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SAP, a German multinational software company, has announced that 427,000 students from 30 African countries completed its annual coding training programme – the Africa Code Week. The company said the 2016 programme dramatically exceeded the initial participation target of 150,000 students, according to a statement released on Wednesday.

"Africa Code Week 2016 exceeded all expectations and has made a significant impact on the skills development of Africa's youth,” said Brett Parker, Managing Director of SAP Africa. “And with total female participation reaching 48.6 per cent, this year's initiative also made inroads into gender equality in African ICT education. We will now build on the success of our first two years and, with the help of our partners, start preparing for Africa Code Week 2017."

Morocco won the continent-wide Africa Code Week 2016 award, retaining its top spot from last year, with the highest engagement ratio of 0.47 per cent youth per 100,000 population and a total of 165,352 introduced to coding during this year's initiative. Cameroon came second with 0.26 per cent per 100,000 youth engaged and a total of 62,918 introduced to coding. Lesotho took the third place, with an engagement rate of 0.24 per cent, SAP said.

In West Africa (excluding French-speaking countries such as the Ivory Coast), Africa Code Week trained over 73,000 students and achieved high engagement ratios. Ghana achieved the country’s target of training 50,000 youth with a final tally of 51,710 youth, representing 0.18 per cent youth per 100,000 population. In Nigeria, Africa Code Week reached more than 22,000 youth, of which 46 per cent were female.

"With Africa contributing more than half of global population growth by 2050, the continent will play a leading role in the future global economy,” said Claire Gillissen-Duval, Global Project Lead for Africa Code Week. “By learning basic coding skills in an open, supportive environment, Africa's youth are able to take advantage of the immense opportunities presented by the Digital Revolution and become active players shaping the global economy."

The Africa Code Week – which held between October 15-23, 2016 – is SAP’s continent-wide initiative designed to spark the interest of African children, teenagers and young adults in software coding. Launched in 2015, the initiative aims to equip 5 million African youth with basic coding skills by 2025.