Leading Global Technology Company Google is set from this year to train 200,000 Nigerian developers to enhance their digital technology skills.
The Country Director for Google, West Africa Juliet Ehimuan, disclosed this at a recent tech forum in Lagos, Nigeria.
According to her, the Tech Giant plans to train and empower 10m Nigerians through digital learning in partnership with leading digital firms like Udacity, Pluralsight and Andela.
She emphasized the need for organizations in the country to recognize talent, support and nurture young Nigerians that are doing exploits in the technology space.
According to her at a time when computing and the internet were driving connectivity across the globe, Nigeria had an opportunity to reposition itself as a key player in the tech space.
She believed Nigeria must take advantage of the opportunities in the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) driven by technologies like cloud computing, artificial intelligence, machine learning and big data.
The Google Country Manager said these emerging technologies could be adopted to address social issues, which required the development of local content and digital skills.
Speaking further, Ehimuan reiterated the commitment of Google to building digital capacity in the country and across the continent.
She gave further insight into the LaunchPad Accelerator Africa Program which is a three months program of mentoring and support to early-stage technology start-ups. According to her as part of the program, the individuals are entitled to the following:
- Funding through Grants
- Access to mentors and experts in the industry
- Infrastructure to do work
- Exposure to tech ecosystems across the region
She mentioned that the program started in 2017, and they have had four sets of start-ups graduate from the program so far and have been able to collectively raise over $19m in funding and created about 485 jobs.
Google’s Nigeria boss described the YouTube platform as a veritable channel that young Nigerians should leverage on in the creative industry and tech space.
She said Nigerians should focus on creating valuable content online as creators are gaining revenue from the content they export.
“There are over 16,000 online partners on YouTube she said. Content creators can leverage Google’s advertising partnerships and networks around the world to monetize content and split revenue,” Ehimuan said.