The Youth Employment Service (YES) was featured at the Microsoft AI: A New Era event taking place in Sandton, Johannesburg on 30 October 2023. The event showcased the latest developments in Microsoft’s AI projects, including an announcement that Microsoft and YES have collaborated on a new AI Skills Platform.
Microsoft South Africa’s CEO, Kalane Rampai, announced that the platform will bring new AI skills to 300,000 young game-changers. YES CEO Ravi Naidoo took to the stage and thanked the Microsoft team for this transformative partnership, as innovation fuels youth employment, and having youth who are competent and confident in the use of AI can be a catalyst for change. He was also congratulated by Microsoft Africa President Lillian Barnard for the successful launch of the platform, which is already transforming the lives of young South Africans, and expressed how exciting this initiative would be to scale upwards to reach the entire African continent.
WATCH NOW: See the full announcement made at the Microsoft AI: A New Era Event below.
As an extension of a long-term relationship between Microsoft and YES, together they curated and developed bespoke training material, and created a training path that addresses the different levels of exposure to AI and computer science. The AI Skills Training Platform is designed to enable all young people to get access to, and awareness of AI – and be able to build skills from a Novice through to an Expert level.
“This initiative speaks to three pillars that underpin AI for us at Microsoft: democratising AI innovation, ensuring that we build AI that is responsible, and skills development,” explained Rampai. “The scale of this initiative really underlines what we believe in, with regards to democratising AI and really ensuring that as few people as possible are left behind. We hope that the young people who will be exposed to this programme will see a career in AI and, most importantly, they will recognise the potential of AI to solve our present societal problems.”
“This collaborative effort with Microsoft is a testament to our ongoing commitment to equipping the youth with the digital skills for future-facing sectors and careers. The significant number of beneficiaries underscores the scale of impact we want to achieve through this partnership,” says Ravi Naidoo, CEO of YES.
According to Naidoo, from a practical level, this partnership is geared towards creating employment opportunities, while creating a pathway for a digital economy.
The idea is to identify talented young, unemployed people from disadvantaged backgrounds who are registered with YES, and provide them with these skills to excel in new jobs.