The system was launched at the inaugural SA Innovation Week, sponsored by the Technology and Innovation Agency (TIA), held in Nasrec from 16–20 March 2026.

The launch marks a significant milestone in Diaz’s 10-year intellectual and entrepreneurial journey, during which he authored eight business books, beginning with The A-Game Business Blueprint.

These works collectively capture a comprehensive SME development framework built from globally tested methodologies and locally developed strategies tailored to African business realities.

“Over the past decade, I documented and refined practical frameworks to help SMEs grow sustainably,” says Diaz. “Initially, I believed these frameworks should be implemented at a national level. When that didn’t materialise, we made a decision to build the solution ourselves.”

Operating from Soweto, with virtual teams in Johannesburg and Cape Town, Diaz and his team have translated these frameworks into a fully integrated AI-powered digital platform, the A-Game Business Operating System, enabling SMEs to move from theory to real-time execution.

The platform is built on a decade-long body of work designed to address a long-standing gap in SME development: the disconnect between strategy and execution. Historically, SMEs have relied on static business plans, fragmented software tools, periodic consulting interventions, and manual tracking and reporting.

The A-Game Business Operating System consolidates these functions into a single unified platform that integrates business strategy and planning, marketing and sales execution, CRM and pipeline management, financial tracking and performance analytics, as well as operations, projects, team accountability, and AI-powered decision support.

The introduction of this BOS positions it as a direct challenger to established enterprise and mid-market software providers such as Sage, SAP, Oracle, and Microsoft Dynamics 365.

Unlike traditional enterprise systems, which are often cost-intensive, complex to implement, and fragmented across multiple modules, the A-Game BOS offers a significantly more streamlined alternative.

It delivers an estimated 80% reduction in software and implementation costs, replaces multiple tools within a single unified platform, embeds AI-driven insights into daily workflows, and enables faster onboarding and adoption for SME teams.

Early projections indicate that businesses using the system can reduce operational inefficiencies by 50% or more, save significant time through automation and integration, and gain real-time clarity on performance and growth drivers.

“Most systems tell you what happened,” Diaz explains. “This system shows you, daily, whether your actions are actually driving growth, and what to do next.”

Beyond software, the implications of the A-Game BOS extend into the broader SME coaching and consulting landscape.

By embedding structured guidance directly into the platform, the system challenges traditional advisory models. Advancements from organizations such as OpenAI and Microsoft are accelerating the shift toward AI-assisted decision-making, reducing dependence on manual consulting processes.

According to McKinsey & Company, a significant portion of knowledge-based work is expected to be automated or augmented by AI in the coming years. Diaz believes this shift will fundamentally reshape industries.

“We are moving from a world where knowledge is monetised, to one where execution is measured,” he says. “Professionals who adapt will scale. Those who don’t will be replaced by systems.”

The launch of the A-Game Business Operating System represents a strategic opportunity for African SMEs to leapfrog legacy systems and outdated business models. Rather than adopting complex, high-cost enterprise solutions, SMEs can now access a centralised business control centre, AI-guided execution frameworks, real-time performance visibility, and scalable systems that reduce dependency on founders.

“This is about giving SME owners clarity, control, and the ability to build self-managing businesses,” says Diaz. “It’s about turning effort into measurable progress, every single day.”

Speaking on the appointment, Sergio Maccotta, senior vice president at SAP Middle East and Africa South, says: “Our purpose as a business is to help the world run better and improve people’s lives, reflected in our ongoing commitment to transformation and corporate responsibility throughout the continent. Nazia will bring vital expertise and leadership skills to one of SAP’s most important regions as we continue to empower youth, drive innovation within our customers and partners, and build a more inclusive, sustainable future. With companies across Southern Africa gearing up for an era of AI- and cloud-led innovation, we are especially excited to see how Nazia’s leadership will guide how organisations adopt technology as a strategic lever for national development and growth.”

