Kenyan Government and SAP to expand skill set of local graduates Training aims at improving youth employability in the country’s robust ICT sector and is inline with vision 2030 Nairobi 20th September, 2012…The government of Kenya through the Kenya ICT Board and SAP has today announced a partnership that will see 100 bright but underprivileged studentsundergo training to become certified SAP Software engineers. Dubbed “SAP Skills for Africa”, the Programme commits to deliver professional training and certification to Kenyan university graduates. The programme will seek to substantially improve the employability of young, bright university graduatesand equally deliver on the government’s mandate to promote digital inclusion, to forge Kenya as an ICT hub for Africa and drive ICT skills development. “The SAP partnership is key in equipping our young professionals with high end ICT skills that are on demand in the Kenya and the wider East African Market. This effort provides amuch needed skillset for graduates who would otherwise not have had the privilege to be exposed to this specific set of world class skills", said Kenya ICT Board CEO, Paul Kukubo. The Kenya ICT Board and SAP are in partnership to deliver the latest skills and knowledge to the students. The Kenya ICTBoard will provide classrooms with necessary computer infrastructure and will be charged with the overall management of the programme that will take place at the Multi Media University, whereas SAP will provide instructors, training material and educational systems. Delivery of this programme will include the provision of certified instructors, training material and case studies withSAP‘s largest investment being the waiver of any costs related to the programme for the students; a significant financial investment. Modules of study for this period will be focused on best business practices and SAP skills in financial and managerial accounting, sales and distribution, procurement, human capital management, database and technology, system administration and also around business reporting. “The SAP Skills for Africa programme aims at ensuring that each and every university graduate is equipped with the skills necessary to enter the job market and not only gain economic stability and prosperity but also to be able to plough back into the ecosystem”, said Pfungwa Serima,CEO Africa, SAP By working proactively with the government bodies and with its customers, SAP has taken the lead to deliver the opportunity for students to receive additional practical skills, business and system knowledge that will better equip them for today’s jobmarket, thereby increasing their possibilities of employment. The programme builds upon the knowledge students gained in their undergraduate studies and provides them with hands-on experience in working with the world’s leading business software applications company. SAP training will delivervaluable skills on software use, best business practices and processes that will greatly benefit the trainees and theorganizations where they work in future. “This initiative perfectly fits into the MMU agenda of producing graduates who are immediately ready to be productive in the industry upon graduation, over the years inadequate skilling of our graduates has been a chief cause of high employment costs, causing our graduates to hop from one job to the other. If we can churn 100 all rounded graduates annually, we shall have arrested this by providing a bigger talent pool for employers to choose from, said Prof. Walter Oyawa, Principal Multimedia University SAP is committed to ensure that upon the graduation from this programme, students also receive a chance to put the acquired knowledge into practical use in the real work environment. For this purpose SAP has started to work with its customers and partners to ensure the maximum number of internships for the graduates, which will further solidify their acquired knowledge. Editor’s Notes: About SAP The world’s market leader in enterprise application software, SAP (NYSE: SAP) helps companies of all sizes and industries run better. From back office to boardroom, warehouse to storefront, desktop to mobile device – SAP empowers people and organizations to work together more efficiently and use business insight more effectively to stay ahead of the competition. SAP applications and services enable more than 195,000 customers (includes customers from the acquisition of SuccessFactors) to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and grow sustainably. For more information, visit www.sap.com About Kenya ICT Board The Kenya ICT Board’s mandate and objectives are based on advising the Kenyan government on all relevant matters pertaining to the development and promotion of ICT industries in the country. In addition, the Kenya ICT Board provides government and other stakeholders with skills, capacity and funding for ICT projects in order to rapidly and innovatively transform Kenya through promotion of ICT for socio-economic development. About the Multi Media University Founded in 1948 as Kenya College Communication Technology, MMU became a constituent College of JKUAT in 2008.With a student population of about 3,000,MMU is a Public University College mandated to provide training in Engineering, Information Technology, Media and Business related courses. Due to its rich history as a Technology College under Telkom Kenya, Multimedia University has the benefit and experience of working with the ICT industry in order to expose its students beyond the classroom theory and principles of technology. -- Paul Kukubo Chief Executive Officer, Kenya ICT Board PO Box 27150 - 00100 Nairobi, Kenya 12th Floor, Teleposta Towers Koinange Street Tel +254 20 2089061, +254 20 2211960 Fax: +254 20 2211962 website: www.ict.go.ke local content project: www.tandaa.co.ke, www.facebook.com/tandaakenya twitter:@tandaaKENYA BPO Project: www. doitinkenya.co.ke Digital Villages Project: www.pasha.co.ke personal contacts _______________ Cell: + 254 717 180001 skype: kukubopaul googletalk: pkukubo personal blog: www.paulkukubo.co.ke personal twitter: @pkukubo ____________________ Vision: Kenya becomes a top ten global ICT hub Mission: To champion and actively enable Kenya to adopt and exploit ICT, through promotion of partnerships, investments and infrastructure growth for socio economic enrichment