SmartCIC, a global managed service provider, has initiated a collaboration with the Maxim Nyansa Foundation, an African NGO, aiming to enhance IT skills among African youths, especially focusing on young women. This partnership is intended to bolster careers and foster IT businesses locally.
SmartCIC is contributing to this initiative by offering boot camp courses, donating hardware to training centres and schools, and providing micro-financing to support small business ventures. The company is introducing three-month residential networking boot camps, prioritizing women, to prepare young graduates for local and international job markets by providing affordable and valuable training.
Catherine Hemingray, the Sales Director and Co-Founder of SmartCIC, expressed the company’s commitment to supporting local markets and empowering young African women in the IT sector. She emphasized the company’s focus on sharing expertise and leveraging its network to provide equipment and training, highlighting that half of SmartCIC’s board members are women, reflecting their belief in the significant role of women in technology and telecommunications.
Furthermore, SmartCIC is allocating its used IT equipment to Maxim Nyansa for training purposes and encouraging its carrier partners to donate hardware. SmartCIC’s Barcelona warehouse will serve as the official depot for second-hand hardware in Southern Europe, facilitating the shipment and delivery of these resources to Maxim Nyansa’s locations in Ghana, Nigeria, and other West African countries.
Diana Van Der Stelt, Co-Founder of Maxim Nyansa, highlighted the bi-cultural approach of the foundation, emphasizing the synergy and equality between European and African teams. She expressed enthusiasm for SmartCIC’s involvement in hosting boot camps and sharing their networking expertise, noting that the donated hardware will provide practical experience crucial for IT career development.
Since its inception in Ghana in 2016, Maxim Nyansa has provided access to ICT labs for nearly 57,000 students, supported over 100 school projects, and trained close to 700 teachers across Burkina Faso, Gambia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone. The organization is committed to equipping students and teachers in African high schools with essential IT infrastructure and educational software.
Toby Forman, CEO and Co-Founder of SmartCIC, outlined the partnership’s objectives, which include supporting education and sustainable IT business development in Africa. The goal is to create new businesses, preferably women-owned, that SmartCIC can integrate into its global network of engineers. He anticipates that the SmartCIC team will not only impart knowledge through boot camps but also gain unique experiences in dynamic markets.
Given the success of this initiative, SmartCIC plans to extend similar training, certification, and micro-financing programs to regions beyond Africa, potentially including Latin America and Asia-Pacific.
