Ready and able to immediately contribute towards taking the ICT sector forward, 16 postgraduate students have successfully graduated from the CoachLab programme at The Innovation Hub.
"It is no secret that there is a scarcity of skilled, well-educated ICT graduates, not just in South Africa, but worldwide," said Prof Laurette Pretorius: School of Computing, Unisa.
Johan Brits of The Resilience Company compounded this fact: "When I started working 25 years ago, people were scared of computers. The youngsters of today have the advantage of growing up with technology. But although most of them enter the workplace knowing how to use it, there are very few of them who know how to create, or develop new technology effectively."
But fortunately, most of these CoachLab graduates have already been appointed in positions with leading companies, and because of their training with the programme for the past year, they are completely geared up to apply their innovative young minds to smart, but practical solutions for the future of the ICT industry. This has been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt through the actual projects that they have completed at sponsoring companies that participate in the CoachLab Programme, namely: CISCO; Epi-Use; MTN; Standard Bank; The Resilience Company; and of course, the Isett Seta that assisted with funding support for the project. The students are all registered at one of the partnering academic institutions, via: University of Pretoria, Tshwane University of Technology and Unisa.
One such project, in fact, their flagship project, which all of them worked on together, was presented during the course of the highly emotional awards evening. Completed at the Department of Home Affairs (DOH), the students were commissioned to improve the process of application for an identity document. "The DOH has identified 55 improvement projects, which will be attended to in the near future," stated Sello Mmakau: Chief Director of Applications Management: Department of Home Affairs. "We welcome the input from the students, and we look forward to continue participating in the CoachLab programme in future."
The students tackled this challenge with the typical enthusiasm of the youth, but through the guidance and mentorship from an expert team from The Innovation Hub and its partners, they were also empowered to approach the task in a business-like manner. Learning to use their theoretical knowledge in a practical way, they collected actual data and evaluated the current situation systematically, and eventually based their recommendations for improvement on the formal interpretation of these results. One of the graduates, Phumlani Mahlangu, explained: "We started out by talking to a lot of people. We wanted to know about both the citizen's concerns as well as the employees of the DOH's concerns."
The students then came up with a brilliant solution, which will be presented for consideration to the DOH. Their pioneering plan makes provision for citizens to make appointments for applications in advance, walk into a colour-coded Home Affairs that clearly indicates where one should go, have quick access to all the various services and trade their old IDs for new digital cards, which can be issued within 24 hours. "We're not saying this is the solution, but we're saying it is a solution," enthused Phumlani.
Most importantly though, is what the students have learned. Another graduate, Adel van der Westhuizen, elaborates: "We were exposed to a completely new area where we had to take many aspects into consideration, such as the laws and security. As individuals we had to work together as a group and learn to embrace our differences and find a way to enhance each other's capabilities. We developed our leadership and had to apply out-of-the-box thinking. And of course, we had to work with real people in the corporate world while doing this. At first, the task at hand appeared impossible. But we will be walking away from the programme knowing that everything is possible, as long as we use our innovative minds."
CoachLab offers "hands on" entrepreneurial training, leadership and learning opportunities to students focused on ICT studies, particularly for previously disadvantaged individuals, over a nine-month period structured around action-and-project based learning, to fast-track the incorporation of graduates into the world of business. The programme aims to bridge the gap between the academic and business world by supplementing the postgraduate programmes at universities with project-based experience; help universities retain postgraduate students and promote skills depth in the country; identify leadership potential and accelerate leadership development as well as to complement the formal studies of the students.
"When asking how successful CoachLab is in achieving these objectives, it would be duly suitable for me as a computer scientist and mathematician to look at the statistics," said Prof Laurette Pretorius. "Since its inception in 2000, CoachLab has taken in 86 students, of whom more than 80% were employed by their sponsoring companies, and most of them completed their postgraduate studies at the same time. As an academic institution, we at Unisa applaud the outstanding and unique job that CoachLab is doing to groom such young entrepreneurs for the ICT sector."
Patricia Dlamini, Manager of Maxum, enthused: "We are pleased with the students' performance and congratulate them on their achievements. The outcomes of this year's programme are something we can all be proud of. The Standard Bank Group has announced that it will offer full-time employment to nearly all the students they sponsored this year, namely: Adel van der Westhuizen, Elon Ramashapa, Princess Malinga and Tebelelo Mogoba."
After Dr Jill Sawers, Manager of Entrepreneurship at The Innovation Hub, handed out the certificates and awards to the tearful but proud group of students, Mr Tsietsi Maleho: acting CEO of The Innovation Hub Management Company, pointed out that due to the success of the programme in Pretoria, it will soon be replicated in Johannesburg, with the financial assistance from Isett Seta. "The success of CoachLab is grossly measured by the quality and performance of the students that we release into the industry after graduation. And I must admit, these students are making us look good!"
The CoachLab programme is ranked as an internship programme by the Isett Seta, which has partnered in the programme from a skills development point of view. Students or companies who wish to enquire about the CoachLab programme may visit http://www.coachlab.co.za or contact Gopolang Setumo on 012 844-0031 or gsetumo@theinnovationhub.com.
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