R900m for digital jobs in Africa

Cape Town - The Rockefeller Foundation will pledge about R900m to create digital field jobs in Africa, it was announced at the World Economic Forum on Africa on Thursday.

"There is no better place to announce the official launch of the Rockefeller Foundation's Digital Jobs Africa initiative, a $97m investment," said the philanthropic organisation's president Judith Rodin in Cape Town.

The initiative hoped to reach one million people in the next seven years.

The money would be pumped into training work seekers and getting them jobs in the digital fields such as data entry, service centre support, online research and web design.

The initiative would be rolled out in six countries - South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Morocco and Egypt.

"We will leverage the rising demand from African-based organisations, governments moving to e-government using digital tools, and multinational corporations, to create sustainable employment opportunities, which is a win-win for all, cutting costs in many cases by 40%, while increasing incomes for workers by 40-200%," Rodin said.