Thousands of young African prospective students will be able to access world-class courses in the most in-demand technology fields offered by a leading technology training provider, ALX.

This announcement comes as developed economies face historic talent and labor shortages in key sectors, with players in the digital and tech industries increasingly looking to Africa as an emerging hotspot for skilled digital talent, addressing a global talent shortfall that is predicted to exceed 85 million people by 2030.

To help boost this skills revolution, ALX, a division of African Leadership International (ALI), has launched four new and accessible tech programmes for 2023, namely: Data Analytics, Data Science, Salesforce Administrator, and AWS Cloud Practitioner, in addition to new cohorts for its world-class Software Engineering programme.

The courses are valued at between $7,500 - $39,750 in Africa, and $14,500 - $79,500 in Europe and North America. In partnership with Mastercard Foundation, ALX is able to offer eligible candidates access to these programmes at no cost.

The new programmes have been developed with the aim of expanding ALX’s growing community of highly skilled professionals with qualifications that will keep evolving with the demands of the digital economy. They have been designed in response to the global AI Revolution and the high demand for Data Scientists and Data Analysts, along with the drive to hire people with cloud computing skills, which have been recognized as the most in-demand hard skill in the tech market. The Salesforce ecosystem, meanwhile, is set to create more than 9 million jobs by 2026.

Founded by Fred Swaniker, one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People of 2019, ALX is connected to an innovative ecosystem of institutions with a collective mission to harness Africa's abundant human capital by developing two million ethical and entrepreneurial young leaders from the continent by 2030.

The development of these courses comes on the heels of ALI’s recent acquisition of a leading Silicon Valley institution, Holberton Inc., which primes ALX to be one of the largest software engineering trainers in the world, aligning with the organization’s mission to develop Africa’s human capital at scale.

According to the World Economic Forum (WEF) Human Capital Index, Sub-Saharan Africa currently only captures 55% of its human capital potential, compared to a global average of 65%. Furthermore, Africa, the continent with the youngest population worldwide, is expected to have a workforce of 1.1 billion by 2035, surpassing that of China and India. This is why industry leaders are looking to Africa for the next wave of big tech talent.

“Investing in African digital skills and innovation-driven learning is the best way to turn African potential into best-in-class excellence”, says ALI CEO and founder, Fred Swaniker.

“As an organization that has produced thousands of software engineers and professionals in the digital and tech arena, we recognize and advocate for the immense potential of African countries to benefit from a growing demand for skilled labor in those sectors globally,” Swaniker adds.

Having enrolled over 100 000 students since it began scaling its career acceleration programmes in 2021, ALX aims to build a new community of tech talent and invest in digital leaders that will power the future.

Many of the tech programmes require no prior experience or background in IT.“Our goal is to transform the future of Africa by creating a new generation of agile digital leaders for the 21st century, enabling them to prepare, launch and grow their careers in high-growth industries,” concludes Swaniker.

People who wish to enroll in the courses or find out more about ALX can visit www.alxafrica.com.