Pan-African financial services provider Letshego plans to roll out a digital empowerment initiative LetsGo Digital Academy in Q1 2022, with Botswana identified as the first site and market to benefit.

Enos Banda, Letshego’s Group Chairman said the Academy is intended to build and empower more Africans with world-class digital skills and experience.

He added that although not its primary purpose, the Academy could provide talent for Letshego’s longer term recruitment ambitions.

“The Academy is simply another way Letshego can leverage its footprint, reach, offering and expertise to empower individuals for our collective development,” said Banda.

He said that the launch of the Academy is also because of the impact COVID-19 has had on markets across the globe.

“From an economic perspective, it has forced us to shift into a different mindset to manage the increasingly unpredictable environments we now live in. Resilience, adaptability and a solid grounding in digital literacy is now no longer a unique asset for individuals, but an essential attribute for us to live and thrive in future economies.”

“Letshego is committed to sharing its expertise and opportunities for regional knowledge to expand the horizons of Africans across our footprint,” he said.

Letshego Group Chief Executive Andrew Okai said the company is making considerable strides in its digital transformation strategy, having digitised its access channels with the launch and improvement of channels such as WhatsApp, USSD and web over the course of 2020, and this year launching the LetsGO Digital Mall in 10 regional markets, ahead of timelines.

“Letshego’s vision is clear, we wish to be a digitally-led organisation that remains adaptive to the ever changing environment, ensuring we remain future-fit so we can continue delivering on our promise to improve lives,” Okai said.

He said the Group’s digitisation strategy is structured to achieve broad transformation across multiple functions, and includes the empowerment and upliftment of digital skills within its own staff complement.

“We are not only here to improve the lives of our customers, but also those of our own people by upskilling and empowering our employees with world-class digital skills ensuring the long-term sustainability and growth of our business well into the future,” added Okai.

Letshego expects to share details on applications and curriculum by the end of February 2022.