Introduction: How ICT outsourcing can create jobs for African youth

Africa’s youth population is booming—and so is its pool of digital talent. Across the continent, young people are building skills in software development, cybersecurity, cloud computing, and other high-demand ICT fields. This presents a major opportunity: if African digital workers can tap into global demand, particularly from high-income markets facing ICT talent shortages, the job creation potential is enormous.

At the Jobtech Alliance, we believe that global business services (GBS) platforms are particularly strong entry points for African youth into the world of work for global markets.

Why we’re looking at German policies

We take a systems change approach to growing the jobtech sector. That means we look beyond individual programs or supply-side interventions to the broader ecosystem—including the demand side.

Much of the focus to date has rightly been on the policies and conditions within African countries that affect the growth of ICT outsourcing—such as taxation, infrastructure, and training. But far less attention has been paid to the other end of the value chain: the markets where demand originates.

That’s why we conducted this study, Identifying policy barriers and opportunities in the EU for ICT outsourcing to Africa, with a specific focus on Germany. As Europe’s largest economy and one of the countries most affected by tech talent shortages, Germany is a critical source market for outsourced ICT services. Understanding what prevents German companies from working with African service providers is essential if we want to grow this sector sustainably. While the content is focused on Germany, lessons are applicable to much of the EU.

Main findings from the report

The report identifies the eight most critical policy-related barriers facing African ICT service providers when trying to access EU markets. These span macro (regulatory and trade), meso (industry and institutional), and micro (firm-level) levels—and offer a roadmap for action.

At the macro level, barriers include:

• Lack of dedicated trade policies for ICT services between African countries and the EU
  
• Complex EU regulatory frameworks, particularly around GDPR and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)
  
• The need for regulatory cooperation, such as data adequacy agreements. A promising development is the ongoing Kenya-EU Adequacy Dialogue—if successful, Kenya could become the first African country to achieve GDPR adequacy status, removing a major obstacle to data transfer.

At the meso level, the challenges involve:

• High costs of international certification (like ISO 9001 or ISO 27001), which are often required by EU clients
  
• Communication and contracting gaps between EU buyers and African providers
  
• Limited trust and brand recognition of African ICT firms in the EU

At the micro level, individual firms face:

• Misconceptions and limited visibility among EU clients of viable providers in Africa
  
• Complex contracts that are difficult to navigate
  
• Language and cultural gaps

Key responses to these include:

• Macro: Further expand and replicate trade and regulatory adequacy agreements and exploring mechanisms like regulatory sandboxes to enhance compliance and market access for African IT providers.
• Meso: Trade facilitation partnerships, branding initiatives to strengthen Africa’s global reputation in ICT, and a trade promotion directory of African ICT providers
• Firm-level: Efforts to make it easier for African providers to become compliant, including certification bootcamps, a GDPR readiness toolkit, and more.

Next steps
This report is just an initial exploration into this space, with some practical lessons on what regulations to look out for and what can be done now. The future of jobtech in Africa doesn’t just depend on what happens in Nairobi, Lagos, or Kigali. It also depends on what happens in Berlin, Brussels, and beyond.

Read the full report here.