SAP has released a new report, ‘Africa’s AI Skills Readiness Revealed’, which provides research into how African companies are transforming their skills development efforts to meet the demands of the Age of Artificial Intelligence.
“The data is clear: African companies expect the demand for AI skills to increase this year, with six in ten saying AI skills are ‘extremely important’ to their success,” says Nazia Pillay, interim managing director for South Africa at SAP.
“The business impact of a lack of AI skills availability is already evident, with 90% of companies in our research citing negative impacts that include project delays, failed innovation initiatives and an inability to take on new work.”
The research was conducted at the end of 2024 among both mid-size and enterprise-level companies in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa.
Universal need for AI skills
Every organisation that was surveyed as part of the research said they expect the demand for AI skills to increase in 2025. All companies also expected to experience some AI-related skills gap this year.
“Skills related to AI are hugely in-demand among African organisations, with 85% saying AI development skills are a priority, and 83% prioritising Generative AI skills.
“To help close the AI skills gap, two-thirds of organisations are introducing career development initiatives with AI specialisation to upskill or reskill employees.”
Overall, the most in-demand tech skill among African organisations is cybersecurity.
“Eighty-six percent of companies said cybersecurity skills were important to them, a significant increase over the 63% that said the same in our previous research. The growing importance of cybersecurity may be partly explained by the rapid growth of Africa’s digital economy and the millions of citizens that are being brought into the digital fold through public and private sector initiatives.”
Reskilling a necessary challenge
Adaptability is essential in light of the need for employees to be upskilled or reskilled with AI skills.
“Reskilling is a top skills-related priority for 38% of companies this year, with 48% saying the same of upskilling employees. Unsurprisingly, two-thirds of companies said helping employees understand why reskilling is necessary is one of the top challenges this year,” says Pillay.
Surprisingly, the portion of companies’ IT or HR budgets allocated to skills-related initiatives has declined since 2023.
Pillay says, “The drop in budget allocation for skills development requires an urgent rethink. Organisations that don’t invest in appropriate skills now may find they are unable to leverage new innovations and emerging technologies, leaving them trailing their more skills-enable competitors.”
SAP’s ‘Africa’s AI Skills Readiness Revealed’ report is now available and can be downloaded here.
