{"id":31191,"date":"2013-02-05T15:04:00","date_gmt":"2013-02-05T13:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=31191"},"modified":"2013-02-06T10:22:21","modified_gmt":"2013-02-06T08:22:21","slug":"what-4afrika-means-for-sa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/software\/31191\/what-4afrika-means-for-sa\/","title":{"rendered":"What 4Afrika means for SA"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Department of Communications<\/a> has thrown its support behind Microsoft<\/a>‘s 4Afrika initiative, which aims to tackle the high rate of unemployment in South Africa.<\/p>\n

Launched by Microsoft on Tuesday (5 February 2012), 4Afrika\u00a0looks to actively engage in Africa\u2019s economic development to improve its global competitiveness.<\/p>\n

By 2016, the 4Afrika Initiative plans to help place tens of millions of smart devices in the hands of African youth, and bring one million African small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) online.<\/p>\n

It also hopes to upskill 100,000 members of Africa\u2019s existing workforce, and help an additional 100,000 recent graduates develop employability skills, 75% of whom Microsoft will help place in jobs.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the 4Afrika launch event in Johannesburg, Microsoft SA managing director, Mteto Nyati<\/a> explained that the initiative was a purely African project, born from Africans to tackle African problems.<\/p>\n

“We (Africans) are consumers of other people’s intellectual property – that’s not good. We have to turn this around,” the MD said.<\/p>\n

To drive this change, Microsoft is equipping Africans with the tools to “[help] our (African) countries to be globally competitive.”<\/p>\n

“This is just the beginning,” Nyati said.<\/p>\n

\"Mteto<\/a>

Mteto Nyati<\/p><\/div>\n

Looking at South Africa<\/h3>\n

Speaking specifically about the 4Africa initiative in South Africa, Nyati said that the 4Afrika initiative would work in line with the National Development Plan with a vision for 2030.<\/p>\n

However, instead of focussing on all aspects of the NDP, 4Afrika would focus on one key area in South Africa: unemployment.<\/p>\n

“We are 19 years into our democracy…the only thing that can ruin this miracle (of South Africa)..is the huge problem of unemployment amongst the youth,” Nyati said.<\/p>\n

Through the 4Africa initiative, Microsoft South Africa is looking to:<\/p>\n