Acer opens business world doors to all

Small and medium-size businesses in and around Johannesburg will receive a boost this week when Acer, in conjunction with Kaizer Chiefs, opens the Acer Chiefs Cyber Centre in the New South Building at Ghandi Square on Friday evening.

The Cyber Centre is aimed at equipping small businesses and those hoping to set up businesses, with the tools to do business electronically. It houses a cyber caf'e from where business correspondence can be sent and received, as well as a training centre where courses will be run to teach vital computer skills. All the software which will be used in the cyber centre was supplied by Microsoft.

"The aim of this Acer initiative is to empower individuals on a mass scale. We believe that by empowering the individual on a mass scale and growing SMMEs and SMEs we will be able to make a positive contribution to the growth of our country and improve the lives of fellow South Africans. We hope that through this initiative a greater number of people will become computer literate, enjoying the benefits that IT offers, and giving them the administration skills to make a success of even the smallest business," says Stella Helwick, marketing manager at Acer.

The training centre, which will offer basic IT training, will be open to anyone who wants to improve their IT skills. Special promotions and training programs will be available for Chiefs supporters, however, the Acer Chiefs Cyber Centre welcomes everyone to make use of the facilities. The cyber caf'e will offer e-mail and e-banking facilities giving SMEs access to their clients and partners electronically and making them more cost- and time-effective. In addition, business owners will also be able to get practical help using these facilities to run their businesses.

"This is the first Acer Chiefs Cyber Centre based within the operational borders of one of our supporters` branches. Our vision at Chiefs, is to roll-out similar centres for all our supporters nationally. The key to the success of any venture is sustainability, Chiefs and Acer have spent over two years developing this program, evaluating partners and services to ensure that it is the best of breed. We need to harness the power of IT and make it work for us to create profitability," says Kaizer Motaung, chairman of Kaizer Chiefs.

The Executive of the Kaizer Chiefs Supporter`s Branch, Johannesburg Central, believes that the Acer Chiefs Cyber Centre will have a positive effect on the people of Johannesburg. The Executive believes that the Cyber Centre will uplift the community and bring new hope to a number of people who have the ability, but not the skills, to open and successfully run their own businesses.

This sentiment is shared by Kaizer Chiefs` Ace Khuse, who says the team has already seen the benefits of IT training with some of their players undergoing and excelling in some of the training which will be on offer at the centre.

"The players won`t be able to make a living from soccer indefinitely, and a number of the players have looked at IT as a possible career after retirement from the game. A centre like this will give people a chance to get some IT training and find out if they are suited to a career in this area," adds Khuse.

"The true value of technology lies not in the power of the software and hardware we use, but in the power it unleashes in us all. We believe there are no limits to the potential our educators and learners might reach, because we see no limits to the human imagination," says Gina Wessie, community investment manager at Microsoft South Africa. "As a company we are convinced of the power of technology as the greatest social and economic enabler and believe it is a key part of the solution to the eradication of poverty and the promotion of sustainable growth and development for SA."

Kaizer Chiefs players were trained with the compliments of Torque IT.