Morocco has the fifth-largest developer community in Africa
Morocco is increasingly expanding in the technology sector and its global positioning is beginning to take on relevance. The Alawi country has been developing for years in technology and computer-related sciences, which is producing great benefits for the nation. The companies Google and Accenture have just produced a report in which they point out the importance of the Kingdom and name it the fifth country in Africa to have the largest community of developers. It is a ranking of the continent where the expansion of these professionals in sixteen countries has been assessed.
Developers, in IT terms, are technology professionals who work and engage in the software development process. A developer can also be called a programmer, and they typically work for companies and brands that want to expand their business online.
According to the report, during 2021 the Kingdom has seen this sector grow by more than 6% and has recorded a figure of 50,000 people in this job. This is a significant increase compared to the previous year, where only 47,000 developers were employed in 2020. The data confirms that the presence of Moroccan programmers accounts for 7% of the total for the whole of Africa.
The increase in this employment has to do with the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic. The growth of online services and the shift to teleworking have allowed developers to start moving more widely and find a job anywhere, as all companies have started to mobilise on the Internet and have therefore required the presence of these professionals.
Moreover, although the consequences of COVID-19 have usually been negative, programmers have been able to boost their performance in this area and, with the boom in online business, their salaries have improved significantly. This is good news for this sector, which has been able to take advantage of the opportunities that have been offered in this shift to online mode. The latest figures for 2021 show that 716,000 people in Africa alone are developers, and 83% of these are men.
Morocco comes fifth in a ranking where other countries are more fervent in their support for this work. In South Africa alone, 121,000 people are employed in this sector and it is the first country in Africa where the employment of programmers is better conditioned. This is followed by Egypt and Nigeria, with 89,000 professionals respectively, and only ahead of the Alawite country is Kenya, with 60,000 programmers.
Both Google and Accenture point out that the growing demand for this job in these countries is due to "strong education and a robust startup and technology ecosystem", says the report. They also point out that startups have significant financial support for their development.
Although Morocco is still in a growth phase in this field of work, since the arrival of the new government headed by Aziz Akhannouch and its innovative measures to make the country grow, programmers have had a special place on the Moroccan government's agenda.
Several projects have been launched that are entirely dedicated to getting people to specialise in computer science. One of these is "Take It Forward", which aims to encourage young people to become computer literate and digitally literate. It also seeks to improve the nation's youth unemployment situation by offering internships and employment.
It is worth mentioning the opening of the Euromed School of Digital Engineering and Artificial Intelligence, the first AI training centre in Africa. It aims to train young Moroccans in more advanced technologies. These include cybersecurity and robotics skills.
Google and Accenture have also named Morocco, Ghana and Rwanda as "grower countries" highlighted in the report as having "a moderate to large developer population, a mid-stage startup and tech ecosystem, and a moderately stable economic environment".
Morocco, in comparison to these two territories, is the country with the most resources to develop this field through government efforts to take initiatives. Companies confirm that the Kingdom is on the right track and is currently laying the foundations for this job to become more and more relevant.