Pillay says she will focus on three core areas in her new role, including a laser-like focus on customers to ensure existing partnerships are strengthened and new ones cultivated, and helping customers prepare for a digital-first, cloud-first world. “Teaming up with our valued customer and partner ecosystem across the region is mission-critical for our business, especially as we showcase SAP’s latest capabilities as an AI-first, suite first technology partner. As a people-focused leader, I have also made it my longer-term ambition to make our local office the best place to work in South Africa.”

The appointment comes as companies across Africa gear up for AI and cloud transformation. A recent report found that AI could revolutionise Africa’s economy and contribute as much as $2.9-trillion to the continent’s economy by the end of this decade.

Research conducted by SAP found widespread challenges with access to AI and other tech skills throughout East, West and Southern Africa. According to SAP’s ‘Africa’s AI Skills Readiness Revealed’ report, six in ten African organisations view AI skills as ‘extremely important’ to their success.

However, all companies surveyed expected to experience some AI-related skills gap in 2025, with nine in ten saying a lack of AI skills is already hurting their organisations through failed innovation initiatives, delays in implementations, and an inability to take on new work.

Pillay joined SAP as a graduate over 20 years ago, and has worked in roles spanning consulting, support, quality management, customer success and, most recently, as the head of the organisation’s regional partner ecosystem. She fundamentally believes SAP has a leading role to play in helping Africa’s public and private sector companies achieve their AI and innovation ambitions.

“Large cloud vendors such as SAP can help offset local skills shortages by providing access to advanced tools managed by global experts. Companies across the region benefit from global insights and best practices while bolstering their internal capacity to achieve higher levels of efficiency, innovation and growth.”

Companies are also increasingly investing in upskilling and reskilling their workforce to meet the demands of a rapidly changing business and technology landscape.

“Our research found that nearly half (48%) of African organisations consider upskilling their employees a top skills-related challenge this year. As the pressure to build greater skills depth mounts on companies, vendors such as SAP can be invaluable partners, providing insight, expertise and technical capabilities that help drive successful innovation and transformation.”

Saudi-Arabia and the United Arab Emirates just announced plans to buy hundreds of thousands of advanced AI chips. And at France’s “AI Action Summit” earlier this year, public and private actors pledged investments surpassing €300 billion to advance AI in Europe.

It is very clear that expectations about the economic benefits of this technology are sky high.

Yet, a recent McKinsey survey found that more than 80% of organizations worldwide are not yet seeing any tangible impact on their profits. So where does this mismatch come from?

The key to the answer is that AI is not a stand-alone technology. For its benefits to materialize, AI has to be deeply embedded in business processes.

And for that, companies have to put three pillars in place: modern cloud software, modern data management, and a consistent stack of AI technologies linking with them.

Let’s start with software: All successful companies use software to organize and optimize their business operations – from order intake and procurement to production, delivery and customer service. Yet, many enterprises still rely on legacy on-premise software – that is, a wide range of programs installed on the company’s local IT servers.

This “software landscape” often consists of disparate applications plugged together – heavily modified over the years and frequently not up to date with the latest innovations. These complex systems are costly to maintain, and they make it difficult for companies and their leaders to respond to challenges and opportunities with agility and speed.

AI applications, too, face major obstacles in legacy systems: They have a hard time grasping the company’s inner workings, making sense of fragmented and widely distributed datasets, and may not be able to find certain key information.

The first step towards powerful business AI, therefore, is the move from legacy on-premise software to modern cloud software – that is applications that are centrally managed and maintained in professional data centers, constantly updated with new innovations, and tightly linked so information can flow freely between the different parts of the company.

For companies today, this so-called cloud migration is faster, smoother and more transparent than ever before – thanks to the proven methods and advanced digital tools now available.

And the prize is larger than ever before, too: integrated cloud applications work together out of the box and cover the company’s software needs end-to-end across departments.

This integration allows a car maker, for example, to reduce time and cost – say, from receiving an order through the vehicle’s production to its final delivery.  Similar benefits extend to all other industries and workflows.

A cloud migration, consequently, is more than an IT project: it is the digital foundation for a thorough modernization of the entire enterprise, for moving from “good” to “great.”

