Demand for specialised digital skills continues to outpace supply across Africa as technology, data usage and AI relentlessly advance. The continent’s response requires extensive realignment of policies, institutions and resources that can drive realisation of the benefits that technology enables. This skills gap threatens growth and further widening of disparities as adoption of tools such as AI rapidly accelerates in developed economies at a pace not seen before.
However, the good news is that there is currently tremendous effort among participants in the 2025 G20 and B20 task forces to develop integrated and actionable responses to the demands of a new digital era. Key issues are digital skills, financial inclusion, and youth employment. Public-private partnerships can offer solutions, but strategy development requires collaboration among government, industry, and educational stakeholders, and it requires a bias for action.
This collaboration must prioritise developing digital skills, creating job opportunities and promoting economic participation, especially in fintech, at scale and at a faster pace. With the growth of funding and support for existing and new fintech ventures in the region, stakeholder collaboration must create incentives for private-sector training partnerships that integrate learners into fintech projects.
From a policy perspective, expanding fintech-driven services provides access to financial resources for underserved communities, furthers financial inclusion and provides access to skills development and employment. There are already encouraging African developments at advanced stages of implementation that demonstrate what is possible with drive and commitment, and moving into execution sooner rather than later
In Ghana, for example, developing government policy for digital inclusion is treated vital for financial inclusion to succeed. Ghana ramped up its “Ghana Card” programme issued by the National Identification Authority (NIA), bringing large portions of the informal sector into the formal economy. The government of Ghana also launched the One Million Coders initiative to train one million Ghanaians, especially youth, in essential digital skills. The Ghana Priorities initiative identified 79 high-impact interventions in nutrition, health, education, digitisation, and rural electrification and shifted government away from pork-belly politics by using evidence to assess the return on each cedi spent.
In South Africa, several initiatives highlight the commitment of the financial services sector to digital skills development through structured programmes for graduates and unemployed youth. For example, Cape Town’s CodeSpace provides an alternative to getting a degree or an accredited tech qualification and accelerates the development of software engineering skills through practical, coaching-driven education. This lowers the time and cost of introducing high-demand tech skills into the market in as quick as 6 months, and partners with private organisations to finance student’s journeys. Similarly, Sanlam’s Data, AI and Engineering Academy offers a 13-month training course that leads to permanent employment, where participants have access to mentors, life coaches and subject-matter experts and grow
Further relevant and powerful examples of what is achievable in terms of implementing digital policies can be found in Vietnam and India.
Vietnam has become a regional tech hub, with strong investment from companies such as Samsung, Intel and a fast-growing startup scene. Its National Financial Inclusion Strategy (2025–2030), had public and private sectors collaborating to extend financial services to underserved rural areas and unbanked and underbanked populations. The result was an increase in payments account ownership from 31% during 2015-2017 to 87% by the end of 2023. Vietnam is a practical example of how digital skills development and FinTech work hand in hand to drive employment and financial inclusion.
On a recent visit to Vietnam, technology teams from Sanlam and TymeBank saw at first-hand how the country’s tech workforce now comprises mainly youth who had taken non-traditional education paths into innovative technology roles. They had skipped the university route and accelerated their path to employment through coding bootcamps, online courses and self-study, as employers value what they can do over qualifications. This has driven a three-fold increase in technology jobs in Vietnam in 10 years.[iii] Vietnam’s approach demonstrates again that expanding financial access requires strong policies and a network of intermediaries and digital channels.
And in India, the country launched the Skill India Mission 10 years ago, training over 14 million people. As these efforts expanded, India’s employment landscape shifted. The India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) estimated the national unemployment rate (9.1% in 2020) declined to 4.9% by 2024, and linked this improvement in the workforce to Skill India’s training schemes.
It is evident, then, that investing in youth digital skills drives industry growthm fintech innovation, inclusion and employment. Government programmes prioritising action have shown how to develop a skilled workforce and accelerate fintech adoption.
To replicate successes in essential skills development for employment and inclusion, governments and businesses must prioritise key areas. First, there needs to be a shift towards practical skills development and opportunity creation. This means moving beyond theoretical curriculum changes to implement hands-on training approaches, such as coding bootcamps and fintech labs. Second, organisations will need to take risks for growth and employment; choosing to diversify their talent streams into candidates without formal education. Third, fostering public-private partnerships is vital. Collaboration between governments, educational institutions, and corporations can ensure training aligns with industry needs.
Finally, industry-linked programmes should expand, the AWS Skills Centre in Cape Town being a further encouraging indicator of what is possible and can be scaled up. At the AWS Skills Centre, learners gain practical skills and direct pathways into the industry, for no fee.
Advocating for policy incentives and creating regulatory sandboxes will further support this delivery model, fostering innovation and growth. Skills hubs, incubators, and fintech accelerators should collaborate to prepare practitioners for scalable digital financial services, and large corporates across the continent must step up and take risks to provide opportunities.
Just about anyone can look at digital strategies and identify problems, challenges and obstacles. However, we have more than enough evidence from Africa, Asia and South-East Asia to demonstrate that fundamental digital transformation supported by appropriate policy and commitment, but most importantly, action, is both possible and delivers lasting change to the structure of economies and societies.