CITIZENS COMPASS— IHS Nigeria, part of the IHS Holding Limited (NYSE: IHS) (“IHS Towers”) group, one of the largest independent owners, operators, and developers of shared communications infrastructure in the world by tower count, in collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and the Ilorin Innovation Hub, has launched the second cohort of the AWS re/Start Cloud Program.
The program with the theme “Empowering Future Cloud Professionals Through Digital Skills Development,” was launched during a recent virtual event.
This second cohort builds on the success of the first run of the program. The first cohort completed the program with a success rate of 96.7%. 15 of the 30 learners who were ready for early certification sat the AWS examinations and passed with a 100% pass rate. One of the cohort members also won a grant to attend the AWS re:Invent summit in Las Vegas, one of the largest Cloud and AI Conferences in the United States of America (USA).
The AWS re/Start program responds to global skills shortage research which found out that out of 7.8 million cloud jobs posted across 45 countries in 2021, only 2.8 million cloud professionals were available. The program will equip the 30 participants of the second cohort with foundational cloud computing knowledge, practical technical skills, professional competencies, and career support that will prepare them for entry to mid-level careers in cloud technology.
Sanet Shepperson, Vice President, Operations (Process Excellence), IHS Nigeria, commented, “The real measure of this program is what happens after graduation. That is why we introduced the Talent2Work initiative, which is an employer outreach plan to connect graduates with internships, entry-level roles and opportunities across banks, telecoms, fintechs, consulting firms, cloud partners and technology teams, including IHS itself. We want to turn this program into a repeatable pathway for building employable cloud talent in Nigeria, one that every Nigerian business can draw from.”
Zumah Yahaya, Director of Programs, Ilorin Innovation Hub, commented, “An opportunity of this magnitude does not happen in a vacuum. I express our profound appreciation to our partners, IHS Towers, the Kwara State Government, and Amazon Web Services. Your strategic investment is actively proving that decentralized tech talent development is the most direct path to sustainable economic mobility for our youth”