Once in the cloud, companies can add advanced data management solutions with little effort. Think of advanced data management as a magic filing cabinet: it automatically stores and organizes all documents, all information, all data automatically in the right place and in perfect order – always up to date, perfectly searchable, without duplicates and errors, smartly annotated, and everything in the right context.

In their combination, integrated cloud applications and advanced data management allow company leaders a holistic view of their enterprise.

At the same time, they enable AI technologies to access, understand, and facilitate transactions across the company – assisting human users with repetitive tasks as well as with deep analyses and insights.

And the next evolution is already at hand: Based on integrated cloud applications and data management, digital coworkers – also known as “AI agents” – are now able to carry out complex work assignments. For example: find overdue invoices, identify what went wrong, resolve the issue, and make sure payment targets are met.

Realizing the tremendous benefits of AI is thus about going on a journey: from on-premise software to cloud applications, then onwards to modern data management and the use of AI agents throughout the enterprise.

It is this journey that unlocks the tremendous potential so many see in AI – and enables us to completely reimagine how our businesses and economies are run.

Kholiwe Makhohliso, the managing director at SAP Southern Africa, says upskilling and mobilising Africa’s considerable skills base is a defining opportunity for the future success of the continent.

“Digital technologies continue to shape industries and businesses throughout the continent, driving high levels of demand for professionals with relevant skills. As the pace of technological change continues to accelerate, organisations increasingly need new approaches to skills development to keep in step with the latest advances in cloud, AI and other transformative technologies,” she said.

SAP’s 2023 report ‘Africa’s Tech Skills Scarcity Revealed‘ laid bare significant challenges with skills availability among organisations in South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria.

The report revealed that low levels of tech skills availability affect most organisations, with four in five companies reporting negative consequences from a lack of tech skills.

While the tech skills gap persists globally – with McKinsey finding that 87% of global senior executives reported their companies were not adequately prepared to address the skills gap – the situation can be more acute for African organisations.

Cloud, AI skills in high demand

According to Manos Raptopoulos, president: SAP EMEA, skills availability has become even more important in light of the ongoing impact of cloud and artificial intelligence on the region.

“Enterprises throughout the region are leveraging powerful new cloud and AI capabilities to transform their business models and accelerate growth and innovation. As the business landscape becomes increasingly shaped by the power of these technologies, organisations need access to relevant skills to ensure they reap the benefits of the cloud and AI revolution.”

SAP launched new learning opportunities for developers in 2023, focusing on cloud and generative AI capabilities.

SAP Build Code solutions offer AI-powered productivity tools for developers and draws on the power of SAP’s AI co-pilot Joule to boost productivity and embed code generation capabilities for a range of applications, from data model and application logic to test script creation.

The company also launched new role-based certification and free learning resources for back-end developers in 2023 as part of a global commitment to upskill two million professionals by 2025.

Work-ready skills for graduates

The SAP Young Professionals Program (YPP), offered by the Digital Skills Centre of SAP, extends the company’s skills development efforts to graduates.

YPP is aimed at enabling young talent to utilise the latest SAP technology and innovation, and covers software functional and technical knowledge and certification, with a strong focus on the latest technologies and a range of soft skills to ease entry into the workplace.

Since its launch in 2012, the SAP Young Professionals Program has trained and graduates more than 4100 candidates across 41 countries, including over 1900 in Africa alone.

Vincent Mabeka, a 2023 graduate from South Africa, says the SAP Young Professionals Program helped him improve his skills, learn about new technologies and gain hands-on experience and unlock new job opportunities.

“The Young Professionals Program required dedication, hard work and passion, but rewarded me with guidance, feedback and recognition for my skills and capabilities. This has helped me secure a job as an SAP Solutions Advisor where I apply the knowledge and skills I learned to exciting projects. Thanks to the resources and network I developed during my time on the program, I continue to learn and expand my skills and abilities.”

Youth skills development in focus

With the world’s fastest-growing youth population, any digital skills efforts in Africa must extend to the continent’s young people.

Africa’s working-age population is predicted to grow to more than 600 million by 2030, constituting a quarter of the world’s under-25s.

