West Region: ANTIC schools youth on digital skills to boost entrepreneurship.

This is within the framework of the 2023 Cameroon Digital Skills Campaign, which officially opened in Bafoussam on Wednesday April 26.

The five-day training workshop is holding under the theme: “Digital Skills for Youth Entrepreneurship in the Fourth Industrial Revolution”.

Trainees at the forum are students selected from higher institutions of learning across the West Region.

Speaking at the opening of the workshop, the Director General of ANTIC, Prof Ebot Ebot Enow, underscored the importance of the digital skills campaign, which seeks to “promote youth employability and entrepreneurship in the disruptive technologies era”.

Prof Ebot Ebot stated that through this initiative, “leading players in the technology industry and qualified trainers will instill in more than 100 young Cameroonians, the fundamental digital knowledge and skills necessary to transform innovative ideas into businesses...”.

He added that at a time governments and industries are deploying disruptive technologies such as cloud computing, Big Data, advance analytics, artificial intelligence, machine learning and Internet of Things, IoT, to meet citizens' and customers' needs, the digital skills campaign positions itself as an open platform for experts to dialogue with youth on how to harness these technologies to create new markets and business models. 

The ANTIC boss quoted President Paul Biya in his address to the youth on February 10, 2023 as saying “I am urging you to embrace self-employment by taking advantage of the opportunities available in areas such as agriculture, handicrafts, and digital economy”.

Bridging the digital gap

According to the World Bank, there will be 230 million “digital jobs” in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2030.

In the same light, international organisations such as the United Nations, the International Telecommunications Union and the World Bank have argued that the ICT sector is a key driver of sustainable development. 

However, millions of young people in Cameroon and other African countries are still without digital skills.

Consequently, the growing digital divide, and critical skills development gaps, must be addressed by investing in education of young people, in order to better prepare them for the very competitive labour market in the future.

It is in this light that the ANTIC Director General underlined the willingness of the Cameroonian public authorities to engage and work with all stakeholders, to continue to build a country where a greater number of its youth are digitally literate.

He further stated: that “Youth are key to creating a new path for societal and economic advancement in our country and we all; government, private sector, academia and civil society, have a joint interest-and a shared responsibility-in ensuring a healthy and well-educated future workforce”.

Prof Ebot Ebot urged the youth to use digital and technological advancements to improve their living conditions and better their society.

ANTIC boss salutes collaboration

Prof Ebot Ebot extended words of appreciation to partners who have been collaborating with ANTIC to ensure the success of the digital skills campaign.

“…I extend our cordial greetings to the ICT innovation community whose presence in this forum speaks of the importance they attach to the work we do in terms of accelerating the development of Cameroon's digital economy,” he said.

He also expressed sincere thanks and gratitude to “The Change- Engine” and its founder, Ms. Helene Manyi Arrey, with whom ANTIC has worked closely over the last 12 months within the framework of the project.

Experts from top tech industries are accompanying ANTIC in the course of the Bafoussam forum to share their expertise and know-how with participants in an effort to empower them in their innovation strides.

The Cameroon Digital Skills Campaign, which has become an annual gathering of digital experts and young people, was set up four years ago by ANTIC.

The campaign, carried out in partnership with Non-Governmental Organisation, ‘The Change Engine”, aims at preparing the next generation of social actors for an ever-changing landscape, characterised by constant needs for new skills.