Elizabeth Sloane’s board has approved a US$14.6 Million investment in cybersecurity education and certification. Elizabeth Sloane endeavours to upskill ICT Professionals in the Caribbean to support the certification of more cybersecurity professionals.
The past two years have seen an uptick in cyberattacks, causing more than $600 billion to be lost to cybercrime. Africa is currently losing $4 billion annually to cybercrime, according to Interpol’s Africa Cyberthreat Assessment Report. As of 2022, there is still a cybersecurity workforce gap of over 2.72 million.
“It is critical to support the upskilling of ICT professionals in the territories we serve,” said Melanie Wynter, the Managing Director of Elizabeth Sloane. “Data protection and cybersecurity have been at the core of all our digital solutions, and we don’t have the needed personnel.”
The US$1.4 Million will be allocated through the Lauryn C. Poyser, The Kusi P. Adu- Amankwah “Lex Stella,” Upskill Africa, and the C.Courtney Jackson Awards, allowing ICT professionals the opportunity to obtain financial aid solutions to acquire cybersecurity industry-recognized certifications such as CISSP, CCSP, Security + and SSCP. The grants will subsidize the cost of these certificates by more than 60% depending on the grant.
ESIT seeks partnerships in distributing these awards and welcomes any support as we position both regions as a source for highly skilled ICT professionals.
