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Safaricom’s head of innovation Veronica Ogetto-Tchoketch and iLab
director Joseph Sevilla congratulate Mosoti Derdus of Safaricom Academy
last week. Photo/Diana Ngila
By Annie Njanja
In Summary
- Public and private universities in Kenya over training in IT, ICT, and array of related engineering courses, but employers have complained that they have to spend a fortune to prepare the recruits for what the industry wants.
- These concerns have led to collaborations between colleges or universities and the companies to produce work-ready technical people.
Lornah Mwende Mutegi was keen on securing employment
after graduating from Strathmore University with a Business Information
Technology (BBIT) degree. After trying in earnest to land her first job
without success, Ms Mutegi decided to go back to school for a Master’s
in mobile telecommunications and innovation offered by the Safaricom
Academy at Strathmore.
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She says the decision to join the school was one of her
best, so far, because the training changed her perception to think about
creating jobs, instead of looking for one.
“Unlike the previous institutions I attended, there
were numerous practical lessons and the academy has taught me how to be
an entrepreneur and an innovator,” she said.
Concerns have been raised about quality of
university training in Kenya. Employers under the umbrella of the
Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE) and parents who send their children
to school have wondered why the graduates know so little and are unable
to get jobs respectively.
Software engineer
“I am currently focusing my energies on adding
value to people’s lives and impacting the society positively by creating
life-changing apps,” said the best overall student in a class of 55.
The National ICT Master Plan targets developing and
sustaining high end talent by removing skills gaps between what the
industry wants and what the students learn from their university
laboratories.
The Plan identifies the missing link: “The local
universities and tertiary colleges continue to develop ICT human
capacity and workforce that is neither guided by human resource
development policy nor well aligned to the industry needs.”
During last week’s presentation at the academy in
readiness for graduation on June 27, David Maraba, who benefited from
the school’s scholarships, the alumnus of Moi University, says the
“course has built my confidence in a great way and I am glad that the
training helped me to secure employment as a software engineer last year
in September.”
Safaricom Academy that has produced more than 200
graduates since inception fours ago, has designed its training to impart
“relevant skills” enabling students to be resourceful in the job market
and the mobile phone industry.
Students are trained in mobile application
development programmes for USSD-, android, JZME- and IOS enabled
devices. These are anchored in entrepreneurship. They develop ideas,
have sessions with mentors, present their apps to potential investors,
and are taught on writing business plans.
A recent study by KCA University and Makere says a
sizeable number of youth in East Africa start own small business, but
die in the first year before they become small and medium enterprise
(SME).
“The institution aims to impart relevant skills to
enable the scholarship beneficiaries to develop mobile applications. We
encourage them to identify unique gaps in the market and develop
solutions,” said Joseph Sevilla, the director of @ILabAfrica also based
at Strathmore.
Speaking during the presentation of 55 graduands
who will graduate next week, Caine Kamau, an alumnus of the academy, who
co-owns Flash-Cast IT Company, asked the Class of 2014 to come up with
apps that are practical and add value.
One of the success stories of the academy, Cane
Kamau and Jeremy Gordon created the FlashCast app, more than two years
ago. The app is used for advertising on interactive screens on buses.
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