long programme.
“We hope this may be the first of many groups of graduates who can apply their expertise in service of Angola’s ambitions for the modern digital economy.”
Pedro Guerreiro, Managing Director for Central Africa at SAP, said the graduates would play an invaluable role in supporting SAP customers and partners as they implemented their digital transformation strategies.
“The past 18 months have highlighted the importance of digital technologies to how well organisations can adapt to disruption and run successfully,” Guerreiro said.
He was referring to the period marked by the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
“As African organisations continue their efforts at building intelligent enterprise capabilities, they need access to expert digital skills,” Guerreiro said.
SAP’s Young Professionals Programme has significantly expanded its footprint.
In addition to the first-ever graduates from Lusophone Africa, talents from Algeria, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda have graduated.
– CAJ News