{"id":148236,"date":"2025-06-27T06:43:03","date_gmt":"2025-06-27T06:43:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/africa\/?p=148236"},"modified":"2025-06-27T06:43:03","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T06:43:03","slug":"africa-has-an-ai-skills-problem-that-is-forcing-a-youth-empowerment-rethink","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/africa\/2025\/06\/africa-has-an-ai-skills-problem-that-is-forcing-a-youth-empowerment-rethink\/","title":{"rendered":"Africa has an AI Skills Problem that is Forcing a Youth Empowerment Rethink"},"content":{"rendered":"

AI is evolving from generative tools to autonomous agents, now African businesses face skills shortages as the tech giants shift focus from traditional coding bootcamps to \u2018AI readiness\u2019 \u2013 but are we preparing our youth for the right future?<\/h2>\n

There was a nightmare scenario revealed in SAP\u2019s latest\u00a0Africa AI Skills Readiness Revealed report<\/a>: the technology goalposts have shifted, once again, leaving the continent caught between digital transformation ambitions and the harsh reality of skills shortages that are already undermining business operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cA hundred percent of the African organisations that we surveyed said that they saw an increase in demand for AI skills in 2025, and just around 50% of that said they saw a significant increase in the demand for those AI skills,\u201d explains Nazia Pillay<\/a>, interim managing director for Southern Africa at SAP.<\/p>\n

The impact isn\u2019t theoretical \u2013 it\u2019s immediate and painful. Nearly 90% of survey responses report that AI skills shortages are already causing \u201cdelays in implementations, failed innovation initiatives, an inability to take on new work, and loss of clients.\u201d<\/p>\n

For South African companies, the situation is particularly worrying \u2013 98% say lacking AI skills undermines their innovation capabilities, making them more vulnerable to competitive disadvantage.<\/p>\n

The agentic age changes everything<\/b><\/h2>\n

But even as organisations scramble to address these shortages, the AI landscape is rapidly shifting beyond the generative AI tools that dominated 2023 and 2024 keynotes, toward \u201cagentic AI\u201d \u2013 autonomous systems that can plan, act, and adapt independently.<\/p>\n

\u201cCopilot was like version one of AI for enterprises with the generative stuff it\u2019s moved beyond, so you\u2019ll see everyone talks about agents \u2013 and the secret of agents is that it\u2019s autonomous,\u201d explains Robin Fisher, head of EMEA growth markets at Salesforce, describing how these systems represent a fundamental departure from reactive AI tools toward proactive, goal-directed agents.<\/p>\n

This shift is forcing a complete rethink of what \u201cAI readiness skills\u201d even are. The traditional focus on coding \u2013 the bread and butter of coding academies across Africa that spawned under the weight of the last future-focused skills wave \u2013 is giving way to something far more nuanced.<\/p>\n

Ursula Fear, Salesforce\u2019s senior talent programme manager, warns that \u201c39% of all of our core skills, the global workforce core skills, are to be changed by 2030\u201d. She now says we should all be \u201clifelong learners\u201d, dedicating \u201ca minimum of about 10 hours a week\u201d to staying relevant.<\/p>\n

The skills that matter now extend far beyond \u201cones and zeros\u201d coding. Fisher suggests that future AI readiness includes \u201cthe ability to maybe even go back to some of those things like psychology or linguistics because it\u2019s around making agents human\u201d \u2013 skills crucial for ensuring AI agents operate with empathy and effective communication.<\/p>\n

The new rules of AI readiness<\/b><\/h2>\n

This evolution is reshaping how major tech companies approach youth empowerment in Africa. Both Salesforce and its upstart Indian competitor Zoho are moving away from partnerships with coding bootcamps toward more holistic AI readiness programmes.<\/p>\n

Salesforce has launched rural interventions, including a pilot partnership with Absa in what Fear describes as a \u201ctier three town\u201d (she\u2019s talking about Dundee), where they discovered qualified individuals \u2013 including computer science graduates and marine biologists \u2013 who had returned home due to a lack of urban job opportunities. The goal is building \u201cdigital hubs in tier three towns\u201d that can scale Salesforce solutions to businesses as small as a local \u201cmeat producer\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe 100% believe that the only way that we are going to be able to solve this problem is through collaboration,\u201d Fear continues, describing partnerships with workforce development organisations like Collective X that focus on \u201cwork-integrated learning \u2013 the application of it\u201d rather than just certifications.<\/p>\n

Zoho, meanwhile, is implementing what it calls \u201ctransnational localism\u201d \u2013 a philosophy that blends global reach with local engagement. The company is still riding the learn to code rollercoaster with Code Intelligence in Khayelitsha and Bench Bites for \u201ctrain the trainer programmes,\u201d bringing students to their Cape Town offices and hiring directly from these programmes.<\/p>\n

