Ashley Immanuel is the co-founder and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Semicolon, a company that is enabling Africa’s digital transformation by building tech-focused talent and businesses. Immanuel coordinates Semicolon’s delivery of innovative solutions related to education, talent management, digital advisory/implementation services, and venture-building.
Immanuel started her career in management consulting with IBM Global Business Services. Before joining Semicolon, she was chief executive officer of EFInA (Enhancing Financial Innovation & Access), an organisation that drives inclusive finance in Nigeria through research, advocacy, capacity building, and innovation.
- Explain what you do to a 5-year-old.
Semicolon builds technology solutions, which are things like the apps on your parents’ phones. We also teach people how to build these tech solutions, and we help companies hire and train people.
- What does a bad tech training programme look like in practice, and what separates one that produces employable talent from one that doesn’t?
A “bad” tech training programme does not deliver on its stated outcomes. Often the curriculum and delivery is too shallow short-term to really deliver results. We also see some programmes that purport to be designed for job-readiness but are significantly misaligned with industry needs.
To use a medical industry metaphor, if the healthcare industry said they needed more doctors and nurses, the answer wouldn’t be to quickly train a million people in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and taking vitals. Yes, those skills are useful, but the hospitals would still need the doctors.
I think the training misalignment is often driven by market pressure to reduce costs. Many people are looking for opportunities, but don’t have the money to pay for in-depth, high-quality education.
- When companies say “there’s a talent gap,” where is the gap actually coming from: training, expectations, or the companies themselves?
The gap comes from significant and longstanding under-investment in human capital. Building human capital starts long before people start thinking about job applications or career-specific training.
In fact, it even starts before birth: adequate nutrition in the first 1,000 days of a child’s life, starting from conception, sets the stage for cognitive capacity. We need to ultimately build systems that support health, education and holistic development of our future talent from day one.
- What is deeply lacking in Africa’s edtech sector today, and what steps are you taking to bridge it?
To some extent, I think what is lacking in Africa’s edtech sector is Africa’s edtech sector. What I mean by that is that I wonder if we even have sufficient activity and coordination to merit the label of “sector.”
Some committed people are doing very interesting work to drive learning outcomes, but there are too many unaddressed gaps. I would love to see more people really tackling tough education challenges in deep, committed, and innovative ways.