But digital skills remain elusive among Africa’s youth, despite a projected 70% of jobs expected to require digital skills by the end of the decade.

Enter SAP Africa Code Week (ACW), a coding skills development programme aimed at youth that is held annually in partnership with UNESCO, the Association for the Development of Education in Africa, and Irish Aid.

Since its inception in 2015, ACW has successfully empowered 17 million young people across 54 countries with coding and computational thinking skills, while close partnerships with NGOs and governments across the continent has helped drive the inclusion of coding in national curricula.

Toward the end of 2023, SAP also announced a new pilot project in partnership with UNICEF and other public-private organisations aimed at preparing underserved youth for the digital workforce.

The SAP Educate to Employ initiative targets youth aged 16 to 24 and provides soft skills foundational knowledge using the Student Zone portal on SAP’s learning site. The knowledge prepares youth for a possible career in technology, with potential roles in development, consulting and support.

Makhohliso says the support of a broad range of partners is essential to overcoming youth skills challenges on the continent. “By directly addressing youth unemployment and inspiring our vibrant youth to pursue careers in the exciting world of technology, we together with our partners hope to mobilise the potential of our continent to become leading players in the future digital economy.”

Speaking with business leaders across the region, several common themes have emerged. From the urgent need to build greater resilience and reduce risk, to leveraging the power of AI and improving sustainability efforts while ensuring that investments drive value both now, and in the future – these are the interconnected trends that European business leaders will confront in 2024:

Trend 1: De-risking the enterprise

In an environment defined by volatility and geopolitical uncertainty, business leaders face increased risk across their operations.

This is driving an acute need for operational and technological interventions to reduce risk and bring stability to the enterprise, while still safeguarding agility.

Europe’s regulatory landscape is becoming increasingly complex as policymakers try to keep pace with the disruptive impact of technology.

The new Artificial Intelligence Act, for example, will establish strict rules and standards around the development and application of AI in business contexts.

This includes guardrails for general purpose AI; a total ban on AI as it relates to citizens’ rights and democratic processes; and the right for consumers to launch complaints and demand meaningful explanations regarding decisions based on AI systems.

In addition, a wave of new regulations in trade and customs throughout the region will add compliance pressure on companies already reeling from ongoing challenges related to various elements of their supply chains.

From 1 January this year, companies wishing to do business in Europe are subject to the EU Emissions Trading System that aims to establish Europe as the first climate-neutral continent; a truly admirable objective.

All this complexity requires extensive investment in sophisticated digital tools to provide greater visibility over the climate impact of the end-to-end supply chain, which brings me to my next point:

Trend 2: Supply chain resilience is not the same as agility 

As if the continued ripple effects of the pandemic on global supply chains didn’t pose enough of a challenge over the last couple of years, business leaders have also had to contend with the ongoing geopolitical conflict.

Be it re-routing of ships to avoid the Suez Canal, high-tech component shortages, or commodity price volatility on everything from food to energy – these factors, among others, create immense supply chain instability.

In response, forward-looking companies are seeking greater agility to respond to supply chain threats. A recent S&P Global report highlights the importance of technology in maximizing organizations’ chances at success with maintaining stable supply chains.

One of the key objectives of digital transformation within supply chains is the ability to improve end-to-end visibility.

However, a KPMG study found that 43% of global organizations have limited to no visibility over the performance of their tier one suppliers – an astounding statistic.

Greater visibility over supply chain processes clearly also supports wider sustainability efforts. The same KPMG study found that only 5% of supply chain emissions stem from direct manufacturing; emissions from the broader supply chain are five to ten times greater.

Digital platforms can significantly improve enterprises’ ability to collect emission data and set appropriate targets for key suppliers to collectively drive improved sustainability outcomes throughout the supply chain.

In addition, organizations will increasingly leverage the power of AI to improve supply chain management, logistics, and procurement. In fact, half of supply chain organizations are expected to invest in applications that support AI and advanced analytics capabilities in the year ahead.

Trend 3: Unlocking AI’s true business value

On the topic of AI, the year ahead will undoubtedly see more companies leverage Generative AI and AI for business to drive innovation, efficiency, and productivity.

