Smart Africa launches its digital academy in Sierra Leone

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For its sixth academy on the continent, Smart Africa Alliance has chosen Sierra Leone. In partnership with the local government, the think tank will help increase digital skills in the country.

Sierra Leone has taken another step toward improving its digital space. The government, through the Ministry of Information and Communications, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Smart Africa Digital Academy (SADA) in Freetown on Tuesday, March 4, to establish a digital academy in the country and support its efforts to transform the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Like all digital academies launched by Smart Africa, Sierra Leone's SADA will offer advanced training in ICT, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity to Sierra Leonean trainers and managers. This approach will guangdong mobile number database the country build digital skills to support its ambition to boost the national digital ecosystem in a rapidly evolving digital environment.

"President Julius Maada Bio has repeatedly stated that Sierra Leone cannot afford to miss out on the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The World Bank has supported the government with a $50 million digital transformation project to enhance digital training and improve broadband connectivity, " said Mohamed Rahman Swaray (pictured, right), Minister of Information and Communications.

Sierra Leone is the sixth country on the continent to benefit from an academy of this kind, after Rwanda, Ghana, the Republic of Congo, Benin, and Ivory Coast. The pan-African group plans to establish them in Burkina Faso, Tunisia, Kenya, and Djibouti.

This continental deployment is part of a digital skills gap in a constantly evolving digital world. This gap is highlighted by a report published last November by the consulting firm Boston Consulting Group (BCG), which believes that Africa needs to train 650 million people in digital skills by 2030 for the continent to fully capitalize on the enormous potential of the digital economy.