Safaricom (NSE: SCOM) has invested an undisclosed amount in organising training programmes for its employees looking to shift to new digital careers.
Known as the Digital Academy, the initiative caters to employees working in technology careers that are becoming automated. In the first phase that began early this year, Safaricom has already trained 60 of its staff and placed them in new roles.
“Safaricom operates in a fast-paced environment where technology is ever-changing. Recent advances have automated sections of our network meaning that certain careers will soon no longer be necessary. At the same time, these changes are driving demand for new skills where there is a shortage of talent in the market,” said Michael Joseph, CEO, Safaricom.
Joseph said the Safaricom Digital Academy is a human resource innovation that has enabled us to both empower our staff with new skills and to have the right mix of talent based on the telco’s customer needs.
The academy’s program is based on a hybrid model of learning, delivered in part through external partners (Strathmore, Moringa, Huawei, Edureka) as well as from the internal faculty of experts.
The Digital Academy offered a six-month full-time course in five programs including Technology Automation, Cloud Computing, Cyber Security, Data Science, Emerging Network Technologies and Mobile Application Development. The first three months of the course were classroom-based with the last three months seeing the employees practically applying their new skills in developing new workplace innovations.
Among the tools that the employees have developed during the training is a Data Revenue Analysis and Prediction Tool, and a Home Fibre Customer Satisfaction Analysis Solution.
Besides the academy, Safaricom has also deployed a digital learning platform that will provide on-the-job training in more than 10,000 courses to its entire staff.
