Digital marketing is one of the fastest-evolving industries, with AI reshaping the skills businesses need and the way people work. But for many young South Africans, a career in digital marketing isn't even on the radar.

Innovation City member Ruby Search Solutions (Ruby Digital) wants to change that.

Through its newly launched Ruby Academy, developed in partnership with education technology platform Omang, the agency is introducing high school learners to the world of digital marketing, free of charge. From SEO and paid advertising to social media and email marketing, the programme is designed to show young people what careers exist, what skills they require and where to begin.

But the ambition goes beyond an introductory course. Ruby Digital wants to help build South Africa's next generation of digital talent, at a time when the industry itself is being fundamentally transformed by AI.

We caught up with the Ruby Digital team to find out how the Academy works, why industry-led education matters and what the marketers of tomorrow will need to know.

Q: What sparked the idea for Ruby Academy, and how does it work? Who is it designed for, what can people learn, and how do they get involved?

Ruby Academy started from a simple challenge: many young people leave school without knowing that digital marketing is a viable career option, or understanding how many different careers exist within the industry. Ruby Digital has been developing the Academy vision for approximately four years, but the partnership with Omang has given us the opportunity to implement it at scale.

The first course is designed to give South African high school learners a practical, beginner-friendly introduction to digital marketing. It covers five foundational areas: business growth and client success, email marketing, pay-per-click advertising, search engine optimisation, and social media management. It is not intended to turn someone into a specialist overnight. Its purpose is to make the industry visible, understandable and accessible, so learners can begin exploring where their interests and strengths might fit.

The course is available free of charge through the Omang learning platform. Learners who are already part of the Omang ecosystem can access it through their classroom, while schools, sponsors and organisations interested in expanding access can engage with Omang about participation.

Q: What makes Ruby Academy different from a conventional digital marketing course?

Ruby Academy is not simply a shortened version of a tertiary marketing course. It is an accessible point of entry into a career learners may never previously have considered.

The content has been developed by people actively working in digital marketing every day. That gives learners exposure to practical, real-world concepts rather than theory alone. The course also connects each discipline to the wider industry by helping learners understand how brands grow online, what different digital specialists do, and what career pathways may be available after school.

The other key difference is the age and stage at which we are reaching learners. We are introducing digital marketing before they make final decisions about further education or employment. Learners cannot aspire to careers they have never encountered, so our first goal is to create visibility, curiosity and confidence.

Longer term, we want the Academy to become a pathway rather than a once-off course. The vision is to support a journey from learner, to course participant, to high performer, and potentially into future mentorship, interview and employment opportunities.

Q: You have partnered with Omang. How did that relationship come about, and what does each organisation bring to the table?

The relationship began through Ajit Gopalakrishnan, CEO and Co-Founder, Omang, and Ebert Grobler, Co-Founder & Group Chief Executive Officer of Ruby Digital, who are both members of the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber’s Economy Reinvention Think Tank. Through that forum, they aligned on the need to prepare young South Africans for participation in the digital economy. That common purpose created a natural foundation for collaboration.

Ruby Digital brings the industry knowledge. Our team develops the course content, shares practical digital marketing experience, and helps learners understand the roles, skills and career opportunities that exist within the industry.

Omang brings the education technology ecosystem, established relationships with learners and schools, platform access, learner support, and the ability to monitor engagement and learning progress. Omang hosts the course, manages learner access and platform support, and provides the reporting and insights that help us understand how learners engage with the material.

What makes the partnership powerful is that the two organisations contribute different but complementary strengths. Ruby Digital knows the industry and the skills employers need. Omang knows how to deliver digital learning at scale and connect young people to educational opportunities.

Q: AI is changing digital marketing at an extraordinary pace. How are you preparing students for jobs that may look completely different in three years?

We are careful not to prepare learners for one specific job title or one version of a platform, because both could change significantly within three years. Instead, we are giving them a strong understanding of how digital marketing works as a connected system.

That includes understanding audiences, customer needs, search behaviour, communication, content, digital channels, measurement and business growth. Those foundations remain valuable even when the tools and platforms change.

We also want learners to see AI as a working tool rather than something that removes the need for human ability. Future marketers will need to know how to ask better questions, evaluate AI-generated work, recognise inaccurate or biased information, protect customer data, and apply human judgement to the outputs.

