Microsoft believes that technology is a powerful force for good in a rapidly changing world. We have a responsibility to bring everyone into the digital economy, and this will only happen if the right skills are available to enable the digital future.

We are committed to helping every person and organisation in the Middle East and Africa prepare for the digital revolution. Microsoft is enabling a knowledge-based economy in the region by redefining education, empowering youth and closing the skills gap through a combination of partnerships, trainings, real-world experiences and online classrooms.

Jobs are changing, skills continue to evolve
Being home to one quarter of the world’s population (1.86 billion), the Middle East and Africa could supply the next generation of this workforce, but are we ready to fill these roles of the future?

There’s a skills gap crisis and rising unemployment in MEA. One third of the population are the youth, while 40 percent of employers cite the skills shortage as a major constraint to company growth. Just 38 percent of young professionals believe their education has prepared them for the workplace. Urgent efforts for closing the continent’s skills gap will be needed, and addressing these challenges at the very core level, is imperative.

Workplace of the future
It’s not enough to be thinking of ways to fill the current skills gap – we must also rethink how we skill for future jobs that don’t even exist today. Consider this: nearly 75 percent of students today will do jobs that do not currently exist. Skilling for future generations is about how we create professionals from all walks of life who will help deliver future innovations and drive business with Microsoft technology.

It starts with our youth
Efforts across MEA are focused on our youth population to ensure that technology can benefit all youth to become tomorrow’s leaders. Over the past three years, Microsoft has provided learning opportunities to 9.8 million African youth through strong partnerships and programmes. We work with non-profits, governments, educators and businesses to help organisations, school districts and educators in MEA build their capacity to offer computer science and digital skills training.

Since 2017, the Digital Skills programme has upskilled 4,8 million underserved youth in Africa, rendering half-a-million youth employable and supporting the direct employment of over 27,000 youth, providing 2,680 internship opportunities, while enabling over 1,500 aspiring entrepreneurs to establish their own businesses. In Nigeria, the Technology for Social Change and Development Initiative provides digital skills training to half a million youth through a ‘train the trainer’ programme reaching 5,000 trainers from 10 states across the country.

In partnership with the African Development Bank, the Coding for Employment programme will upskill 50 million youth across Africa and create 25 million jobs in agriculture, Information Communications and Technology (ICT), and other key industries across Africa, by 2025.

Conscious of the need to encourage girls to pursue careers in STEM, we have been collaborating with FAWE (Forum for African Women Educationalists) since 2016 to train young women, teachers and students across 10 countries to adopt and use STEM curricula, teaching and learning materials and classroom practises that are gender responsive. Through this collaboration, we have supported the training of 25,000 young women and 250 teachers on digital skills.