SoftBank invests in training in Latin America

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A focus on training: this is how SoftBank Group, the Japanese conglomerate famous for its investments in technology worldwide, has planned its future in Latin America.

The group that has invested billions of dollars in startups in the region in recent years has expanded its strategy with a long-term focus. In addition to financial investments, it also sponsors programs to train new talent and include groups that are underrepresented in the technology market.

“We want to train the next wave of entrepreneurs and employees who will build companies that SoftBank will target for investment in the future,” said Laura Gaviria Halaby, SoftBank’s director of partnerships and strategic initiatives.

SoftBank is one of the most important investors in Latin America. After some scattered investments throughout the 2010s, the group launched the US$5 billion SoftBank Latin America Fund in March 2019 and has become the region’s leading venture capital player. According to Bloomberg news agency reports, the group is now looking into doubling the capital available in the fund.

Although the amount is significantly lower than its famous Vision Fund, with US$100 billion to invest in technology around the world, the Latin America Fund represents a leap in venture capital available to the region’s companies. In all of 2020, Latin American startups raised some US$4 billion, according to Lavca (Latin American Private Equity and Venture Capital Association).

“We are extremely optimistic about the region, talents in Latin America are building wonderful companies, no matter where we look, we see great opportunities,” says SoftBank’s director of partnerships and strategic initiatives. The group has supported more than a dozen Brazilian startups, such as Olist, Creditas, Inter, and Gympass, as well as promising businesses in Colombia, Argentina, Mexico and Chile, such as Rappi delivery app and Ualá fintech.

The challenge for the future in Latin America lies in the lack of specialized professionals. In Brazil alone, Brasscom (Brazilian Association of Information Technology and Communication Companies) estimates that by 2024 there will be a deficit of 264,000 technology professionals. Faced with the problem, SoftBank decided to focus on training to ensure that the region has people prepared to create the next successful businesses.

“There are many programs and bootcamps to train people in development and engineering, so we decided to focus on data science,” says SoftBank’s director of partnerships and strategic initiatives. As a first step in this direction, SoftBank supports the “Data Science for All/Empowerment” program, which aims to train at least 10,000 people from underrepresented communities in the region over the next three years.

The free program was developed by the Correlation One vocational school, runs for 13 weeks and is designed to accommodate students with varying degrees of knowledge, from recent high school graduates to people with experience in technology.

The first SoftBank-supported class, which began in March of this year, has 1,009 students from Latin America and Miami. Among the participants are 120 employees of companies in which SoftBank invested in the region, 5 employees of SoftBank itself, and another 63 people from minority groups selected by SoftBank to continue receiving career support even after completing their studies.

Camila Sales, a Brazilian materials engineer, 29, from Lorena, in the interior of São Paulo, is among the selected students. Camila works for an automotive manufacturing company and became interested in the program when she started using data analysis at work.

“Classes are very practical, we discuss real cases of companies invested by SoftBank with the teachers and hear lectures from guests who work in the technology industry,” Sales says. The young Brazilian is not currently looking to relocate, but she is confident that the skills developed in the program will open doors in the future.

In SoftBank’s view, encouraging more people in the region to master data science is a way to boost the creation of businesses that use artificial intelligence at the core of their operations. “In every investment we make, we always have an eye for opportunities involving data and artificial intelligence. So we want more and more people in the region to have these skills, irrespective of their roles in startups,” says Halaby.

Source: Exame