Narayan AmmachchiThe government of Brazil has reportedly partnered with US computing giant Microsoft to train millions of its citizens in information technology.
The initiative called “Microsoft Mais Brasil” is designed to resolve the perennial IT talent shortage in Latin America’s largest economy.
The Silicon Valley firm has stated on its website that it is hoping to train as many as 5.5 million Brazilians. The government has, however, set a target of training 25 million people, as the unemployment rate has soared to almost 12% in recent weeks.
Brazil adds 44,000 IT professionals to its talent pool every year, but its IT market requires 70,000 professionals annually, according to Tânia Consentino, President of Microsoft Brazil, who was speaking at an online event recently.
It seems Microsoft is going to provide the training free of cost. It is not clear whether the government will fund the training program.
Microsoft, in the meantime, is busy sealing deals with provincial governments to provide cloud computing services. According to local news outlet EXAME, the company is finalizing a plan to set up a new data center in Rio De Janeiro.
Microsoft, whose Azure cloud technology is quite popular in the South American country, is currently powered by its single data center in the city of Sao Paulo.
“A new space became necessary for us to deliver faster technology, which can transfer data effectively,” Consentino said at the event. “We have 25 thousand partners in Brazil and, when you expand the infrastructure, you increase the services and this improves the entire production chain,” he said.
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