While corporate boardrooms debate the readiness of the local ecosystem for AI, the workforce is already working to stay ahead of the curve. Mid-career professionals, not just students, are flocking to online education platforms to future-proof themselves against a skills disruption that is no longer theoretical, edtech industry insiders tell EnterpriseAM.

“Learners are preparing ahead of disruption rather than reacting after it happens,” global e-learning platform Coursera’s Middle East, Turkey, and Africa General Manager Kais Zribi tells EnterpriseAM. With over 3.7 mn learners in Egypt — accounting for nearly 30% of the entire MENA market — the country has become a massive “skills kitchen.”

And unlike what you may have expected, the average learner on the platform in Egypt is 31 years old. Coursera’s main demographic to ensure growth is “career switchers and mid-career professionals who are keen to adopt AI, automation, and digitalization,” we were told.

By the numbers: In 2023, an Egyptian learner enrolled in a generative AI course once every 20 minutes, according to Coursera data shared with EnterpriseAM. By 2025, that frequency jumped to one enrollment every nine minutes. The year also saw over 440k STEM enrollments from Egyptian users on the platform.

Learners across other education platforms are also looking ahead to skills needed in the future, with AI pinpointed as the topic gaining the most interest, along with cybersecurity and project management, Egyptian edtech eYouth co-founder and CEO Mustafa Abd Ellatif tells us. Zribi described how the increased interest in STEM “reflects the reality that digital and technical skills now underpin employability.”

Looking ahead, demand is only set to increase, with 48% of on-the-job skills in Egypt expected to change within the next five years, according to the World Economic Forum’s most recent Future of Jobs Report (pdf). This puts Egypt a good way ahead of the global average of 39%. AI and technology are, of course, a big part of this, with the report seeing 45% of tasks handled by technology at the end of the decade, while humans will handle 30%, and 25% will be a collaborative effort.

Egyptian employers also understand the skills gap, with 73% identifying skill gaps as the primary barrier to developing their business, according to the World Economic Forum. Abd Ellatif similarly tells us that 40% of the businesses they speak to cite a lack of skills for why they’re not hiring younger workers, and 40% of demand comes from those directed their via their employers. This is also reflected in youth employment figures in the region, Abd Ellatif tells us in reference to why the edtech chooses to focus on those aged 15-35 years.

There are several reasons why in-person training and learning have taken a back seat, with eYouth, which boasts 4 mn learners, “providing on demand courses that anyone can take anywhere and anytime,” we were told. The edtech also points to its use of AI teachers to customize and improve learning, in addition to its efforts to match graduates with jobs, as what sets it apart from traditional education options and competing edtechs.

The speed with which students can learn skills and complete courses also puts online learning platforms at an advantage, according to Zribi. “People want to learn skills for a specific field within six to nine months, while this is much longer in traditional education with a degree of diploma.”

And what they also provide — unlike the early days of online education — is “credited content with accredited certificates,” Abd Ellatif tells us. But even without the shine of a traditional university degree, “we feel like over the last, let’s say, four to five years, the conversation now started to shift from credentials alone to to job relevant skills,” Zribi tells us.

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