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Microsoft aims to stimulate Nigeria′s job market

Olayinka Oni, national technology officer for Microsoft Nigeria, told CNBC Africa that they have the opportunity to access 1.5 million users on the Jobberman portal.

“We target a lot of digital literacy, we have something called the Microsoft Virtual Academy… beyond that we have things that target financial and business management, things that target the communication skill and soft skills to make the youth more employable,” he said.

Microsoft was drawn to this project because they identify the youth as an important segment of the population. Oni added that a third of Nigeria’s 170 million population is the youth and 80 per cent, between the ages of 15 and 24, are unemployed.

According to Oni, this contribution will make young people more “job ready” and tap into their “innovation and creativity” in growing Nigeria’s economy. This initiative is not exclusive to Nigeria said Oni, it forms part of their global Youth Works Initiative across the Middle East and Africa.

There’s a need to close the education gap because the fact of the matter is, “people come out of school with degrees that are not necessarily the job skills that employers are looking for today”, he emphasised.

Job seekers will find assistance with vacancies, training as well as mentorship on the portal. Most of these activities will happen off-site.

Since the engagement of the employability portal, Microsoft has reached almost 60,000 unique young people on- and off-line.