Unsurprisingly, Gartner has predicted that Trust, Risk and Security Management in AI Models will be one of the leading tech themes for the year ahead, built on advances in model monitoring, AI application security, and privacy.

However, European businesses may be more hesitant to unleash AI on their operations. A recent PwC study found that business leaders in EMEA are far less convinced that their customers prefer to interact with AI models than their North American peers.

And considering the EU legislation already mentioned, European companies looking to incorporate AI in their business models or operating environments will need to build their use case with both compliance and privacy front and centre.

However, companies can unquestionably accelerate the value from their AI deployments by leveraging AI that is purpose built for business. Large cloud and software providers, like SAP, have invested significantly in building responsible AI into their core products. This means that customers can immediately benefit and unlock business value from their software investments.

2024 will be a pivotal year for many business leaders across EMEA – while daunting in many respects, also an incredibly exciting time to lead.

But can the region fix its education system and ensure its youthful talent pool can capitalise on the opportunities of the 21st century digital economy?

According to Titilayo Adewumi, managing director at SAP West Africa, bold steps toward educational reform are needed to promote improved learning outcomes and ensure the region an capitalise on the opportunities presented by abundant population growth.

“Technology should play a central and guiding role in enhancing education systems in West Africa. In Nigeria, for example, Edo state has launched a new system approach that leverages digital technologies to improve teaching and learning,” she said.

Challenges with education persist

With much of the developed world facing ageing populations and slowing population growth, Africa is expected to play a central role in the global labour market. The working age population in Sub-Saharan Africa will more than double in the next 30 years, accounting for more than two-thirds of total global population growth.

However, despite Africa’s youthful population, only 9% of children in sub-Saharan Africa that enrol in primary school make it to tertiary education, and only 6% graduate.

Mobolaji Abubakre Ogunlende, Commissioner at Nigeria’s Ministry of Youths and Social Development, says:

“In West Africa, and by extension, Lagos, only a fraction of children who start in primary school make it to tertiary education and even fewer manage to graduate. The root of this issue lies in the inefficiencies that plague our education systems, including the lack of digital transformation, which forces millions of students to compete for limited spaces in in-person educational institutions.”

Adewumi adds,

“A lack of digital transformation in West African education systems means millions of students have to travel long distances to physically collect transcripts instead of simply accessing digital copies online.”

Climate change is adding a further dimension to the region’s education challenges. The impact of droughts, floods, fires, heavy rain and heatwaves on education infrastructure can impact school attendance rates and dropout rates.

One study estimates climate change could keep more than 12 million girls in lower-income countries from completing their education every year from as soon as 2025. 

Bold steps needed

Experts are calling for bold action to address the region’s education challenges.

The World Bank’s Western and Central Africa Education Strategy 2022-2025, for example, brings top education leaders and experts together to advance the cause of education in the region. This strategy also sees investment of $3-billion into the education portfolio, with an additional $2-billion in the pipeline.

According to UNICEF’s strategy for enhancing education in Central and West Africa, the region’s education sector should focus on four key priority areas, namely:

• Access to education for all children, including an expansion of early learning programmes, vocational training, and national data production;
• Quality learning through improved teaching skills, quality standards, life skills programmes and early learning assessments;
• Girls’ education through programmes that support girls’ achievements in and through education; and
• Education in emergencies, especially for children living in conflict or disaster zones, where school safety, psychosocial support and information management are critical.

Private sector support critical

Adewumi says the private sector can play a critical role in enhancing education systems and outcomes in the region. “By investing in education and skills development initiatives, the private sector can also ensure it has access to the skills it needs to succeed and grow.”

Research conducted by SAP revealed an acute tech skills shortage in the region, with only 3% of organisations saying they don’t expect to have significant tech skills challenges in 2023.

More than nine in ten organisations (93%) also said the need for tech skills has increased in the past 12 months, with two-thirds of Nigerian organisations saying he need for tech skills has increased significantly.

