ALX, a leading career accelerator and tech training provider, scooped the prestigious EdTech Award at this year’s Africa Tech Week Awards ceremony held at the Century City Conference Centre in Cape Town. The award highlights ALX’s groundbreaking contribution to tech education, its scalable impact, and its commitment to transforming the African continent’s technological landscape.
Now in its sixth year, the Africa Tech Week Awards celebrate the continent’s leading tech innovators and visionaries, recognising and honouring excellence in technology and innovation. The awards showcase Africa’s potential to lead in technological advancement, with the EdTech award category recognising organisations that have developed groundbreaking educational technology programmes with notable and scalable results.
Pioneering a new era in tech education, ALX’s inclusive and accessible world-class tech programmes democratise access to tech education and are fuelling South Africa’s (SA’s) active participation in the global tech revolution.
“ALX is on a mission to develop three million ethical and entrepreneurial leaders in Africa by 2035,” says Divesh Sooka, General Manager, ALX South Africa. “Our programmes equip learners with practical, in demand skills, creating millions of job opportunities while solving the world’s technology talent shortage,” he adds.
Empowering the Next Generation of Tech Leaders
ALX’s blended learning model equips students with 21st-century skills. Beyond developing technical prowess, ALX’s programmes focus on nurturing soft skills such as critical thinking and adaptability, cultivating well-rounded individuals who stand out in the workplace.
With graduates securing positions at leading global companies such as Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, ALX has empowered over 79,000 aspiring young tech leaders and entrepreneurs in South Africa.
Over 500,000 learners applied to ALX’s training programmes in 2022, “Our goal for this year is to graduate over 300,000 learners and we’re well on our way to achieving this, having already enrolled over 218,000 learners since January this year,” says Sooka.
With 29 conveniently located tech hubs across eight cities in Africa and two tech hubs in Johannesburg, South Africa, ALX is enabling accessibility to tech-training, providing high speed internet, back up electricity, collaboration spaces and community managers to support learners. Majority of ALX’s programmes are fully sponsored and require no prior experience.
A Vision for the Future
“Africa is home to a rapidly growing talent pool set to surpass India and China’s workforce by 2035,” says Sooka. By the end of this century, 40 percent of the world’s population will be African. Given this abundance of young talent, Africa is well-positioned to solve the massive global technology skills shortage.
“Our mission at ALX is to harness this wealth of human capital by developing millions of digital leaders from this continent in the next decade,” he says.
Addressing Youth Unemployment
The urgency to address youth unemployment and skill inadequacy is paramount. Stats SA’s latest quarterly employment survey reveals a youth unemployment rate of 45.5 percent.
“Enabling access and providing youth with the skills to become a part of the digital economy will drive employment, encourage entrepreneurship, and contribute to massive economic growth,” says Sooka. “This shift is critical for the future of our youth and our country and necessary to drive sustainable and meaningful participation of youth in the economy.”
Sooka concludes, “Winning the Africa Tech Week EdTech Award underscores the strides we have made in enabling a continental shift in tech education. This is only the beginning, we are dedicated to enabling SA’s youth to become active players not only in the global digital economy, but also in shaping their own economic futures,” concludes Sooka.
