SAP Africa has announced the successful graduation of all 75 South African students from its SAP Skills for Africa job creation initiative. The South African chapter of the SAP Skills for Africa initiative was announced four months ago and forms an integral part of SAP Africa’s commitment to train ICT consultants across the continent.
The successful graduation today of all 75 South African students follows the first group of graduates from Kenya who completed the SAP Skills for Africa training certification in 2013 and 2014, as well as in Morocco in 2015.
The South African programme represents collaboration between SAP Africa and local SAP customers and partners, including Accenture, ATOS, Britehouse, BMW, Consnet, Gauteng Provincial Government, Multichoice, Tata Consulting Services, T-Systems and MICT SETA, all of whom share a unified mission to promote economic growth and sustainable job creation.
“We are committed to work with the private sector to increase the pool of ICT professionals who have the requisite skills to enable us to deliver high quality e-government services to the Gauteng city region. This partnership represents an important step in the right direction for us as we move to train and empower half a million young people across our province over the next five years and achieve the objectives of Gauteng Tshepo 500 000, which is a bold employment and entrepreneurial programme of Premier David Makhura,” says Barbara Creecy, MEC for treasury and e-government.
A total of 19 graduates from the SAP Skills for Africa initiative joined the Department of E-Government as interns at the beginning of this month. They will spend the next 12 months working alongside the professional staff of the provincial government in the configuration, customisation and support activities of the SAP System functions in all departments.
“These students have been afforded a rare opportunity to kick-start long and fruitful careers in a global growth space. As an SAP partner and company that’s been fully immersed in the process, we are fortunate enough to snap up some of this talent. We’re excited by what the future holds and the impact these students will have on Britehouse and the industry. It won’t take long for these rising stars to become shining stars,” says Themba Chakela, GM: group organizational effectiveness at Britehouse.
“The value of the SAP Skills for Africa programme is that every student who has successfully completed their studies will go on to internships with SAP partners and customers involved in the initiative,” says Brett Parker, MD of SAP Africa.
“SAP is still committed to driving business right across Africa, with the ultimate objective of improving people’s lives through the deployment of innovative industry-specific software solutions. This is not possible without developing the right skills and creating the right jobs in the communities in which we do business,” he adds.
The SAP Skills for Africa Scholarship Programme training takes place over a period of ten to twelve weeks and comprises a hybrid approach of classroom and e-learning fully-sponsored by SAP with no cost to the students. The course focuses on internationally recognised IT and business skills.