Google has announced that it has trained over 500,000 Africans in digital skills to enable them take full advantage of the numerous opportunities offered by the internet.
The company made the announcement in an update on its commitment back in April to train one million people in Africa in digital skills as it says that while more people are getting online across Africa, many still lack digital skills.
While expressing its joy at reaching halfway of its plan to train one million Africans, Google reckons that without skilled people who can take full advantage of the opportunities that the Internet brings, communities would not be able to access the opportunities to build businesses, create jobs and boost economic growth.
“We’re proud to update that we’ve reached the halfway mark. Over 500,000 Africans have received training that will help them to become business entrepreneurs, find employment and contribute to economic growth across the continent.
“We have worked closely with partners across the continent to provide, face-to-face training. We also know that there are many people across the continent who are unable to attend in person training sessions and who want to acquire digital skills in their own time, from their own phone or computer. To address this challenge, we recently launched a new Digital Skills Africa online portal accessible via desktop or mobile,” Google says.
According to the American multinational company, the portal it launched contains 89 online lessons on a wide range of digital subjects including web analytics, social media management and mobile marketing which has been made available in English, French and, in the near future, Portuguese.
“Helping people in Africa take advantage of the web is a task that requires efforts across the public and private sectors, and we’re very grateful to the many partners and collaborators that have played important roles in helping to train 500,000 people across the continent. We hope that through this and similar programs, Africans will be able to reap even greater benefits from the internet,” Google says.
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