To help organisations in the region address the tech skills shortage, SAP introduced the SAP Dual Study Program, which partners with top universities to take talented graduates into SAP-specific training and help them bridge the gap between university and the workplace.

Commissioner Ogunlende says:

“Undeniably, government infrastructure and programs are needed to adequately provide efficiencies not only by increasing conventional capacity but also leveraging on the capacity of private-run programs like the SAP Dual Study Program and the SAP Young Professionals Program that have demonstrated the positive impact of private sector engagement in youth educational programs. By creating a multi-pronged assault on the issue, we can make significant in-roads in upskilling our population. These are some of the plans we would be unfolding in the next set of months in partnership with SAP.”

The SAP Young Professionals Program provides a two- to three-month enablement plan that includes SAP software functional and technical knowledge. Graduates receive certification from SAP and exit the program as Associate Consultants, making them instantly employable within the broader SAP partner and customer ecosystem.

This model creates benefits across the board: youth develop industry-ready skills and secure suitable job opportunities; SAP partners and customers gain access to much-needed talent; countries benefit from the digital skills created; and SAP itself strengthens its own ecosystem.

“By making timely investments into strengthening the West African education system, the region can more readily benefit from its abundant youth skills,” says Adewumi. “However, considering pervasive challenges with access to quality education outcomes, organisations in the public and private sectors must come together to design suitable programmes that can accelerate youth skills development. Done correctly, this investment will pay dividends for decades to come.”

Joule will be embedded throughout SAP’s cloud enterprise portfolio, delivering proactive and contextualized insights from across the breadth and depth of SAP solutions and third-party sources.

By quickly sorting through and contextualising data from multiple systems to surface smarter insights, Joule helps people get work done faster and drive better business outcomes in a secure, compliant way.

Joule delivers on SAP’s proven track record of revolutionary technology that drives real results.

“With almost 300 million enterprise users around the world working regularly with cloud solutions from SAP, Joule has the power to redefine the way businesses – and the people who power them – work,” said Christian Klein, CEO and member of the Executive Board of SAP SE. “Joule draws on SAP’s unique position at the nexus of business and technology and builds on our relevant, reliable, responsible approach to Business AI. Joule will know what you mean, not just what you say.”

Joule will be embedded into SAP applications from HR to finance, supply chain, procurement and customer experience, as well as into SAP Business Technology Platform. Joule transforms the SAP user experience – it’s like tapping your smartest colleague on the shoulder.

Employees simply ask a question or frame a problem in plain language and receive intelligent answers drawn from the wealth of business data across the SAP portfolio and third-party sources, retaining context.

Imagine, for example, a manufacturer asking Joule for help understanding sales performance better.

Joule can identify underperforming regions, link to other data sets that reveal a supply chain issue, and automatically connect to the supply chain system to offer potential fixes for the manufacturer’s review.

Joule will continuously deliver new scenarios for all SAP solutions. For example, in HR it will help write unbiased job descriptions and generate relevant interview questions.

“As generative AI moves on from the initial hype, the work to ensure measurable return on investment begins,” said Phil Carter, Group Vice President, Worldwide Thought Leadership Research, IDC. “SAP understands that generative AI will eventually become part of the fabric of everyday life and work and is taking the time to build a business copilot that focuses on generating responses based on real-world scenarios – and to put in place the necessary guardrails to ensure it’s also responsible.”

Joule will be available with SAP SuccessFactors solutions and the SAP Start site later this year, and with SAP S/4HANA Cloud, public edition early next year.

Joule builds on and enhances existing SAP Business AI offerings. More than 26,000 SAP cloud customers have access to SAP Business AI across multiple scenarios and partner solutions.

SAP’s comprehensive strategy to build an enterprise AI ecosystem of the future also includes direct investments, such as those announced in July with Aleph Alpha, Anthropic and Cohere, as well as third-party partnerships including those with Microsoft, Google Cloud and IBM announced in May.

Sapphire Ventures LLC, a global software venture capital firm, is backed by SAP and is dedicating over US$1 billion to fund AI-powered enterprise technology startups.