As Ruby Academy develops, the curriculum will need to be reviewed regularly against changes in the industry. Our advantage is that the content comes from a working digital agency, so we can update it based on what our teams are seeing in search, paid media, social media, content, analytics and client strategy.

Q: What skills will become more valuable as AI takes over routine work? Are we going to need fewer technical specialists and more creative, strategic thinkers?

We do not believe technical specialists will disappear. In fact, technical understanding may become more important because someone still needs to structure the work, validate the data, identify errors and understand what the technology is doing.

The shift will be from simply executing tasks to making better decisions. The skills that will become increasingly valuable include:

• Critical thinking and the ability to question an output rather than accept it at face value

• Strategic thinking and connecting marketing activity to a wider business objective

• Creativity, originality and an understanding of what will resonate with real people

• Data literacy and the ability to interpret patterns, context and commercial meaning

• Communication and the ability to explain complex ideas clearly

• Customer empathy and an understanding of human behaviour

• Ethical judgement, particularly around data, privacy, bias and responsible AI use

• Adaptability and a willingness to keep learning as tools and platforms change

The strongest future marketers will probably combine both areas. They will have enough technical knowledge to use the tools well, while also bringing the creativity, judgement, curiosity and strategic thinking that technology cannot provide on its own.

Q: Is the Academy also about building Ruby Digital’s own talent pipeline, or is the ambition bigger than that?

It is both, but the ambition is much bigger than filling roles at Ruby Digital.

Ruby Academy is part of Ruby Digital’s long-term investment in South Africa’s digital workforce. We want more young people to understand the digital economy, recognise that they can participate in it, and develop a clearer view of the skills and study pathways that could help them enter the industry.

There is naturally a talent-pipeline element. We hope to identify high-potential learners and, over time, create pathways into mentorship, further learning, interviews and possibly employment at Ruby Digital or elsewhere in the industry.

However, success would not mean that every learner eventually works for Ruby Digital. Success would mean that learners have greater awareness, more informed choices and stronger access to opportunity. It would also mean that other agencies and businesses benefit from a broader, better-prepared pool of young digital talent.

We see Ruby Digital’s role as more than hiring future talent. We want to help create future talent.

Q: What would success look like for Ruby Academy in three to five years? Are there plans to expand the programme, introduce new disciplines or collaborate with other businesses?

In three to five years, success would mean that Ruby Academy has moved from a single introductory course to a recognised pathway into South Africa’s digital economy.

We would want to see measurable learner participation, course completion and mastery, but also longer-term outcomes. That could include learners progressing into intermediate courses, engaging in mentorship, choosing relevant fields of study, participating in work-readiness opportunities, and eventually entering internships or employment. The approved strategy proposes measuring learners reached, module completion, engagement, mastery, schools reached and geographic representation, rather than measuring success only through publicity or campaign reach.

We also see scope to expand from beginner to intermediate learning and to explore additional areas as the programme matures. Any expansion should be guided by learner behaviour, feedback, industry developments and genuine employment relevance, rather than adding courses simply for volume.

A particularly exciting opportunity is collaboration with other businesses. Ruby Digital and Omang have created a practical model through which companies can contribute their own industry knowledge to learners. We would like this partnership to encourage other organisations to develop industry-led learning content, expose learners to a wider range of modern careers, and strengthen South Africa’s future workforce.

Q: What would you say to a young South African who wants to build a career in digital marketing but has no idea where to begin?

Start with curiosity. You do not need to know which job title you want or have every technical skill before you begin.

Digital marketing is a broad industry. It includes content, social media, search, advertising, email, analytics, design, customer experience, strategy and client success. Start by learning what each area does, then pay attention to what interests you most.

Use the resources available to you, complete a beginner course, follow credible people in the industry, and practise wherever you can. You could create content for a community organisation, analyse how a local business presents itself online, build a simple campaign idea, or help someone understand their social media performance. Small practical projects can teach you a great deal.

Most importantly, do not assume that the industry is only for people who already have access, experience or technical expertise. Every experienced marketer started without knowing what they know today. Your first step does not need to be perfect. It just needs to move you from being interested to actively learning.

Congratulations to the Ruby Digital team!

At Innovation City, we're always pleased to see our members turning their expertise into opportunities that extend beyond their own businesses. Ruby Digital's partnership with Omang is a great example of what can happen when industry knowledge meets educational reach.

We're looking forward to seeing where it goes next.