Microsoft to make youth employable
Microsoft Corporation has identified Ghana as one of its major markets where it intends to assist the youth to utilise the digital evolution to better their living standards as well as enhance the growth of the economy.
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Consequently, it has in partnership with the International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD) established a portal in the country to serve as an ecosystem and a one-stop online hub for employability and entrepreneurship.
The move is intended to provide the Ghanaian youth with a platform aimed at equipping young graduates and school leavers with the right hard and soft skills to bridge the skills gap and ensure first-time job opportunities as well as provide career guidance and resources for those who want to build their own businesses.
The Executive Vice-President of Microsoft, Mr Bradford L. Smith, told a cross section of journalists in Accra that “there are a lot of talented young people in the country but they do not have easy access to digital information and the development of digital services.”
This was shortly after he had addressed top executives of Corporate Ghana at a special breakfast session held in his honour at the residence of the American Ambassador to Ghana on Thursday.
Mr Smith who has served as the Chief Compliance Officer of Microsoft Corporation since July 2002 said the company was working with a number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Ghana to provide new technology to help them with faster technology and skills set that they could use to create new jobs for themselves.
According to him, “Ghana is important to the future of Africa and Africa is important to the future of the world”, hence the identification of the country as a key partner for Microsoft.
Mr Smith said technology could empower young people to make vital contributions to their community and world and expressed the hope that the platform created would serve as a bridge to connect Ghana’s young people to the tools, resources and people they need to fulfil the careers they deserve.
The Country Director of Microsoft Ghana, Mr Derek Appiah, told the Daily Graphic that the portal would serve as an ecosystem for the youth to go into employment.
“Unemployment in the country is quite alarming and many young people are wasting”, he said and added that “it is against this background that Microsoft has intended to do something to help tap into the future of the youth by equipping them with the career guidance, skills and mentorship to develop their potential.”