Digital Skills in Sub-Saharan Africa Spotlight on Ghana IN COOPERATION WITH: ABOUT IFC Research and writing underpinning the report was conducted by the L.E.K. Global Education practice. The L.E.K. IFC—a sister organization of the World Bank and member of team was led by Ashwin Assomull, Maryanna Abdo, and the World Bank Group—is the largest global development Ridhi Gupta, including writing by Maryanna Abdo, Priyanka institution focused on the private sector in emerging Thapar, and Jaisal Kapoor and research contributions by Neil markets. We work with more than 2,000 businesses Aneja, Shrrinesh Balasubramanian, Patrick Desmond, Ridhi worldwide, using our capital, expertise, and influence to Gupta, Jaisal Kapoor, Rohan Sur, and Priyanka Thapar. create markets and opportunities in the toughest areas of Sudeep Laad provided valuable insights on the Ghana the world. For more information, visit www.ifc.org. market landscape and opportunity sizing. ABOUT REPORT L.E.K. is a global management consulting firm that uses deep industry expertise and rigorous analysis to help business This publication, Digital Skills in Sub-Saharan Africa: Spotlight leaders achieve practical results with real impact. The Global on Ghana, was produced by the Manufacturing Agribusiness Education practice is a specialist international team based in and Services department of the International Finance Singapore serving a global client base from China to Chile. Corporation, in cooperation with the Global Education practice at L.E.K. Consulting. It was developed under the ACKNOWLEDGMENTS overall guidance of Tomasz Telma (Senior Director, MAS), The report would not have been possible without the Mary-Jean Moyo (Director, MAS, Middle-East and Africa), participation of leadership and alumni from eight case study Elena Sterlin (Senior Manager, Global Health and Education, organizations, including: MAS) and Olaf Schmidt (Manager, Services, MAS, Sub- Andela: Lara Kok, Executive Coordinator; Anudip: Dipak Saharan Africa). Basu, CEO; Developers in Vogue: Ivy Barley, Co-Founder The research and report development team was co-led by and Abigail Edwin, alumna; Digital House: Sebastian Alejandro Caballero of IFC and Maryanna Abdo of L.E.K., Mackinlay, COO and Founder, and Carlos Najun Dubos, working in close collaboration with a steering group alumnus; Good Things Foundation: Roger Wilson, COO; including Tania Lozansky (IFC, Senior Manager and Head of MEST: Aaron Fu, Managing Director, Africa, Tobi Lafinhan, Advisory, MAS), Salah-Eddine Kandri (Global Sector Lead, Recruitment Manager, and John Muchiri, alumnus; Education, MAS), Azeb-Tadesse (Senior Operations Officer, Microsoft4Africa: Wanja Gitonga, Communications and PR MAS Advisory-Employability) and Ashwin Assomull (Partner, Lead; Udacity: Stuart Frye, VP of Business Development. Global Education practice, L.E.K.). We are grateful for the valuable insights of sector experts The report would not have been possible without the who participated in interviews for this report. support of many IFC colleagues who provided valuable Appreciations are also extended to Jessica Meyers, who insights and perspectives, including, among many others, edited the document, and the IFC Communications team, Ronke-Amoni Ogunsulire, Biju Mohandas, Kevin Sofiane including Elizabeth Price, who provided overall guidance on Berkane, Mohammed Ali Khan, Juliana Guaqueta, Simon IFC style guidelines and requirements, and Irina Sarchenko, Andrews, Sean Petersen, Wale Ayeni, Joseph Akwasi Kuma who provided invaluable support and advice on the design of and Doreen Oppan. The work benefited from valuable the report. Also, to the design and printing team at Groff contributions from Victor Mulas (Disruptive Technology Creative, including Jay Groff and Tanaquil Baker. All these Initiative Core Team, President’s Office, World Bank Group) contributions were critical in producing this report. and Alexandria Valerio (Global Lead, Skills Global Solutions Group, World Bank). Cover Photo: Mbarak Mbigo helps his colleagues who are software developers at Andela, in Nairobi, Kenya. Photo © Dominic Chavez/IFC Photo: Dominic Chavez/IFC Dominic Photo: Contents Foreword ............................................3 Looking Ahead...................................... 76 Executive Summary .................................. 5 Works Cited ........................................ 78 Research Approach . 17 Appendix A: Research and Methodology ................81 Appendix B: Drivers of Demand for Digital Skills ........89 1. C ontext: A Shifting Landscape for Skills ..............20 Appendix C: Detailed Case studies ....................99 2. Digital Skills in Sub-Saharan Africa and Ghana........ 36 3. U nderstanding Demand for Digital Skills ............49 4. C losing the Skills Gap: Insights from Global Innovations and Best Practices ..................... 