IT professionals in Africa are being connected to tech businesses in the Baltic region as part of a European Commission-funded project.
Through a focus on people with skills, the Digital Explorers programme aims to address skills shortages in the Baltic tech sector and increase more business and government engagement between the Baltic nations and African countries.
At the Turing College data science school in Lithuania’s capital Vilnius, the programme has already remotely trained 90 junior to mid-level data analysts from Africa. These trainees will then travel to and work within the Baltic region, particularly within its rich tech startup sector. It is hoped the project will create a model for the wider EU region to follow.
Žilvinas Švedkauskas, managing director at Lithuanian think tank OSMOS, which is behind the project, said it creates “unexpected country partnerships” such as between Lithuania and Nigeria – countries that are “very different”.
“We built the project around people, digital explorers and their digital journeys. We create connections that set the path for more business to business and government to government type of engagement between countries,” Švedkauskas told Computer Weekly.
Digital Explorers began in Lithuania and has since been expanded into all three Baltic countries to also include Estonia and Latvia. In Africa, Nigeria and Kenya are part of the project, which also includes Armenia.
“We are piloting first and foremost, seeing how these sort of arrangements could work on a global scale,” said Švedkauskas.
He added that the training, which is initially remote, exposes the talent in Africa to the practices and modern interaction in the Baltics: “All the mentors are industry professionals, the learning environment very much resembles the way teamwork is organised in tech companies here. We connect talent with the businesses that are looking to find new employees and explore new markets as well as diversify their teams.”
For the junior to mid-level data analysts, the programme is offering internships with participants relocated to the Baltic countries for six months. Digital Explorers subsidises the scholarships and pays the travel costs. “Then it’s up to the company to mentor the intern to provide the working environment,” said Švedkauskas.
After the six-month internship, trainees either return home and get support from Digital Explorers to help them reintegrate or they may remain in the Baltics and get support integrating for the long term. Since 2019, 53 trainees have relocated to the Baltics.
Švedkauskas said the project faces challenges, which need to be overcome through “advocacy and informed persuasion”, adding: “The picture is not all rosy. Immigration regulations are becoming increasingly strict, making relocations and people-to-people exchange challenging, to say the least.”
Mercy Kimalat, CEO of the association of startup and SME enablers of Kenya (ASSEK), a visiting ambassador in the Digital Explorers programme, said: “The startup ecosystem in the Baltics is impressively mature and stable, but it still needs to continue to grow and innovate. This is where global partnerships and fresh talent and ideas could really benefit us all, offering a chance to have honest discussions about resiliency.”
Kimalat said that accomplishing the initiative’s goals is not without its difficulties: “The entrepreneurial environments in both Kenya and the Baltics have faced many challenges over the past couple of years, from rising inflation to regional political perturbations, so it is inspiring to learn how different startup ecosystems continue to thrive and encourage growth.”