Tracy Bolton, Chief Operating Officer at SAP Africa, says the additional skills capacity comes at a critical time for the region.

“Ongoing economic uncertainty, inflationary pressures and the impact of new technologies such as Generative AI are creating challenges for organisations seeking to unlock growth and drive innovation. With this latest group of candidates, organisations gain access to work-ready cloud and technology skills that can support their digital transformation efforts.”

Market challenges drive need for digital skills

Organisations throughout Southern Africa are beset with multiple challenges to their growth. Economic growth in the region stood at 2.7% in 2022, well below the global growth of 3.4% and the 3.8% growth experienced throughout Africa.

Business leaders are also striving to meet sustainability targets and deal with the impact of disruptive technologies, including the emergence of Generative AI and its application in a broad range of business cases.

However, organisations are hampered in their efforts at deploying technology to support their response to challenges through a pervasive tech skills shortage.

In skills research conducted by SAP, nearly eight in ten (78%) organisations in the region said a lack of tech skills had impacted them in the past twelve months, with a lack of innovation, delays with completing projects, and a loss of clients to competitors among the most common impacts.

Graduates ready to make impact

The SAP Young Professionals Program, offered by the Digital Skills Center of SAP, is aimed at enabling young talent to utilise the latest SAP technology and innovation.

The program covers software functional and technical knowledge and certification, with a strong focus on the latest technologies and a range of soft skills to ease entry into the workplace.

This latest cohort received training on SAP S/4HANA Cloud (public edition), SAP’s flagship enterprise resource planning solution, as well as SAP Activate and SAP Business Process Integration. In addition, graduates developed a broad range of soft skills, including design thinking, interpersonal skills, interview skills, and business model innovation methodology.

Candidates took part in training between early-July and end-August, and were chosen from a pool of candidates in South Africa and Zimbabwe. The full program took place virtually, allowing a broader range of candidates to take part.

Letlolo Baloyi, who is one of the graduates in this latest group, says: “The SAP Young Professionals Program has been nothing short of a catalyst for my personal and professional growth. Through a meticulously crafted blend of immersive learning experiences, mentorship, and hands-on projects, the program has equipped me with a comprehensive understanding of SAP’s innovative technologies and their real-world applications.”

Since its launch in 2012, the SAP Young Professionals Program has trained and graduates more than 4100 candidates across 41 countries, including over 1900 in Africa alone.

Bolton adds:

“The program is aimed at supporting our customers and partners in the region by ensuring they have access to essential skills needed to benefit from their investment into technology, and forms part of our broader global commitment to promoting education and entrepreneurship. We wish the graduates well and look forward to the positive impact they will make at their new workplaces.”

This is the view of Genevieve Koolen, Human Resources Director at SAP Africa. “Interest in technologies such as artificial intelligence is at an all-time high as organisations throughout the African continent seek to unlock the efficiency and innovation gains offered by such technologies. However, in many cases an acute and ongoing shortage of critical tech skills is undermining organisations’ efforts at adopting new technologies, preventing them from building new capabilities or effectively driving innovation.”

Skills crunch affecting organisations

Research published by SAP earlier this year found that four in five African organisations were affected negatively by a lack of tech skills. Three-quarters of organisations also cited additional pressure on existing teams due to a lack of available tech skills, with 41% reporting employees were either leaving or planning to leave due to the pressures caused by understaffing.

“Business leaders and their HR teams are under pressure to ensure the organisation has access to a ready supply of work-ready skills,” says Koolen. “However, new talent is not being added to the skills pool quickly enough, and many organisations simply don’t have the internal processes and initiatives needed to develop new skills internally or upskill or reskill existing employees.”

Lack of preparedness affects access to skills

In a study by McKinsey, some 87% of global senior executives said their companies were not adequately prepared to address the skills gap. Koolen says one of the undesired outcomes of a lack of planning around tech skills is the so-called recycling of talent, where organisations rehire from the same pool of qualified candidates instead of developing and retaining new talent.

“Talent retention is complicated by organisations all vying for a limited number of talented candidates. Instead, organisations should seek to develop and nurture their own talent, drawing on their skills base and upskilling or reskilling employees for new roles and duties.”

