INGRYD Academy, a leading Nigerian tech talent training and outsourcing organisation, has announced its partnership with ISACA, an international professional association focused on information technology (IT) governance to assist young people to have access to the global digital market. This was disclosed during a media conference held on Friday at Ikeja, Lagos. Speaking at the event, the founder of INGRYD Academy, Khadijat Abdulkadir, expressed delight for the partnership which said would open global technology jobs for many Nigerian youths. According to her, “We’re here to say that with INGRYD on the continent, we have an exclusive partnership with ISACA for the next five years. And for the next five years, INGRYD, as an academic partner of ISACA, can provide training and certify you for just $250; this is over 70% of the actual price. This does not happen anywhere else in the world, except at INGRYD, not even in the companies outside of Nigeria.” “The essence of this partnership is to ensure that our young people are not in a disadvantaged position to access markets. Over the last three years, INGRYD has been in the market supporting organizations to get the right technology skills that are needed for them to compete globally. But that’s not enough because, when you look at our country, and even the continents, we need to do a little bit more to close the gap for the young people so that they can compete better. INGRYD Academy, if you don’t already know, is a global workforce development company that offers technology training and certification, talent outsourcing and consulting services. We are present in three continents- in Europe, specifically in the Netherlands, Amsterdam, in Nigeria, and in Texas. “We operate physically across different countries. Our objective is to provide competitive access to the market for technology talents. We also provide access to talents for organizations. So when we focus on one side of our business, we also look at how we can ensure that young people, because they are the most populous, can have access, so that they are trained and have the right certification to compete.” Abdulkadir highlighted the success story of the Academy, noting that INGRYD has trained over 8000 people so far, received 1000 of applications and graduated 1000 people. “And from the organizational standpoint, the problem that we focus on solving for over 288 companies globally is, how do we ensure that you have the right talent to work for you? We have graduated over 1000 of people, and one of the most highlighted challenges that we found in the market was that they didn’t have just the right certification to complete this investment. “So, it is one thing to train people and ensure that they are good, that they can work. It is one thing to give them the practical skills to be able to do the work, but a lot of times, when you look at the global market, everybody just wants to know, what are you certified in? “If you come somewhere and you say, I have five years of experience as a software engineer, they say, where did you go to school? Did you graduate? What did you study? Whether we like it or not, we haven’t entirely evolved away from those questions. Organizations globally just want to know if you are with the right accreditation and right certification to ensure that you can work on our technologies,” she explained. Also commenting on the efforts being made by INGRYD to ensure people get ISACA certification without breaking the bank, Morenike George – Taylor, Strategic Management Director, said: In Europe, our trainings are about 1000 to $2,000 it’s very easy, because in that market, people can afford it. When you want to give someone a certification, the average person needs to pay 1,500 euros and get two vouchers. And organizations make this kind of investment in their people. It is the standard. But when you look into the market in Africa, especially here in Nigeria, it is a real challenge, because “And so we took the burden of paying for the training, which is how we announced that we will give 4000 scholarships every year to young Nigerians. We do this yearly, and we take on the responsibility for training them. But when we saw the gap in the market was specifically for certification, another question came up, who’s going to pay again? And this time around, we’ve decided to also take the burden, but this time, we took the burden together with none other than ISACA. “Today, we have launched something phenomenal. Not only have we partnered with ISACA to drop the cost of certifying to 70% off, it means that the average person who now has to pay $1,000 to get certified through INGRYD will receive it for no more than $250, and that is what we are announcing today. So the whole of Nigeria today, all the young people who struggle with getting actual professional certification, not going on LinkedIn learning and taking a 40 minute course because it’s free, and then you can have 20 but it’s still not employable.” The courses which are being offered by INGRYD Academy and can be certified are Software Engineering, Full Stack Software Development, Data Science with Python, Data Analysis, AI and Machine Learning, Internet of Things, Cybersecurity, Cloud Computing, DevOps and DevSecOps, IT Solution Sales, Agile, Product Management and Blockchain Technology. All courses cannot only be trained with ISACA certified instructors, but also with INGRYD Academy syllabus which is standardized such that a trainee can also become a member of the ISACA community free for one year. “ISACA community membership is a paid membership, but as part of our commitment, again, to supporting the youth ecosystem. Here, we offer it to everybody who graduates for one year at no cost, and in that first year, you have access to over 85,000 network of people,” Abdulkadir concluded.