SAP to invest $500m in Nigeria, 4 other African countries

Systems Applications and Products, SAP, plans to invest up to $500 million through 2020 to up-skill local African talent and drive sustainable innovation and growth in five African countries.

The African countries that will benefit from the pilot program will include South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Angola and Morocco.

The goal was to establish the African region as one of the company’s top-five growth markets globally. Much of the direct investment will be outside South Africa, where SAP already has a solid footprint.

The investment, according to SAP, is part of its vision of helping make Africa run better and improve the lives of Africans.

This was disclosed yesterday in a world press conference addressed by Robert Enslin, member of the Executive Board of SAP SE and president of Global Customer Operations, and Pfungwa Serima, chief executive officer of SAP, Africa.

The new development is part of long-term commitment to regional expansion, sustainable growth and skills development of up to 10,000 IT consultants.

Accordingly, the investment is expected to up-skilling next generation of IT leaders and professionals by training up to 10,000 consultants by 2020 in close collaboration with local governments and universities.

The development, according to SAP was to build on 22 years of experience, commitment and close collaboration with customers, partners, governments and universities throughout the African continent.

Giving details of the investment in the five African countries at the event that attracted capacity audience, Enslin told international Technology Journalists that, “The African market is unique in its growth potential and readiness to innovate.

“The SAP Executive Board strongly believes that now is the right time to take our engagement and commitment to expand in Africa to the next level.

SAP’s additional investment in the continent reflects SAP’s vision to help the world run better by delivering leading-edge innovation.”

In Africa, we plan to engage and invest in even more markets while helping build the appropriate talent base for the IT industry, and support our customers and partners by actively contributing toward crucial technology and business skills-sets and new employment opportunities in Africa.”