137,000 experts missing – shortage of skilled workers in Germany: IT professionals from Africa step in

Augustine Normanyo was unemployed for months after completing his IT studies in Ghana’s capital Accra. “After my studies, I looked for a job in the tech industry,” says Normanyo in a DW interview. But without success, there was still a lack of practical experience.

Until a friend introduced him to the AmaliTech company. Now, a year later, Normanyo is almost done with his software engineering training. “My goal at the moment is to work in the service center and develop my skills there.” AmaliTech offers the graduates paid jobs that secure them an income. Also with a job on the German market, but without leaving Ghana.

Because the tech company, headquartered in Cologne, brings qualified workers from its locations in Ghana and Rwanda together with local and international customers. The next generation of technology experts will be built up in Africa and will in future face the shortage of skilled workers in the IT sector in Germany.

Exemplary model for IT industry

“I think once you get an opportunity at AmaliTech, you can make it into any technology field in the world,” said Bilal Abubakari, who was recruited as an engineering computer science student when he was on campus as a talent scout Amalitech met. After graduating, he immediately joined the IT company and is enthusiastic about the professionalism: “You give a very good insight into the industrial sector, so that you really know what’s going on,” he tells DW.

According to economist Eckhardt Bode from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, this model should set a precedent: The African continent offers great potential for reducing the local labor shortage, he said in a DW interview. Be it through the outsourcing of work that cannot be done in Germany due to the lack of workers, as practiced by the company AmaliTech, or through the immigration of skilled workers from Africa, said Bode.

Release the brakes on prosperity

But in Germany there must be a greater change in awareness in society, says Bode and asks: “Are we Germans really willing to accept immigration?” The shortage of skilled workers or workers in Germany “could become a brake on growth and prosperity in the future – if we don’t take countermeasures more decisively than before,” says Bode. In all likelihood, this cannot be solved without greater immigration of workers.

The tech industry is particularly affected by increasing digitization, and IT projects in public administration are not working particularly well today. According to the Bitkom digital industry association, there is currently a shortage of 137,000 IT experts in Germany’s companies across all sectors.

Win-win situation for Africa and Germany

But the IT market offers a win-win situation for both sides thanks to the possibility of being able to work digitally from anywhere in the world: prospects for young Africans and German companies. “In this way, the skilled labor base is strengthened globally in order to reduce harmful effects such as the brain drain (the emigration of highly qualified skilled workers, editor’s note)”, says Najim Azahaf, migration expert at the Bertelsmann Foundation.

Internationally there are many pilot projects with different models, for example in Eastern Europe, Asia and Latin America. “But we must also focus more closely on countries from sub-Saharan Africa, where the initial hurdles may be somewhat greater, but the potential for all sides is all the greater,” Azahaf told DW. Certain prejudices of investors, but also the question of the compatibility of financial statements often stand in the way.

Talent hub in East Africa

In contrast to Germany, where the baby boomers, i.e. the baby boomers born up to the mid-1960s, are now retiring, Africa has a demographic surplus of young people. Azahaf is convinced that this opportunity must be seized. There are promising approaches in North Africa in Tunisia and Morocco.

However, there are also many young talents in South and East Africa who work as software developers and programmers for German and European customers. Anja Schlösser founded the company “Code of Africa” ​​in Hamburg in 2019 – to build up flexible and well-trained young teams in East Africa.

Ten full-time employees now work at the company headquarters in Rwanda plus 40 other specialists are available for services from the networks in Kenya, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. “Our focus is that the young people don’t emigrate, but can build a sustainable life in East Africa and secure an income from work,” Schloesser told DW.

Graduates fit for the future

Salami Suleiman, trainer at AmaliTech, is convinced that his protégés can do it: “We know that the employees with whom we started the service center and who are now working for us will develop further and take on management positions.”

The training program offers structure and goes on a “learning journey” with the beginners. So-called “soft skills” also play an important role. Communication is important, says Suleiman, as are adaptability, flexibility and the ability to work in a team. “In a way, these skills have become almost more important than technical skills.” In his opinion, this has so far been neglected in the education system.

The trainees Bilal Abubakari and Augustine Normanyo want to stay in Ghana for the time being. Abubakari hopes to work on a customer project in the future. He is motivated to specialize in an IT area: “If I stay at AmaliTech, I can follow this path and in ten years I could then look at other markets, for example in Europe.”

Author: Martina Schwikowski, Isaac Kaledzi (Accra)