Elev8, the world leader in digital training initiatives, recently launched the Digital Center of Excellence in Doha, Qatar, together with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and Microsoft, to accelerate sustainable human development and digital transformation in line with the National Vision of Qatar 2030.

It is a modern training center, the first of its kind in Qatar and the region, located in Msheireb Downtown Doha, joining the global expansion of elev8, which currently operates in Nigeria and Costa Rica. The event was held a few days ago under the auspices of His Excellency Mr. Mohammed bin Ali bin Mohammed Al Mannai, Minister of Communications and Information Technologies, and a high representation of government officials and private sector executives.

The initiative seeks to create a highly qualified and competitive workforce for a fast-growing, diversified, technologically advanced economy. The center is expected to play a vital role in building the talent pool that will help accelerate the digital transformation of government institutions and private sector companies.

“Digital transformation is no longer an option; Qatar must improve its competitiveness at a regional and global level. Our wise leadership realized this many years ago. It has managed to achieve significant milestones in reducing the digital skills gap by launching many partnerships and initiatives, the most important of which is the Digital Center of Excellence, established with our partners Microsoft and elev8. These efforts are vital to ensure that more people in Qatar have the advanced digital skills necessary to enable an open and flexible economic environment, capable of competing in a changing world and building a knowledge economy based on research, development, innovation, and excellence in entrepreneurship,” said H.E. Mohammed bin Ali bin Mohammed al-Mannai, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, during his opening speech.

María Balbás, President of elev8, said that the partnership with Microsoft and the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology marks a crucial moment in Qatar’s digital transformation journey to create a highly-skilled workforce with essential digital skills for success in the fourth industrial revolution.

READ ALSO: $250M Kasi Data Center Breaks Ground In Lagos

“elev8 supports a culture of lifelong learning and fosters curiosity and a passion for learning. We adopt an innovative approach, applying the elev8 active learning methodology so that students acquire knowledge through practical experiences and real-life scenarios. The Digital Center of Excellence will equip the inhabitants of Qatar with the necessary skills in cutting-edge technologies for a new digital world, whether they are students, professionals, or business leaders,” she explained.

Mrs. Lana Khalaf, CEO of Microsoft Qatar, concluded that the official launch of the Digital Center of Excellence is an essential milestone in the technology company’s current partnership with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. “Our efforts represent our joint commitment to unlocking opportunities for the people of Qatar in the digital age by developing the technical skills of students as well as those already in the workforce,” she explained.

As part of this collaboration, more than 13,000 people in Qatar have received training and certification in various functions and audiences in just 18 months. Students, teachers, computer professionals, developers, and business leaders.

The Digital Center of Excellence aims to develop the technical skills of students and workers. Through role-based and globally recognized training pathways, the center offers individuals and organizations a professional advantage by providing a range of training and certifications that train, enhance, and retrain current professionals, developers, business leaders, and students in advanced technologies such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI) and cybersecurity.

The opening of the Digital Center of Excellence comes ahead of the commissioning of a new Microsoft Cloud data center in the Qatar region, which will feature enterprise-grade cloud services, combined with data residency, security, and the broadest compliance for organizations and companies in Qatar.

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors, the US electric vehicle and clean energy company, says he does not mind going to hell fire when he dies.

The multi-billionaire businessman was reacting to a Twitter user who asked him about his religious views. In various religions, hell is referred to as a spiritual realm of evil and suffering. It is often traditionally depicted as a place of perpetual fire beneath the earth where the wicked are punished after death.

On Monday, Musk had shared a cryptic post wherein he seems to be reflecting on his fears about death.

“If I die under mysterious circumstances, it’s been nice knowin ya,” he wrote in the terse post.

Reacting to the post, the verified user named Mohammed had advised him to ensure he embrace God and admit to his supremacy before he dies.

“You won’t die before your day Elon. Anyhow, you are/were a unique figure in this world. I’m only wondering one thing: As a genius, haven’t you find out that there is a great creator of this world yet? If you did, make sure you confess this before your last heart beat. Bless u,” the user wrote.

In his response, the entrepreneur appreciated Mohammed’s advice but said he remains unperturbed about going to hell.

“Thank you for the blessing, but I’m ok with going to hell, if that is indeed my destination, since the vast majority of all humans ever born will be there,” he replied.

Musk has been in the news since his  $44 billion acquisition of Twitter.

Stay updated on the latest news on Elon Musk acquisition of Twitter, his Forbes ranking and religious belief system on Techscoops.

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Quick bites:

• WhatsApp group membership has doubled in size
• Previously you could transfer up to 100M files via WhatsApp, now you can transfer up to a whooping 2GB

As an Admin, you can now add up to 512 users to your WhatsApp group

Meta’s WhatsApp is making life easier for large organizations that use its platform.

The company announced on Thursday that groups are getting twice as big as before, going from 256 people to 512 people. With this strategic move, WhatsApp is becoming a bit more like Telegram, which is still ahead with the ability to add up to 100,000 people into a “supergroup.”

I Can’t add more than 256 people to my WhatsApp group yet – why?

Not to worry, WhatsApp says the feature is being slowly rolled out.

Another new feature includes the ability to share files up to 2GB in size, which is a massive improvement from the previous limit of 100MB.

WhatsApp says the files are protected by end-to-end encryption, and suggests you use Wi-Fi for sharing particularly large files, though uploads and downloads of such files will show a counter that will tell you how much longer you’ll have to wait.

Is WhatsApp rivalling Telegram – ? Cnn the Meta Business match up to Telegram?