Oracle addresses IT skills shortage in Africa

Governments and businesses in Africa are adopting new technologies at a rate which is outstripping the availability of appropriately qualified staff, and it's in response to this that Oracle has designed an initiative to enrich and increase the skills capacity of IT practitioners throughout the continent in an attempt to address the shortage of suitably skilled practitioners to use the systems to best advantage.

"Today, IT holds the promise to promote social inclusion, combat corruption, expand the digital economy and enable stronger links between citizens and governments, businesses and customers, NGOs and the communities they serve," said Alfonso Di Ianni, Senior Vice President, Oracle East Central Europe, Middle East and Africa. "They can do this and at the same time dramatically reduce costs and improve efficiency. However, for technology to support such transformation, organisations must have ready access to people capable of setting up and maintaining these systems."

The four-pronged programme consists of employee readiness, ecosystem readiness, workforce readiness and youth readiness.

Oracle is reaching out to governments, the private sector and non-profit organisations to implement a long-term skills strategy that will help fulfil the demand for relevant IT skills.