African digital solutions firm, Deviare, and Simplilearn, the world’s largest digital-skills bootcamp, are deepening their partnership to accelerate skills acquisition and digital transformation in Africa even further.

Through their partnership with Simplilearn, Deviare has been providing skills training to African companies and driving digital transformation since 2019. Seeing the need for locally-trained instructors, Deviare realised there is an opportunity to start training and using homegrown instructors going forward.

“Deviare and Simplilearn are cementing our relationship with this exciting new opportunity for local industry experts to become instructors,” says Executive Director and Deviare co-founder, Baxolile Mabinya.

He continues, “This is another step towards reaching our goals of closing the digital skills gap, fast tracking skills transformation, and solving youth unemployment in Africa. We are so grateful that we get to do this with our expert partners at Simplilearn who are as passionate as we are about providing access to quality digital learning irrespective of location.”

Since this powerful partnership started, Deviare and Simplilearn have provided excellent training to thousands of professionals and youth including economic opportunities for those completing their training.

They have fought to overcome immense infrastructure challenges through a scalable, integrated skills development approach that is producing thousands of next-gen tech professionals. The next step was to establish a pool of expert instructors in Africa to continue bringing digital transformation to the continent.

Speaking on the partnership, Krishna Kumar, Founder & CEO of Simplilearn, said, “At Simplilearn, we aim to constantly work with the finest instructors, whose knowledge and expertise of subjects’ helps in providing a comprehensive understanding of the selected programs, to the learners.

Until now, we have been conducting the programs through our instructors in Bangalore, India, however, understanding the current requirement for locally trained instructors to boost youth employment opportunities in Africa, we are happy to have this opportunity to bring quality digital upskilling and boost digital transformation on the continent with local, home-grown instructors. We look forward to working with Deviare to bring together this training initiative which will also be a step towards boosting employment opportunities in Africa.”

Africa’s need for locally-trained instructors and the impact of this new opportunity

As a result of the pandemic the rate of digital transformation and its acceleration changed irrevocably. Africans are ready for a digital transformation move. Our continent is hungry for change and ready to affect it in order to better future employment prospects for its people. In order to drive digitally transformed businesses, Deviare and Simplilearn believe that integrated learning experiences delivered on scale via online platforms, are critical to success.

Unfortunately the pandemic has left a large pool of talented individuals without full time employment and Deviare would like to tap into that pool of experienced and passionate professionals by integrating them into their ecosystem. Freelancing presents new opportunities for these individuals who have in demand skills. Well trained and experienced facilitators are crucial to a quality learning journey. Having local instructors to lead the way in digital skills creation and transformation will provide the following benefits:

- New employment opportunities

Job creation for instructors as well as the candidates which they train will boost the local economy. Not only does creating jobs bolster the economy, it increases morale and creates economic demand.

- Skills creation and transformation

Equipping people with new skills or helping them transform their existing skills assists in reaching the goal of digital transformation in Africa.

- Easier learning process

Being taught by somebody who speaks the same language, and understands your life experiences and struggles makes the learning process much easier for students. The instructors will also have a deeper understanding of digital skills in the African context to pass on to students.

Deviare and Simplilearn believe that training and employing local industry experts as instructors will yield significant returns on investment. Providing his insights on this new opportunity, Lubabalo Dyantyi, who is Deviare’s Executive Director and co-founder, says, “We will consider the success of this initiative as harnessing the power of technology and investing in people to mobilise their talents and skills.

“Deviare is a proudly African digital firm for a digital world that is prepared to invest in businesses and people. We specialise in digital transformation through skills training, combining tested methodologies with cutting-edge technology platforms to assist our clients in navigating their unique digital transformation journeys.

“Partnering with Simplilearn, the world’s number one online digital skills training platform, helps us reach these goals. The local facilitator initiative is testimony to our commitment to Africa’s digital skills economy and narrowing the continent’s huge digital skills gap,” he concludes.

What are digital skills?

Cornell University defines digital skills as “the ability to find, evaluate, utilise, share, and create content using information technologies and the Internet”. Basic digital skills can include anything from communicating online, safely using cloud-based tools, or basic device management.

While the digital skills required by professionals will largely depend on the role, many workplaces already regard digital skills like programming, artificial intelligence (AI), e-commerce, network and information security, user experience, data analytics, etc. as critical skills.

Why digital skills are so essential

Across the world and industry, digital skills are increasingly going from ‘nice-to-have’ to ‘must-have’. The African continent is no exception. The World Economic Forum (WEF) predicts that the need for digital skills training in Africa will rapidly increase in future. Their reasoning behind this statement is that even jobs that didn’t need digital skills before will begin to need them now.

