Google has launched Skilling
Africa with Google, a free learning hub that gathers its digital and AI
training programmes into a single destination built for the phones, networks
and data budgets most Nigerians live with every day.
The hub brings together more than
15 of Google’s training programmes, including Hustle Academy for small business
owners, Google Career Certificates for people preparing for roles in data
analytics, IT support and cybersecurity, and Google Cloud Skills for
developers.
Courses are broken into short lessons covering artificial
intelligence, cloud, cybersecurity, data analytics, digital marketing and small
business growth.
Learners sign in with their Google account in one click, with
no app to download and no setup to work through.
Much of the design reflects how
people in Nigeria go about learning online.
Lessons can be downloaded over
Wi-Fi and completed entirely offline, so a learner can study without spending
mobile data on video.
The hub loads quickly on slow connections and runs as
well on an entry-level smartphone as it does on a laptop.
Translation is being
added for major African languages, with Hausa among the first to join the
existing English, Swahili and Arabic options.
Inside the hub, an AI study
companion called SCOUT answers questions, explains unfamiliar terms and helps
learners plan a study schedule around their own goals.
Progress is tracked on
visual skill trees, and learners earn verifiable badges as they complete
courses, so the effort put in can be shown to an employer or a client.
The launch comes as demand for AI
skills across the continent grows faster than the number of people who have
them.
More than 90 percent of employers in the region report difficulty finding
people with practical AI and cloud skills, even as Africa looks ahead to an
estimated $2.9 trillion economic opportunity from AI.
Skilling Africa with
Google sets out to equip 3 million people with digital and AI skills by 2030,
with a first milestone of 250,000 graduates by 2026.
It builds on the more than
7 million young Africans who have already completed foundational digital
training with Google.
“Africa has a significant
opportunity to shape the future of AI, but unlocking that opportunity will
require people with the skills to build, use, and innovate with these
technologies,” said Alex Okosi, managing director, Google Africa.
“Through Skilling Africa with Google, we are bringing our skilling
programmes together to make digital and AI learning easily accessible to more
people across the continent.
Our ambition to equip 3 million people by 2030
reflects our commitment to helping Africans build the skills they need to
participate in and contribute to the digital economy.”
Skilling Africa with Google is
free and open to students, job seekers, entrepreneurs and developers from today
at skillingafrica.withgoogle.com.