Towards the end of last year, HP provided, amongst many others, three non-governmental organisations (NGO’s) in Africa with the technical and financial assistance required to deliver our Graduate Entrepreneurship Training through IT (GET-IT) programme.
The GET-IT programme gives school leavers and undergraduates aged 16-25 an opportunity to learn business basics through IT. Given that many parts of Africa are unable to provide effective education to advance students into the world of business, the GET-IT programme has really made its mark.
GET-IT training provides interactive courses that focus on practical IT solutions for daily business challenges. The modules explore how different IT solutions can address common business challenges in the areas of Management and Operations, Finance, Communications, Marketing and Technology Management.
In 2008, HP introduced an online education portal called GET-IT City, which gives young students remote access to advice and e-learning tools around business and IT skills.
By the end of 2009, HP will have opened 100 GET-IT centres through 77 partner organisations in 30 countries throughout EMEA.
The three NGO’s are:
• The Centre for Skills Development and Training (CENSIRT), based in the Ebonyi State of Nigeria
• The EBSU/ICT Research Centre, also based in the Ebonyi State of Nigeria
• The Umsobomvu Youth Fund, based in Pretoria in South Africa
All three NGO’s are quite different, but they all focus on providing a sound education for students and young, under or unemployed people.
CENSIRT
CENSIRT is based in Ebonyi State in Nigeria. Within the State, 80 percent of the population are illiterate farmers and many people want to go to university or to attend school where they can receive practical training which will help them secure work. Working hard to create sustainable development within the communities and targeting young people, CENSIRT provides ICT programmes, skills acquisition and training for prospective employment.
HP’s GET-IT training programme was officially launched in November 2008. Since then, more than 135 students and young entrepreneurs have registered for the programme. Elom Chukwuma is Board Secretary of CENSIRT and he says: “It is still early days and we have been working hard to promote the GET-IT training. As students come to realise and appreciate the benefits that lie in the areas of business knowledge, using IT, record-keeping in business, information management, information tracking and website management and design, so have more people become increasingly keen to join the programme.”
Some students are already experiencing the benefits of the training. Egba Mary Ogba is the Office Secretary at the Ebonyi State UNIDO projects office. She has applied her GET-IT training to her existing work and, as a result, is now working more efficiently and effectively, with more responsibility and recognition.
EBSU/ICT Research Centre
The Ebony State University (EBSU/ICT) Research Centre is also based in Ebonyi State in Nigeria and, when the programme was launched, the centre worked closely with CENSIRT as well as the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) in Africa to deliver the GET-IT T-Tools training course for prospective trainers.
The centre’s main goal is to provide IT training for young people and to demonstrate to them how information technology can help them manage their business more effectively. Such training includes how to use IT to increase productivity in business, manage contacts, develop marketing strategies, improve communications and manage accounts.
More than 1,100 students have registered for the GET-IT training since November and 982 have graduated so far. More than 130 students are still in training.
Gabriel Ugwu, Technical Manager for the ICT Centre, says: “The level of IT education that we provide varies. Some students are graduates and are already in business whereas others are school leavers and have little knowledge of how to use a computer. Since we introduced the GET-IT training there has been a tremendous awareness of IT knowledge and business skills.
"In this part of the world, we are not very familiar with computers. Some people don’t know how to spend their money sensibly - in other words by keeping records. But, with the introduction of the GET-IT training, people can learn exactly how to keep their records and they know if they are making a profit or a loss."
As a result of the GET-IT training at the ESBU/ICT centre, several students have secured valuable employment. Emmanual Agha is now qualified to work in the accounts department of a local food factory, preparing invoices and balancing accounts. Chinedu Okoh is able to work in the stores department of the same factory and, by using a computer, keeps records of all the food items in stock.
Umsobomvu Youth Fund
The third NGO is the Umsobomvu Youth Fund (UYF). UYF is a development financing institution that operates from 20 offices throughout South Africa. The headquarters are in Johannesburg and HP provided UYF with a grant for GET-IT training and facilities in Pretoria and Cape Town.
UYF supports young people aged 18-35 with three different programmes:
• Information support programme, which gives young people the relevant information to enable them to make choices about their education and future careers.
• Youth entrepreneurship programme, which helps school leavers become self employed.
• Skills development programme, which gives young and under employed people the skills to provide them with a livelihood to go into business or be employed.
The skills development programme includes HP’s GET-IT training as it provides students with IT skills to help them bridge the gap between leaving school and entering the world of work.
The GET-IT facilities in Cape Town are still being established. However, in Pretoria 70 students have already completed the training and more than 180 are waiting to start. Mzwabantu Ntlangeni is Director of International Relations and Partnerships at UYF and he says: “More than 85% of the South African population have either limited or no access to IT facilities in their homes or communities. So many people are unemployed and any possible employment is hindered by their lack of IT skills. They cannot even prepare a CV for prospective employers.
‘People need better IT skills and, because we can offer HP’s GET-IT training, word has spread quickly and far and wide. Our office in Pretoria is opposite a college of further education. We have a constant flow of students walking in and using our facilities. We have back-to-back training sessions on a daily basis and the students are more than happy to talk about the training.
‘We have also used the GET-IT City training and, judging from the feedback we have been given, this is an incredible facility. It allows for the training and advice to be accessible beyond the classroom. It’s very valuable.”
In a world where information technology and computers are still not necessarily commonplace, the GET-IT training in Africa is going a long to way to give students the skills and knowledge to take them to the next level.
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