Ghana Software manufacturer meets demand for IT specialists through dedicated training programme

Ghana’s digital technology sector has tremendous potential for growth. According to the World Bank, the national market for IT services is among the ten biggest in sub-Saharan Africa. Given the worldwide shortage of skilled workers, there are opportunities for home-grown IT specialists to fill this gap. Unfortunately, many employers lack confidence in the IT skills of potential Ghanaian workers. This is exacerbated by the education system’s emphasis on theoretical rather than practical learning and the fact that a large proportion of skilled workers migrate to other countries. Consequently, growth in the country’s digital economy remains slow. For getINNOtized GmbH, which has a specific policy of recruiting locally and increasingly wants to show its customers the opportunities available in Africa, the current situation makes it difficult to recruit enough skilled and qualified workers on Africa’s expanding digital market. To overcome this obstacle, it offers Ghanaian IT graduates additional hands-on training with the prospect of a permanent contract – either with getINNOtized itself or another company.

The project team has developed a sustainable, long-term training strategy that focuses on building the practical skills needed in the IT sector. The courses are industry-led and open to Ghanaian university graduates. With the help of total project funding in the region of EUR 400,000, the partners implemented a series of measures between 2019 and 2021.

• Practical training was offered to around 100 IT graduates.
• At least 80 of the 100 graduate trainees were subsequently offered a permanent contract with an international or national company.
• Training for experienced staff allowed them to gain the qualifications needed to teach future trainee cohorts.
• Partnerships were established with industry associations and local education providers.
• The training programme was advertised at trade fairs, hackathons and other local, regional and international events and in social media.

The course was put together and taught by getINNOtized, which also took responsibility for training future programme instructors. Funding was provided by DEG.

Thanks to the practical skills they acquired, those who completed the apprenticeship and entered the labour market were more attractive to potential employers. This was confirmed by participants and companies. During the COVID-19 pandemic, getINNOtized GmbH established a new business segment that involved training up Ghanaian IT specialists and finding employment for them with other companies.

• Through the project, over 140 IT graduates were given the training needed to qualify as software developers or as cloud, data or business intelligence experts.
• 73 IT specialists were subsequently appointed on permanent contracts in Ghana.
• 40 Ghanaian companies were able to expand their pool of skilled IT workers.
• The project was also involved in updating the hands-on training programme ↗ Azubi Africa, which will continue its work beyond the project end-date. Together with a dedicated new Career School, Azubi Africa has already trained over 2,000 graduates.