AWS and SA development
As well as supporting existing customers, AWS is also investing in the future of the South African technology community, taking part in a number of philanthropic and charity activities. Amazon supports organizations such as AfricaTeenGeeks, an NGO that teaches children to code, Code4CT, a charity set up to inspire and empower young girls by equipping them with technical skills, DjangoGirls, which introduces women to coding, and GirlCode, which supports the empowerment of women through technology.
Amazon engineers work with these and other charities to provide coaching, mentoring, and AWS credits. Amazon also supports Africa-focused non-profit organization World Reader by donating cloud technology and Kindle devices, filled with e-books, to tackle illiteracy in Sub-Saharan Africa. As a result of the support from Amazon, World Reader has deployed over 27,000 Kindles to 396 schools and 109 libraries across 16 African countries.
In the education space, AWS supports the Explore Data Science Academy to educate students on data analytics skills in order to produce the next generation of data scientists in Africa. AWS is also working with education institutions in South Africa, such as the University of Cape Town and Stellenbosch University, to help train the next generation of cloud professionals through AWS Educate. Another program for higher education institutes is AWS Academy, which provides AWS-authorized courses for students to acquire in-demand cloud computing skills. The program has already attracted the country’s major academic institutions, including the University of Cape Town, University of Johannesburg, and Durban University of Technology.
AWS also works with the venture capital community as well as accelerators and incubators in South Africa to provide resources to startups through programs such as AWS Activate. In Cape Town, AWS works with organizations such as 4Di Capital, AngelHub Ventures, Crossfin, Knife Capital, LaunchLab, MTN Solution Space, Mzansi Commons, and Silicon Cape as well as co-working hubs, such as Workshop17, to provide coaching and mentorship as well as technical support and resources to help African startups launch their businesses and go global.
To sign up for an AWS account to prepare for the arrival of the AWS Africa (Cape Town) Region, visit aws.amazon.com
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