The Government of Zimbabwe, through the Ministry of Skills Audit and Development has signed a landmark Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Liquid Intelligent Technologies to establish and operationalize a Software Developer Skills Development Hub aimed at positioning Zimbabwe as a continental leader in digital skills, innovation and technology entrepreneurship.
The agreement, signed in Harare on Wednesday 20 May, creates a five-year framework for collaboration focused on producing highly skilled software developers equipped with practical, industry-relevant competencies in Artificial Intelligence (AI), cloud computing, cybersecurity, data science, mobile and web application development and other emerging technologies.
Speaking during the signing ceremony, the Minister of Skills Audit and Development, Honourable Dr Jenfan Muswere said the partnership represented a deliberate shift from policy formulation to practical implementation.
“This MOU moves us from vision to implementation. It connects policy, infrastructure, training and industry into one ecosystem that prepares our young people not only for jobs, but for innovation and entrepreneurship. Zimbabwe’s participation in the Fourth Industrial Revolution is not a question of whether we want to be part of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, but it is a question of how we are going to participate in it – as consumers of other nations and institutions or as creators and participants,” said Honourable Muswere.
“The world of work has shifted. Industries across every sector – mining, agriculture, finance, health, transport and logistics, manufacturing – are being transformed by software, by data, and by artificial intelligence. And we are creating a platform through which Zimbabweans will be players and creators in that ecosystem. We must be alive to the reality that every time we import software, we are importing skills and exporting jobs. Every licence fee paid abroad for software our own engineers could have built is a salary that did not go to a Zimbabwean family. That must change,” he added.
He said the gap between Zimbabwe’s educational potential and its digital economic output is not a failure of talent, but a failure of structured opportunity.
“The Memorandum of Understanding we sign today establishes a framework for the joint development and operational support of a Software Developer Skills Development Hub in Zimbabwe, a structured platform where Government priorities and LIT’s technical capabilities come together to produce measurable outcomes. The Hub will train Zimbabweans in software development, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, cloud engineering, and digital entrepreneurship. It will not train people for certificates. It will train people for careers and for the confidence to build companies of their own. Our own people must be able to create the software that runs our industries, our commerce, and our government systems, not to depend on others to build the systems that govern our lives, but to build them ourselves, on our own terms.”
The Honourable Minister challenged Zimbabweans to take advantage of their intellectual prowess and participate in the global digital ecosystem.
“Zimbabwe is not an intellectually inferior nation. We are not inferior to the creatives in Silicon Valley. We are not inferior to those who build the software we use every day in our schools, our banks, our security systems. Our intellectual superiority must be reflected in what we CREATE and INNOVATE, not merely in what we import and consume.”
Opening the ceremony, Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Skills Audit and Development, Ambassador Rudo Chitiga, described the partnership as a critical response to the rapidly evolving world of work and the growing importance of digital fluency in national development.
“The architecture of new work requires us to prepare our citizens with adaptable, future-oriented skills that respond to the realities of an increasingly digital global economy,” said Ambassador Chitiga.
She noted that the agreement aligns with Zimbabwe’s Vision 2030 and broader national development goals focused on innovation, industrialization and human capital development.
“Human capital remains central to sustainable national progress. Through strategic partnerships such as this one, we are strengthening the country’s capacity to identify skills gaps, promote continuous learning and align training with emerging economic opportunities,” she said.
Under the MOU, Liquid Intelligent Technologies, working with Cassava AI and Liquid C2, will provide critical infrastructure and technical support, including high-speed internet connectivity to training centers, cloud platforms, subsidized GPU compute power for AI development and globally recognised cybersecurity certification pathways.
Chief Executive Officer of Liquid Intelligent Technologies, Lorreta Songola, said the partnership demonstrates a shared commitment to ensuring that technology becomes a tool for inclusion and empowerment rather than exclusion.
“Today is the biggest mark in our history where we are seeing that government is really taking this very, very seriously. Every time digital is spoken about, people feel uncomfortable. But today we are saying with this partnership, it’s going to be inclusive,” she said.
The implementation of the MOU will be overseen by a joint steering committee and technical task team responsible for monitoring progress through measurable indicators such as the number of developers trained annually, job placement rates and startups incubated.