SAP Africa has appointed Max Fuzani, former Chief of Staff in the office of the national Minister of Education, as its University Alliance Programme Manager.
The appointment is part of the software giant's strategy to help better equip graduates with skills and knowledge relevant to the modern workplace, through partnering and collaborating with higher education institutions and colleges.
The SAP University Alliance Programme in Africa (also known as the Tertiary Education Programme in South Africa) is a global initiative and the only one of its kind sponsored by a major information technology company.
Started in the mid-1980s in Germany, the programme now boasts more than 500 universities world-wide as members. The latest countries to join are India, Russia, South Africa and Japan.
The programme gives students hands-on experience so they are ready to work with SAP and other enterprise systems as soon as they enter the workforce.
The primary purpose of the University Alliance Programme is to nurture talented graduates that are better prepared for the corporate environment and to create platforms for exchange of ideas on the latest in IT, software and business process management in a multidisciplinary context.
In order to achieve this, SAP brings universities, universities of technology, further education and training colleges, the private sector, public sector and non-governmental organisations together to identify skills needed most by the economy.
This information is incorporated in existing curricula in order to mould graduates equipped with practical skills, and are able to step into the skills gaps. Through this programme, educators enhance their traditional curricula using SAP technology and students use the software to learn the latest in business process management.
Locally, SAP Africa collaborates with all role-players in the education and training sector with a view to aligning curricula with government's Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative in South Africa (Asgisa).
Says Fuzani: "SAP Africa's role in this process is of fundamental importance because SAP is the business software of choice for most large enterprises and is rapidly becoming the solution of choice among small and medium-sized enterprises."
"It's vital, therefore, that graduates coming out of the education system are not only familiarised with the software itself so they can slip easily into using it in the workplace, but also learn to understand the business processes that drive modern organisations and therefore dictate the way business solutions need to function in order to give organisations competitive advantage.
"In this way, executives of the future will be given the skills to fully exploit IT to the advantage of the economy. Therein lies the mutual benefit to the country and the individual."
SAP technologies and solutions used in the SAP Africa University Alliance Programme will focus on aligning the public, healthcare, education, and IT sectors with the needs, specifically, of South African and African communities. The programme will also provide IT consultancy services in support of institutions of learning and enhance research into the needs of local communities.
Fuzani took on the job of managing the University Alliance Programme because "education is my passion". Raised in underprivileged circumstances in rural Cookhouse in the Eastern Cape, a love of learning was instilled in him very early by his late maternal grandparents and mother. "My folks had very little formal education themselves, but taught me that education is an omnipotent tool that open doors to a world of opportunities and career advancement.
"An individual does not have to be affluent or belong to aristocracy to be successful. An individual is able, through educational endeavours, to cut a niche for him/herself and the lot that surrounds the individual.
"Over the years since then, I've seen how a person achieves and develops, as long as he or she applies their mind to the process of learning and adapting to changing circumstances.
"History is laden with telling examples of the quintessential role education plays in cultural evolution and socio-economic revolutions of nations. Skilling and reskilling an individual has a positive ripple effect on many others in need of opportunities that contribute to economic growth and enhances social cohesion."
Fuzani likens his move to SAP to a healthy disregard for the impossible. "I am a novice in the IT industry, and this presents a challenge to me to gain an in-depth understanding of the industry, as IT is and will continue to be the driver of economies in the 21st century. So it is a question of adapt or die for me."
Fuzani carries his love of intellectual pursuits into his private life, where he delights in engaging in "robust, balanced political debate and intellectual discourse" when he's not playing tennis or listening to choral music and jazz. He's no mere theorist, however, having gone in 1994 straight from his social science degree at the University of Cape Town to work in the Cabinet Secretariat Team during Nelson Mandela's presidency, and then, a year later, being asked to help set up the local government Ministerial Staff Complement in the Department of Provincial and Local Government.
Four years later he became Chief of Staff in the office of the Minister of Education, staying for five years. Parallel to the hectic and punishing schedule, Fuzani has been involved with the Thabo Mbeki Education Trust from its early days. He has served as the Chairperson of the Thabo Mbeki Bursary Selection Committee for eight years and a Trustee for seven years.
Having contributed in the early policy debates and structures that constitute the foundation of South Africa's first democratic government, Fuzani is used to the pressures and rigours of bringing to life new, multi-faceted initiatives involving large numbers of stakeholders with different agendas. And that should stand him in good stead as he kicks off the SAP Africa University Alliance Programme by bringing higher education, the private sector and civil society to the table to discuss ways in which education and ICT can better serve the country.
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