Creating global job opportunities 
for young people in Ghana

The global BPO and ITO sector is growing fast and constantly looking for new talent. BPO stands for Business Process Outsourcing: companies contract other businesses to provide specific services to save money and time – while also gaining access to skills they may lack in-house. ITO stands for Information Technology Outsourcing – outsourcing IT services such as software development, infrastructure, or IT support. These services can often be delivered from remote locations.

In Germany, as in many other countries, the high demand for skilled IT talent cannot be met: For example, in 2023, there was a shortage of around 150,000 IT specialists. At the same time, Ghana is growing and its universities produce over 110,000 graduates annually in the field of computer science, IT and other related areas. But the labour market does not have the capacity to offer adequate positions for this large number of graduates. As more companies are expanding and modernising their digital infrastructure in Ghana, there is a growing demand locally for these talents to support the delivery of digital services.

International clients demand a high skill set: They require cloud administrators, software developers and AI specialists with good soft skills and problem-solving abilities. At the same time, simpler roles like call centre jobs can be an attractive entryway for marginalised groups in Ghana who often must go the extra mile to find a job, like migrants from neighbouring countries, women and young people.

This is where the project “BPO Skills 4 Jobs” comes in. It equips Ghanaian professionals with the skills international clients need and enables remote service delivery from Ghana. The project consists of two components: The first one is with getINNOtized, a German IT company with offices in several African countries that trains and recruits IT specialists to work for international businesses. With the support of Invest for Jobs, getINNOtized equips Ghanaian IT specialists with skills tailored to the needs of German clients. Afterwards, they get the opportunity to work remotely for these clients from Ghana. One of them is Mercy Dufie Boateng. The young IT specialist from Ghana has successfully completed the training provided by getINNOtized and now works for one of the firm’s German clients – remotely from Accra: “The new skills that I learned during the programme are basically how to communicate. We were introduced to basic-level German language. The other skills that I learned were on the technical side.”
 

Florian Bogenschütz is the CEO of Wayra Germany, a subsidiary of o2 Telefónica Deutschland. He describes the benefits of the project from the perspective of a German client: “It's a win-win situation: the employees there are paid above average, and it's much easier for us to find and employ them there than it would be to source them domestically.”

While the first component targets highly skilled IT roles, the second component focuses on inclusive pathways into the BPO sector, especially for marginalised groups such as refugees. It is implemented together with eSAL, Ghana’s leading indigenous BPO company, and the global BPO company Concentrix Ghana. The participants of the “Work Readiness Programme” receive training in soft and technical skills to prepare them to work with international clients. The curriculum includes, for example, customer service, data analysis, and teamwork. Ruth Obidieh, a programme graduate and refugee from Togo, says the training helped her build both practical skills and self-assurance: “I learned how to communicate with people. I learned how to boost my confidence.” She has since secured a good job in Ghana thanks to the programme.
 

Nii Ashirifi Gogo, Head of Impact Sourcing at eSAL, has no doubt that the trainees receive the needed skills for the high demands of the international industry: “By the time they conclude the programme, graduates are very well prepared to be able to hit the ground running on day one when they start the job.”