In her keynote address, Estelle Asare, highlighted the importance of digital literacy in harnessing the potential of digitization in driving economic growth. She said,

“We live in a world where four out of the top five most valuable companies across the world are tech companies. Technology has affected every area of our lives and completely changed the future of business.  Although sub-Saharan Africa has more than 70% of its population as youth, only 10-11% of Africa’s tertiary education graduates have digital training. To succeed in this increasingly digital world we are in, there is a critical need for us to ensure that our youth have the necessary digital training and skills that they need to survive and thrive.”

She added that “There needs to be a strategic approach to identify the youth and technology as keys to economic transformation. Policies in education need to be aligned with equipping the youth with digital skills that can support the future of the country. Interventions such as digital acceleration programs, in universities, tertiary education, and health institutions are important to train students for the new world. There must be a collaborative effort between the government, the regulators, academia, and the private sector to invest strategically in ensuring access to digital skills and tools among our youth. With the requisite digital skills, the youth will be propelled to be innovative and compete on a global level.”

Estelle Asare went on to thank the office of the youth envoy for coming up with this training program to help the youth in Ghana and across Africa.

She stated, “I am very excited by this initiative from the office of the youth envoy at the African Union (AU). At Stanbic Bank, we believe that Africa is our home and we drive her growth. In doing this we cannot ignore the importance of technology in driving growth. That is why at Stanbic Bank we are committed to providing access to technology and digital training across the country. We have several initiatives geared towards ensuring that we contribute our quota in reducing the number of youths without access to digital knowledge and technological tools. We believe that by providing them with these vital tools they will be better positioned to succeed and positively transform the nation and the continent as a whole. We are happy to be aligned with the office of the youth envoy on this project and support their efforts in providing young people with access to digital training.”

Stanbic Bank Ghana has contributed to providing access to digital knowledge and tools for young people across the country. Last year, the bank collaborated with the Women in STEM Ghana (WiSTEM) to train, equip and inspire 200 girls from 23 senior high schools to learn and develop their skills and knowledge in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). Many other educational institutions have benefited from the bank’s STEM focused interventions, including KNUST, Takoradi Technical University, Sunyani School of Professional Studies, Blessed Holy Child Academy etc.

Earlier this year, the African Union Commission (AUC) launched a continental-wide Digital Transformation campaign in collaboration with the Office of the Youth Envoy to roll out a Digital Skills Campaign to empower young people with digital skills for the future of work. The purpose of the Digital Skills Campaign is to contribute to creating opportunities to increase the employability skills of the youth for new employment and entrepreneurship avenues, thus reducing inequalities and fostering inclusive and sustainable economic growth and job creation in Africa.