56 1 Glossary of Acronyms ALC Andela Learning Community MNC Multinational corporation B2B Business-to-business MOE Ministry of Education B2C Business-to-consumer MOOC Massive Open Online Courses B2G Business-to-government NASDAQ National Association of Securities Dealers BIT Birla Institute of Technology Automated Quotations CCNA Cisco Certified Network Associate NSDC National Skill Development Corporation CSR Corporate social responsibility OECD Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development FDI Future Digital Inclusion program of Good Things Foundation PPPs Public-private partnerships SMS Short Message Service GMAT Graduate Management Admission Test ICT Information and communication STEM Science, technology, engineering, and technology math Tata Consultancy Services IFC International Finance Corporation TCS ILO International Labour Organization TVET Technical and vocational education and training IoT Internet of things UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and LCR Learner to computer ratio Cultural Organization LMS Learning Management System UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for MEST Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Refugees Technology WiDS Women in Data Science 2 Foreword A global digital revolution is underway. Farmers check crop prices online, small business owners set up websites to reach customers, and manufacturing companies use robotics to improve speed and quality. We are experiencing a great shift in the nature of work, and the 2019 World Bank Group’s World Development Report on The Changing Nature of Work explores how this “Fourth Industrial Revolution” is shaping the future. This report is one of IFC’s contributions to the debate on Industry 4.0: a quantification of demand for digital skills in Sub-Saharan Africa and a call to action for both the public and the private sectors. Technological advancement promises disruption across sectors, requiring more complex skills and retraining of the workforce. Commentators fret over the threat to both blue-collar and white-collar jobs from robots and artificial intelligence. But the ultimate speed and scale of this change is yet to be understood. What is certain is that approaches to learning need to be reconsidered. Education must move from simply schooling to learning with a priority on the development of skills, such as critical thinking, problem solving, and creativity—required The digital skills sector is for jobs emerging in the twenty-first century. This goes ripe for private sector hand-in-hand with the World Bank Group’s Human Capital Project, which aims to accelerate the number and quality of investment and investments in people to achieve greater equity and participation. economic growth. In this context, one area that has not been fully explored— particularly in emerging markets—are the digital skills that will enable people to live and work well in an era of rapid technological change. The importance of digital skills has been recognized, often as a new literacy alongside reading, writing, and math. However, there has been less pragmatic focus on the scale of demand for these skills, and the models that can be used to teach them. 3 This report, which investigates the opportunity for imparting and intermediate job-oriented skills for work in automated digital skills in Sub-Saharan Africa and Ghana in particular, manufacturing plants or within digitally-transformed embodies the kind of practical, action-oriented approach services industries. Innovative models are available, with that can help to drive change in economies. This is especially high applicability in Sub-Saharan African. true in light of the United Nations Sustainable Development There are opportunities for education providers in these Goals of providing quality education, promoting decent work markets who may be offering job-aligned skills to expand and economic growth, and building industry, innovation, and their portfolios into digital skills, potentially in partnership infrastructure. The report drills down into the perspectives of with technology companies. Those offering digital training local market participants and provides data-driven insight have opportunities to scale in Ghana and beyond, and those on what skills are in demand, at what levels, and how this is with a demonstrated track record should look particularly at expected to change. It looks to global examples of best business-to-government and business-to-business practices and provides a compass for education providers to opportunities to provide digital skills. consider how they could capture value from the digital market opportunity. At IFC, we are firm believers in the ability of Sub-Saharan Africa’s