CIO OPINION demand for data visualisation skills by more than 2,000 %. As businesses, this means we must not only create new jobs in areas like data science and analytics, but reskill our existing workforces to deal with the digital revolution and its new demands.

So, while bus drivers and data clerks are looking over their shoulders nervously right now, we’ re seeing a vast range of new jobs being created in fields such as science, technology, mathematics, data analysis, computer science and engineering. This is a challenge for Sub-Saharan Africa, where our levels of STEM education are still not where they should be. That doesn’ t mean there are no opportunities to be had. In the region, for example, we have a real opportunity to create a new generation of home-grown African digital creators, designers and makers, not just‘ digital deliverers’. People who understand African nuances and stories, and who not only speak local languages, but are fluent in digital.

This ability to bridge the digital and physical worlds will be the new gold for Africa. We need more business operations data analysts, who combine deep knowledge of their industry with the latest analytical tools to adapt business strategies. There will also be more demand for user interface experts, who can facilitate seamless human-machine interaction.

Of course, in the longer term, we in Africa are going to have to make some fundamental decisions about how we educate people if we’ re going to be a part of this brave new world. Governments, big business and civil society will all have roles to play in creating more future-ready education systems, including expanded access to earlychildhood education, more skilled teachers, investments in digital fluency and ICT

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