Microsoft is looking to provide job opportunities for over 100,000 for Africa, Middle East by the end of the year through its employability platforms, in partnership with organisations from public and private sectors, as well as non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
Launched in 2012, the YouthSpark Employability Platform for the first time provides job-seekers with end-to-end career guidance, upskilling, job-matching and mentorship – all centred on a free online hub that brings the best resources together in a bold attempt to address unemployment and underemployment.
Ali Faramawy, corporate vice president of Microsoft Middle East Africa (MEA) said “Unemployment in Africa and the Middle East is not a new issue, but its scope is growing with the youth bulge and economic downturn worldwide and we need to find new solutions to address this problem.”
Microsoft’s solution, in the form of its employability platforms, has landed in markets including Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Iraq, Qatar, Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Botswana, Algeria, Ghana, Palestine and Turkey and will expand to 21 countries across MEA including Tanzania, Pakistan, Mozambique, Angola, Zimbabwe, Madagascar and Mauritius.
To date, the YouthSpark employability platform has reached 5.8 million youths with a target of reaching seven million by the end of 2015. In addition, 69,000 job opportunities have been posted on the job search tool against 100,000 job openings goal to be reached by the end of the year.
Faramawy said, “Part of the unemployment problem is caused by a lack of economic opportunity as well as the fact that graduates from secondary and tertiary institutions lack the skills required by employers. But there is no shortage of determination and even in a country like Iraq that has been faced with some dire situations, our platform has helped put 30 000 youths into jobs in the past 14 months.”
Microsoft’s solution is not only to provide access to job opportunities to interested youth but to define pathways through which to equip them with the necessary skills, including soft skills, to land and hold onto these jobs. He said job seekers need to be equipped with skills like how to write up a CV, have a successful interview and how to dress in the workplace, which is why we have included videos, articles and courses of this nature on the platform along with the more competency based courses.