South Africa to spend $44 million on digital skills training

South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, has announced that the country will spend R800 million ($44 million) on digital skills training for unemployed youth in the country. 

My Broadband reports that the training package will be provided through the National Skills Fund.

According to the president, this is one of several investments the country’s digital economy has seen in the past five years. Just recently, companies coughed up an R81 billion ($4.4 billion) pledge at the South Africa Investment Conference (SAIC) to boost the country’s tech and digital projects.

SAIC has been a money magnet since its inception, pulling in a total of R200 billion ($10.9 billion) for ICT alone! It’s like a digital gold rush, with commitments flowing into the data, telecoms, mining, manufacturing, energy, property, logistics, and even food and beverage sectors.

The president wants to enable South Africans to use their skills to take advantage of employment and economic opportunities in the country’s growing digital economy.