Koolen points to three strategic priorities that can improve tech skills availability within African organisations, namely:

1. Develop internal skills as a priority

There is a gap between companies’ stated intention of developing internal skills, and the measures they put in place to achieve this. SAP’s research found that 75% of African organisations plan to fill their tech skills gap through skills development for current employees.

“However, only 28% offer such training opportunities at any time, with a full quarter saying they only offer training and skills development once a year or upon special request,” explains Koolen. “Considering the pace of technological change and the rapid impact of technologies such as artificial intelligence, organisations should seek to build a culture of continuous and ongoing learning.”

In some cases, this may involve greater investment of available HR and IT budgets toward skills development. “Only 7% of African organisations currently spend more than 20% of their IT or HR budgets on skills development, leaving significant room for greater investment to address the skills scarcity.”

2. Focus on the employee experience

The ‘Great Resignation’ that followed the lifting of lockdown restrictions in 2020 and 2021 – where employees left their jobs in record numbers – highlighted to lack of engagement many employees felt with their work.

“Quiet Quitting and other forms of disengagement with work have a direct impact on an organisation’s ability to remain competitive,” says Koolen. “With some studies suggesting only 21% of employees globally are engaged at work, companies have a tremendous task ahead to re-engage their employees.”

As a result, Employee Experience has emerged as a major priority in companies’ talent attraction and retention strategies. SAP research revealed that 70% of African organisations use an Employee Experience or Human Capital Management tool, with a further 25% saying they want to use such tools.

“By connecting their data, people, and processes, companies can improve the business insights they derive from HR and build a total workforce management strategy that closely supports broader company objectives while delivering the employee experiences that improve retention and boosts engagement.”

3. Build a culture of inclusion

Diversity and inclusion initiatives have gained ground over the past few decades to become strategic imperatives for any high-performing company.

McKinsey suggests gender-diverse organisations are 25% more likely to outperform their less diverse competitors, while ethnically-diverse organisations are 36% more likely to do so.

“Encouragingly, nearly two-thirds of African organisations that formed part of our research offer fully-developed diversity and inclusion programmes, with a further 31% saying they are in the process of developing one.”

She adds that diversity and inclusion brings benefits to the business that extend beyond skills availability. “Diverse companies have been proven to be more innovative, have better problem solving capabilities, and financially outperform their less diverse peers.”

Sergio Maccotta, Senior Vice-President for Middle East South and Africa at SAP, says Makhohliso joins the company at a pivotal time.

“Organisations throughout Southern Africa are uncovering new capabilities and efficiency gains through the smart use of intelligent technologies, thereby accelerating business transformation and sustainability efforts.

As the region shifts to more agile and resilient business processes to power growth across multiple industries, Kholiwe’s technology and leadership expertise will be a great asset to our business.”

With more than 20 years’ technology experience, and previous leadership roles that span both the public and private sectors, Kholiwe Makhohliso started her career as an auditor.

During her illustrious career, she has worked in IT, consulting and sales for blue chip companies that include Accenture and Oracle.

Most recently, Makhohliso was the Vice-President and Country MD for German software company, Software AG, where she served as an Executive Director board member.

Passionate about education and youth skills development, Kholiwe Makhohliso is also Chairperson of the Sparrow Trust, a non-profit organisation working to provide young, disadvantaged South African youth with education and learning opportunities.

Speaking of her new appointment Makhohliso comments, “This is a fantastic time to be joining SAP, as the organisation takes significant strides on its cloud leadership journey that is embracing the potential of AI and sustainability in the Southern African marketplace. I’m excited for this next chapter in my career as the region has a well-established installed base of SAP customers, and I look forward to further engaging both customers and partners to generate ongoing positive impact, powered by technology.”

“Organisations are navigating a new era of change and uncertainty and the role that technology plays in unlocking value is critical,” adds Maccotta. “Kholiwe’s appointment to this strategic leadership role will be invaluable in further leading SAP’s efforts in Southern Africa to power innovation and ultimately fuel economic growth.”