Skills remain key as AWS brings Nigeria closer to $480bn cloud market

As at the last (official) count, Nigeria has an unemployment rate of 33 percent. Yet, opportunities continue to emerge through technology for people to not only be gainfully employed, but also skilled enough to attract more opportunities.

The key to this remains digital skills, and getting them. In Nigeria, 35–45 percent of all jobs will require digital skills by 2030, and 28 million workers will require one digital skill or another, according to the International Finance Corporation (IFC).

If getting digital skills was considered optional, and not necessarily going to make or mar careers, that perception changed drastically in 2020. With COVID-19 came the reality that technology (and the skills to navigate a world it reigns supreme), was important to any workforce of the future. Not like this was entirely news, but the reality hit harder than much of the world was prepared for at the time.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) had in fact, said “Half of us will need to reskill in the next five years, as the ‘double-disruption’ of the economic impacts of the pandemic and increasing automation transforming jobs takes hold.” This was a notable extract from WEF’s third edition of its Future of Jobs Report, which maps the jobs and skills of the future, tracking the pace of change and direction of travel.

Despite multi-billion dollar opportunities, the biggest obstacle to cloud adoption not just in Nigeria, but across the African continent has remained skills

But even long before this time, the importance of digital skills have been advocated in different ways as opportunities continue to abound. The question has always been, how fast more people can get the required skills for this workforce of the future.

Last year, when Amazon Web Services (AWS) opened its first office in Lagos, it effectively brought Nigeria closer to a seat at the table in the $480 billion global cloud computing market. AWS, which is the industry’s leading player with about one-third of global market share, said its entry into Nigeria was part of a plan to support different organizations; big, small, startups, and public sector agencies in making the transition to AWS Cloud.

In January this year, it launched AWS local zones, a type of infrastructure deployment that places AWS compute, storage, databases, and other services close to major industries, commercial centres, and information technology (IT) hubs. It allows customers to deploy applications that need require just one millisecond or less to end users or on-premises data centres

Several months before all these, BusinessDay had reported in July, 2022 that Amazon Web Services was making an entry into Nigeria following the launch of ‘AWS Outposts’, an infrastructure service that enables users to locally host, run, manage their workload and connect with Amazon’s cloud service offerings.

With all these announcements of entry and services being launched, what may not have gotten as much attention was that the presence of AWS in Nigeria implied an opportunity for local talents to partake in the booming cloud computing industry.

Isa Ali Ibrahim, the minister of Communications and Digital Economy, had in a statement when the company launched in Nigeria, said, “The Service Infrastructure Pillar of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) emphasizes the importance of digital platforms in the development of a robust digital economy. The programs of Amazon Web Services support the development of such platforms and we look forward to partnering with AWS to accelerate the implementation of NDEPS.”

While there are many local clients (especially in Fintech and government) that have not been publicly disclosed to be running on AWS, some of those already disclosed at some point include; Lagos State government, Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC, Terragon Group, SeamlessHR, Yellow Card, BFree, Bankly, and other public sector organizations.

“The launch of the AWS Local Zone location in Lagos is a significant milestone for our regional enterprises and digital transformation agenda,” said Hakeem Popoola Fahm, Lagos State commissioner of Science and Technology.

Opportunities to get trained for free

Despite multi-billion dollar opportunities, the biggest obstacle to cloud adoption not just in Nigeria, but across the African continent remains skills. On its part, AWS has said it actively supports Nigeria startups and the community with programs like AWS Activate and AWS educational programs like AWS Academy, AWS Educate and AWS re/Start.

AWS Activate provides startups with the resources they need to get started on AWS, including up to $100,000 in AWS credits, training, support, and contact with incubators, accelerators, and venture capital firms. AWS Academy helps university students and educators develop knowledge and skills about AWS Cloud computing, to accelerate cloud-related learning.

AWS Academy member institutions in Nigeria include the University of Benin, University of Jos, and Igbinedion University.

Importantly, the AWS re/Start is a free, 8 to 12-week reskilling program that is focused on helping unemployed and underemployed individuals transition into entry-level cloud roles. No prior experience in technology is required. AWS re/Start in Nigeria has expanded the program to three locations—Lagos, Edo, and Benue.

To bridge the skills gap, universities need to include cloud computing in their curriculums, and the government also needs to lean in, and create the enabling environment for more people to get these skills, said Tanuja Randery, managing director, EMEA at Amazon Web Services in an interview during the side-lines of re:Invent last year.

She also added “We are offering various online courses you can take, and you can just go online and train yourself.”

Amazon’s commitment to train 29 million people across the world includes three initiatives (excluding one for the US only):

1. The launch of AWS Skill Builder- a new digital learning experience available in more than 200 countries and territories; anyone with an internet connection and a desire to learn can quickly and easily access over 500 free, on-demand courses in 15+ languages

2. The addition of free AWS training courses on Amazon.com, making learning as easy as finding a new pair of shoes

3. More than tripling AWS re/Start this year, a global reskilling program that is helping unemployed and underemployed individuals start new careers in tech.

Additional programs that are part of this commitment to train 29 million people for free on cloud computing skills by 2025 (and could benefit Nigerians) include:

· AWS Educate: AWS Educate creates pathways to in-demand cloud jobs, from software development and cloud architecture to machine learning and cybersecurity. The program offers self-paced learning content with 12 Cloud Career Pathways featuring between 30 and 50 hours of self-paced content per learning pathway. [Content available in 200+ countries and territories in 11 languages]

· Machine Learning University: This program provides anybody, anywhere with access to the same machine learning courses used to train Amazon’s own developers on machine learning. [Available in English globally]

Locally, the Digital Skills Empowerment Program (DiSEP) — to build technical knowledge among young Nigerians aged 18–30, by Stanbic IBTC, trained over 200 people last year.

Read also: Why immersive learning trains Gen Zs faster – and better

The bank said it chose AWS as one of DiSEP’s core technologies due to the demand for AWS skills. Makintouch Consulting (Makintouch), described as the first AWS Training Partner in Nigeria, was selected to deliver the training.

Makintouch and Stanbic IBTC designed this iteration of DiSEP as a 3-month virtual training program where participants can develop skills in key areas like cloud computing, mobile development, and cybersecurity. This program, which ran from June to September 2022, was offered free of charge to participants. “AWS provided free exam vouchers for the students and resources for both the class session and their professional exams,” said Israel Kuti, program manager. “Stanbic IBTC paid for the learners to attend and made sure they had internet access and enough data to participate in the virtual training.”

Makintouch trained over 200 participants in a range of topics, beginning with cloud fundamentals in the AWS Cloud Practitioner Essentials course, which requires no prior cloud experience. Participants gained hands-on experience with AWS services through AWS Skill Builder, an online learning center where learners can partake in self-paced digital training on AWS, and AWS Cloud Quest, a role-playing game to help participants build practical AWS Cloud skills.

Successful participants had the opportunity to prepare for and complete AWS Certifications, industry-recognized credentials that validate AWS expertise. A total of 52 young people sponsored by the bank earned their AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner certification, which validates a foundational understanding of AWS concepts, services, and terminology. Select participants then moved toward their AWS Certified Developer – Associate exam, which showcases knowledge and understanding of core AWS services, uses, and basic AWS architecture best practices.

Following the program, participants received resources to support their technical career journeys, a blog post says.

“We’ve made a commitment that we’re investing hundreds of millions of dollars to train 29 million people for free around the world by 2025. And we are 13 million into that already,” Randery said during the interview last November. With up to 12 million people still left to be trained within the next two years, there is an opportunity for ambitious Nigerians to get into the cloud computing industry to seize the opportunity for free training.