Inside Ascend: how apprenticeship is closing Africa's software skills gap

Africa has no shortage of talented young people. What it lacks is a reliable path from a university degree to building software that real customers depend on. Too many graduates leave campus with theory but little experience of how production systems are designed, tested and supported.

Ascend is E&M's answer to that gap.

Learning by doing, not by lecture

Ascend is built around apprenticeship rather than classroom theory. Apprentices train in four areas that today's organisations need most:

• software development
• artificial intelligence
• cloud
• cybersecurity

The difference is where that training happens. Apprentices work on live client projects, alongside senior engineers, at our innovation hubs in Tatu City and Kampala. They build real minimum viable products, which means real deadlines, real users and real feedback.

What the numbers say

Since 2023, more than 1,000 graduates have come through Ascend. They have moved into placements with E&M, with our clients and across the wider market.

The fastest way to become a software engineer is to ship software, with someone experienced beside you.

Why it matters for organisations

For corporates, Ascend does two jobs:

1. A ready source of job-ready talent. Graduates arrive having already worked on production projects.
2. A partner for upskilling existing teams. The same approach helps in-house staff grow into new technologies.

Ascend also feeds our own work. Many of the engineers placed through Tech Resource Augmentation come from its talent pipeline, and ideas from Ascend graduates can grow into new ventures through our incubation programme.

Building the next generation

Africa's next technology companies will be built by people who learned their craft on real problems. Ascend is how we help make sure that talent is ready.

Interested in hiring Ascend graduates or upskilling your team? Talk to us.