Africa’s First Data Science Talent Accelerator Aims To Mitigate Ghana’s 48% Youth Unemployment

Some alarming facts. (1) 40% of African youths engaged in armed violence join gangs or terrorist groups because of limited employment opportunities in their countries. (2) Sixty-six million African youths earn less than $2/day. (3) African youths are crossing the Sahara to get to the Mediterranean due to the lack of jobs. As a result, approximately 500 drownings are happening every single week yet Africa is a continent with so many resources.

During a 2015 service trip to Ghana to teach life skills through entrepreneurship to underprivileged youth, Jephthah Acheampong - Founder of Blossom Academy (BA) - witnessed most of his peers were squandering their talents at virtually no fault of their own. No matter how much they strived to change their situation, they inevitably succumbed to the forces of their environment — the single most damning factor was the lack of employment opportunities. Even more frustrating for him was that 13 million African youths enter the labour market each year of which only 3 million are in wage employment, while the rest are underemployed or in vulnerable employment. The lack of focus on students’ development of technical skills means that many graduate ill-prepared to meet the demands of the labour market.

BA Ambassador and recent graduate of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) - Alfred Agbenyeke - shared that,

“The country Ghana I realised, produces thousands of graduates annually. These graduates right after school need to be absorbed into the corporate world. But the question is: Are they really ready for work? Upon critical thoughts, I realised the curriculum in our education system has been the same since the 1990s, meaning nothing new is added to the workforce. Looking at the vision and mission of Blossom Academy, I believe it is going to really tap and harness the hidden potential in the workforce to prepare and equip us for the corporate world. It is something I have been looking forward to.”

Data Science Talent Accelerator
Data is everywhere, and it affects not only how businesses are run, but how we live as individuals. Understanding the ways you can leverage data in your personal and professional life can help you find key insights, make smarter decisions, and elevate your career. Data Science, in particular, was voted the sexiest career of the 21st Century recently. On Facebook and LinkedIn, it was the job that had the highest salaries on offer. Experts expect there to be 4 million Data Science jobs available that cannot be filled due to lack of supply over the next few years.

With this in mind, BA is designed to train and connect unemployed youth in Ghana to the world’s most influential institutions operating on the African continent. Rightfully, their initial solution is to endow recent college graduates with the technical and soft skills needed in the labour market by offering training specifically in Data Analytics.

World-Class Training
BA is divided into four sections. Initially, they hold a one-week rigorous boot camp to filter the top candidates for their pilot program. Top candidates are selected based on successful completion of the boot camp, the skillsets BA Employer Partners are looking for, an open book group challenge, and an in-person interview. The team is still accepting applications; you can visit www.blossomacademy.co to sign up at no cost.

BA also works closely with top multinational corporations to design a curriculum that addresses their deficiencies. In return, BA gives them access to their top graduates.

They then work with leading institutions to repurpose their world-class educational content for their program. This training accelerator is localized with the assistance of a renowned cybersecurity expert, Dr. E. Danso Ansong, from the Department of Computer Science at KNUST. It is also structured in a way that accommodates graduates who are currently fulfilling their national service requirements or have other commitments. During this training session, students work on “real-world” problems to build a strong professional portfolio and are connected with peer advisors from top MBA programs in real-time virtual classrooms.

After studying, students hone in on their soft-skills and prove their cultural fit by working alongside foreign employees on partner company projects. Once complete, BA supports them through the interview process via career training, guidance, and salary negotiation.

BA Country Director and Ghanaian university graduate - Larbi Adjei-Lawrence - shared that, “the promising thing is there are no upfront costs. It is rather contractual such that 15% of your annual salary is deducted for just 2 years. Provided our graduates are not making at least 10,000 Ghanaian Cedis annually, we will waive the payment fee until they achieve the desired salary. What beats that?”

As the eye-catching logo of BA signals, the Black Star in the middle represents the youth on the African continent, and the five surrounding rings represent the five continents. Thus, BA’s ultimate vision is to connect Africa's youthful labour force to the global economy by leveraging technology. For many ambitious Africans, that might sound like a pretty solid deal.