But even the low-cost CRM hero acknowledges the fundamental shift under way. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to not hire any more developers\u201d internally, explains Hyther Nizam, president of Zoho Middle East and Africa, instead aiming to \u201crepurpose them to some other things\u201d while equipping existing developers with AI tools like copilots.<\/p>\n

Wake-up call for the African dream<\/b><\/h3>\n

For South Africa specifically, these shifts come against a backdrop of sobering economic realities. With youth unemployment at 62%, Andrew Bourne, regional manager for Zoho Southern Africa, stresses the critical need for young South Africans to \u201cthink global\u201d because \u201cwe actually won\u2019t have enough jobs in South Africa for the unemployed\u201d.<\/p>\n

This global perspective is reflected in Zoho\u2019s pricing strategy, which is basically offering \u201cfirst world technology at a third world price\u201d with 25% subsidised pricing for the rand, maintained consistently for five years.<\/p>\n

Their new\u00a0Zoho Solo mobile only app<\/a>, designed for solopreneurs at R99 a month, aims to build \u201cdigital skills literacy\u201d among one-person businesses.<\/p>\n

The challenge isn\u2019t just about individual skills development, it\u2019s about systemic change. Despite 94% of African organisations now offering IT training monthly (up from 74% previously), budget allocation for training has actually decreased from 14% to 7% of IT and HR budgets, with no organisation spending more than 10%.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to allocate a budget for upskilling our existing workforce,\u201d Pillay insists, warning organisations to \u201cprepare for an AI-related skills gap in 2025\u201d and \u201cunderstand the impact that a lack of skills will have on your business, your employees, and your customers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

What South Africa\u2019s AI skills crunch means for you<\/strong><\/h3>\n

If you\u2019re a young job seeker, a business owner, or just trying to future-proof your career, this isn\u2019t some distant tech debate; it\u2019s your next paycheque.<\/p>\n

AI isn\u2019t optional any more.<\/strong>\u00a0Whether you\u2019re in finance, farming, or fashion, businesses are under pressure to adopt AI, but there\u2019s a huge shortage of local talent.<\/p>\n

Your CV needs more than just coding.<\/strong>\u00a0AI readiness is about more than programming. Skills in communication, business strategy, ethics, and even psychology are now just as valuable.<\/p>\n

Training is free, if you know where to look.<\/strong>\u00a0Companies like Salesforce and Zoho are offering open-access training, internships, and rural digital hubs.<\/p>\n

Jobs aren\u2019t disappearing, they\u2019re shifting.<\/strong>\u00a0Data entry might be automated, but someone still needs to guide the agents. AI is a tool, not a takeover. The more you understand it, the more irreplaceable you become.<\/p>\n

Think beyond our borders.<\/strong>\u00a0With SA\u2019s youth unemployment pushing 60%, the real opportunity might be global. Local startups and students are already getting remote gigs with international firms. The internet doesn\u2019t care about your postcode.<\/p>\n

Bottom line:<\/strong>\u00a0If you wait for government policy to catch up, you\u2019ll be left behind. Start skilling up now; even ten hours a week can change your trajectory.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u00a0Disproving the replacement theory<\/b><\/h4>\n

Both CRM companies are quick to reject the narrative that AI will simply replace human workers, even though they\u2019re selling agentic AI.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt no point is it creating unemployment,\u201d Fisher argues. \u201cIn the same way, agents are going to make certain things probably redundant, data capture, data analysis, those jobs will grow, right? Because AI can do the data analysis, but then it\u2019s going to create new jobs that are more powerful because you have context.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nizam says Zoho\u2019s internal experience suggests a more measured reality: AI provides \u201c30% to 40%\u201d productivity improvement, not the \u201c5x to 10x\u201d often promised, partly because \u201creading the AI-generated code is a nightmare.\u201d<\/p>\n

The reality is that the stakes couldn\u2019t be higher \u2013 60% of African organisations view AI skills as critical to their success, but 100% expect to face skills gaps. The companies getting it right are those recognising that in an agentic AI world, the most valuable skill might not be writing code, but understanding how to make machines work better with humans.\u00a0DM<\/b><\/p>\n

This article first appeared in the Daily Maverick<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AI is evolving from generative tools to autonomous agents, now African businesses face skills shortages as the tech giants shift focus from traditional coding bootcamps…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5094,"featured_media":148269,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"related_posts":[],"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5597544],"tags":[5599299,5599345,5597862,5599346],"series":[],"sapn-display":[5598742,5598740,45149,5598743,5598741,279685],"sapn-type":[45018],"class_list":["post-148236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","tag-africas-ai-skills-readiness-revealed","tag-agentic-ai","tag-nazia-pillay","tag-ursula-fear","sapn-display-feature-hero","sapn-display-feature-spotlight","sapn-display-homepage-hero","sapn-display-news-hero","sapn-display-news-spotlight","sapn-display-hero","sapn-type-feature"],"yoast_head":"\nAfrica has an AI Skills Problem that is Forcing a Youth Empowerment Rethink - 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