The International Finance Corporation also agrees. They say that by 2030, 230 million jobs in sub-Saharan Africa will require digital skills. Additionally, the Emeritus 2021 Global Career Impact Survey showed that proficiency in AI is one of the most sought-after skills in today’s workplace (39%) as is machine learning (32%), automation (25%), and data science (20%).

These are only some of the reasons why digital skills are so important today. They also:

- Provide candidates with an edge in the competitive employment market.

- Support effective communication.

- Increase efficiency.

- Help candidates evaluate information effectively.

- Enable creativity to think differently about problems in the workplace.

- Allow candidates to possibly earn more.

But the massive digital skills gap is hindering Africans from the above-mentioned economic opportunities and personal development. In 2019, the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) recorded that South Africa alone had a skills mismatch of over 50%, especially in the tech sector. Additionally, most of Africa scores below the average world digital readiness score.

Africa has some catching up to do, and that’s where digital transformation comes in.

What digital transformation is doing and will do for Africa

The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) introduced digital technologies like AI and the internet of things (IoT) that has forever changed our world and how we do business. Digital transformation was but one of the effects of 4IR.

Digital transformation is when companies change how they deliver value to their customers through digital solutions. African companies are changing in numerous ways as the continent embraces digitalisation (e-commerce, the use of big data, and AI) in industries across the board, including in financial services, education, healthcare, and agriculture.

The solutions driving this digital transformation are created by digital skills, which is why it is vital for todays’ workforce to have these skills to help their companies capitalise on Africa’s massive potential. Currently, Africa is still lagging behind the rest of the world with investing in 4IR technologies and digital skills creation, but change is on the horizon with initiatives like Google’s US$1-billion investment to support digital transformation across Africa.

When asked about digital transformation in Africa, Baxolile says, “By embracing and encouraging digital transformation, Africa will see a boost in economic growth and industrialisation, reduced poverty, and a better standard of living. We also expect to see more innovation and interconnection between African markets and the world.

“Some of the other benefits include improved and faster data collection for great customer experience and customer insights driven by data, improved productivity by working smarter, not harder, and better resource management, which ultimately leads to reduced costs and increased efficiency.”

Baxolile concludes by saying, “Digital transformation in Africa will also mean different governance and trade and social conditions. And employees with these digital skills are central to this transformation. When you prioritise people in the digital transformation process, you empower them, the companies they work for, and ultimately the economy.”

For Deviare and Simplilearn, the time has come to boost the investment in Africa’s digital transformation through homegrown solutions like the local facilitator platform. Here’s how you can be a part of it as an industry instructor.

What Deviare is looking for in their local instructors

Deviare aims to change the digital game in South Africa. To do this, they need locals who can teach and impart knowledge to an untapped community of digital nomads with tons of potential and skills.

To join the network of Deviare local instructors, the following is expected from applicants:

- Industry experts who are passionate about teaching.

- Relevant certification/s and experience.

- Strong communication and presentation skills.

What’s in it for you?

When you become a Deviare instructor, there are numerous benefits to you, including:

1. The potential of earning a higher income.

2. The chance to be part of an awesome network of digital freelancers.

3. Belonging to a fantastic community that will challenge and support you.

4. Exposing your work to a wider audience.

5. Networking on a large scale.

Apply now!

The Deviare and Simplilearn facilitator platform is open for recruitment, and the application process is easy and quick.

Simply visit the ‘Train with us’ tab on the Deviare website or click here. Complete the form, and the Deviare team will get in touch with you.

Here’s to bringing digital transformation to Africa and uncovering her potential together!

About Deviare

Deviare is uncovering Africa’s potential through its mission to drive sustainable digital transformation across Africa. Founded by Bax and Luba in Johannesburg, South Africa, the African technology firm combines tested methodologies with cutting-edge technology platforms to assist businesses in navigating their own unique digital transformation journeys.

Together with their partner, Simplilearn, Deviare works to help solve South Africa’s youth unemployment crisis by closing the digital skills gap. For more information on Deviare and its innovative digital transformation solutions, please visit deviare.africa

About Simplilearn

Founded in 2010 and based in San Francisco, California, and Bangalore, India, Simplilearn, a Blackstone company is the world's largest digital-skills bootcamp that offers access to world-class work-ready training to individuals and businesses around the world. The Bootcamps are designed and delivered with world-renowned universities, top corporations, and leading industry bodies via live online classes featuring top industry practitioners, sought-after trainers, and global leaders.

From college students and early career professionals to managers, executives, small businesses, and big corporations, Simplilearn’s role-based, skill-focused, industry-recognized, and globally relevant training programs are ideal upskilling solutions for diverse career or/and business goals.

For more information, please visit www.simplilearn.com