Rwanda comes second in Africa when it comes to signing up for online business courses, according to a new report by Coursera, one of the world's largest online skills and training providers.

The report presented data on 100 countries drawn from Coursera's registered learner base of more than 124 million learners. It concentrated on data related to three of the most popular job-relevant skill domains: business, technology, and data science.

Among its findings, more Africans are signing up for online professional development certifications. The demand for professional certification grew by 69 percent on the continent, higher than any other region.

It noted that learners in Sub-Saharan Africa are especially strong in the business domain, ranking second globally, with learners in Botswana leading the way, followed by Rwanda.

With Africa's expanding youth population, the inadequate availability of higher education places, and increasing visa restrictions for studying abroad, online certification is becoming an increasingly attractive option.

The report says that some 4.9 million people in sub-Saharan Africa with a median age of 34 years enrolled for Coursera's courses between 2019 and 2023. Some 60 of these used a mobile phone to study and 35 percent of them were women.

It added that learners in Sub-Saharan Africa are more likely than learners in other regions to invest in business skills like auditing, followed by entrepreneurial skills like innovation, risk management, and investment management.

For technology and data science skills courses, learners in Cameroon are leading in technology while learners in Zambia lead in data science. Sub-Saharan African learners, according to the report, are most likely to invest in technology skills like web development, user experience, data science skills like geovisualization, and data visualization software.