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MENA Job Seekers Can Obtain Career Certificates & Scholarships From Google
For job seekers who only speak Arabic, Google has added 5 additional digital skills courses to help them acquire even more digital skills.
The tech industry has an insatiable appetite for skilled employees, and universities don’t produce nearly enough graduates to meet it. The result is a global talent shortage, which has recently reached a 15-year high, with 69% of employers globally struggling to find employees with the right blend of technical skills and human strengths.
Now, Google is offering to sponsor over 7,000 scholarships for its Career Certificates program in the Middle East and North Africa as part of the Grow Stronger with Google initiative.
The certificates included in the program are aimed at job seekers with no prior IT experience, and their goal is to help them cultivate the skills they need to find employment in the following four major fields: IT support, project management, UX design, and data analytics.
To reach a wide range of participants, several local organizations are helping to distribute the scholarships, including:
- Amideast in Lebanon
- Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC) and the Higher College of Technology in the UAE
- Egyptian Banking Institution (EBI) and the University Center for Career Development (UCCD)
- Gaza Sky Geeks in Palestine
- General Commission for Audiovisual Media (GCAM) and the Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF) in Saudi Arabia
- The Agency for Digital Development (ADD) in Morocco
Google’s certificates can be obtained even without a scholarship through self-paced programs on Coursera.org. It’s then up to individual employers to recognize them.
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For job seekers who only speak Arabic, Google has added five additional digital skills courses to Maharat min Google, helping them acquire even more digital skills needed to thrive in today’s digital world.
Google’s initiative is part of the global education trend of placing greater emphasis on practical skills and using modern digital tools to obtain them. This trend reflects the fact that traditional universities have limited capacity and have trouble keeping with the rapidly evolving needs of the tech industry.
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Influencer Growth Fuels Saudi Creator Economy Surge
The Kingdom’s creator economy grew over 32% in Q1 2025, fueled by TikTok, UGC, and cost-per-action (CPA) influencer models.
Saudi Arabia’s creator economy saw a significant 32.37% growth in the first quarter of 2025, driven by an uptick in influencer marketing, content-driven e-commerce, and the increasing influence of user-generated content (UGC). These insights come from a recent study by Admitad and the Stllr Network.
Much of this momentum is coming from video-based platforms, where brands are leaning on creators who feel more relatable than polished ad campaigns. The trend shows a clear preference for authenticity, as audiences gravitate toward content that feels real and personal.
Mohannad Alzahrani, Co-founder and VP KSA of Stllr Network, highlighted the shift: “The rise of user-generated content (UGC) is changing the way brands engage with consumers. Audiences trust real creators more than traditional advertising, making UGC a key driver of authenticity and sales”.
TikTok remains the dominant platform in this space, reportedly reaching 88% of the Saudi population. It also showed the sharpest rise in influencer-led transactions. Other platforms followed with solid, if less dramatic, growth: X was up 17%, Instagram increased by 12%, and Telegram by 10%.
In terms of content niches, beauty led the pack with a 56% growth rate, followed by lifestyle at 45.8% and fashion at 18.2%. Tech content also showed healthy traction at 10.6%, while entertainment, food, fitness, parenting, and gaming posted smaller — but still positive — gains.
Also Read: Top E-Commerce Websites In The Middle East In 2025
The report analyzed more than 300,000 influencer-driven purchases. These efforts translated into a 15% year-on-year jump in Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) and a 5% increase in the number of orders in 2024. Influencers themselves are seeing the benefit, with average order values hitting $54 and creator earnings rising by 14%.
A noticeable trend is the move away from fixed-rate deals. More influencers in Saudi Arabia are embracing hybrid compensation models — especially cost-per-action (CPA) setups that tie their earnings directly to performance.
As Anna Gidirim, CEO of Admitad, explains, “The CPA model brings much-needed transparency to influencer marketing. Brands only pay for actual results, and influencers benefit by securing long-term partnerships while offering their audiences exclusive promo codes and special discounts”.
However, the ecosystem still shows a gender imbalance. The data indicates that 63% of creators in Saudi Arabia are men, while women account for just 37%.
Influencer Growth Fuels Saudi Creator Economy Surge
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