SAP Young Professionals Program Adds Cloud, Digital Transformation Skills to Local Economy

Twenty-six newly-qualified, skilled young professionals have provided a welcome boost to the South African economy with the latest cohort of SAP Young Professionals Program graduates.

At a graduation event held at the SAP offices in Johannesburg on Tuesday, Cathy Smith, Managing Director at SAP Africa, highlighted the importance of work-ready digital skills to drive local economic growth. “Closing the digital skills gap is essential to South Africa’s digital transformation ambitions. As the country’s public and private sectors grapple with the economic impact of the pandemic and the urgent need for greater technology adoption, having access to work-ready soft and technical skills is essential. This latest group of graduates will provide critical technical skills to local organisations, helping them transform their business models for greater competitiveness and success.”

The SAP Young Professionals Program, offered under the Skills for Africa initiative across Africa, covers a unique enablement plan that includes SAP software functional as well as technical knowledge and certification with a focus on SAP’s latest innovations. Participants graduate from the two to three-months program as SAP Associate Consultants with a mix of technical and soft skills that can be immediately absorbed by the local economy.

The program empowers youth to succeed in the African digital economy and covers certificate courses in several of SAP’s latest technologies. Additional soft skills training is held to ensure graduates can seamlessly integrate in their new workplace.

To date, the SAP Young Professionals Program has created more than 3730 positions for job-seekers in 39 countries worldwide, with 1730 of those coming from 22 African countries.

Smith adds: “The SAP Young Professionals Program underpins SAP’s vision to make the world run better and improve people’s lives by supporting our local customers and partners with work-ready digital skills while also helping address youth unemployment. We also welcome the next cohort who officially start their training today, and look forward to welcoming them as new graduates a few months from now.”