Rwandan data science graduates could benefit from international job market opportunities following the new partnership between African Institute for Mathematical Sciences and Ishango.

Ishango is a social enterprise creating highly skilled jobs in Africa while the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) is Africa’s first and largest network of centers for innovative post-graduate training in mathematical sciences.

The new partnership aims to connect top African data scientists with international work experience opportunities.

Eunice Baguma Ball, Co-Founder of Ishango said that the partnership will boost African data science graduates’ employment prospects through a fully funded, three-month fellowship program.

"The fellows will be equipped with technical and soft skills to prepare them for the international job market. Hosted at the AIMS Rwanda Centre of Excellence in Kigali, fellows will also get real-world experience, working remotely on projects and adding value to international organizations,” she said.

Baguma said that leveraging data has become increasingly crucial for the growth of businesses and organizations across the globe and therefore African data scientists should tap into such an opportunity.

"Africa now has a growing pool of bright and talented data scientists who have the potential to compete at a global level. Our goal is to be the bridge between Africa’s top talent and global businesses. Through this partnership with AIMS, we now have access to the very best that Africa has to offer. We look forward to working together to develop the data leaders of tomorrow,” she said.

She said that for the pilot phase, the fellowship programme is looking to work with 12 fellows.

Applications for the summer programme are now open.

Successful applicants, she said, will be interviewed to assess their technical knowledge and motivation.

"Once accepted on the programme they will be matched to company projects that align with their skills profile and career goals. Over the 12 weeks of the programme, 8 of which will be based at our hub in Kigali, they will be provided with training and supported by mentors to deliver their projects. Thereafter they will be supported to find longer employment opportunities,” she explained.

She noted that they have partnered with AIMS to launch the programme at their centre of excellence in Kigali adding that they will then look to expand to other countries in the region.

"We aim to place all our fellows into long-term employment opportunities. We believe that the experience and skills they will get working on projects for global companies will go a long way in boosting their employment prospects. Our goal is to create 500 highly skilled data science jobs in Africa over the next five years,” she said.

Charles Lebon Mberi Kimpolo, Director of the AIMS Industry Initiative said that with the growing technological advancements, top talented African data scientists should be connected.

"In today’s smarter communities, traditional data processing software, and techniques cannot deal with the analysis required to understand human behavior. Specialized technical skills and tools are needed to deal with such large data and information.

This is why we need to build capacity and create a critical mass of data scientists equipped with the required skills to understand how to perform complex data tasks across various businesses,” he said.

The partnership, he said, will provide AIMS alumni with opportunities to learn new skills and contribute to human capital development needed by partner companies.

"We believe this data science and AI fellowship program will boost AIMS alumni’s employability skills and enhance their transition to relevant employment,” he noted.

The efforts, he said, will help global companies to access an untapped talent pool – African Data Scientists.

The fellowship takes the top graduates across Africa and gives them both Data Science knowledge and real-world project experience through a three-month, fully funded Data Science fellowship program, which equips them to tackle quantitative problems across sectors, industries, and continents.