Microsoft award-winning IT and business learning company, LGIT Smart Solutions, has taken on a partner and is now a 51% black-owned business. The deal was finalised last month in Johannesburg.
Natascha Pr"ussen, MD of LGIT, explained the move. "At LGIT we are all about uplifting people, business and community, so in the spirit of transformation, we wanted to ensure that we were helping with effective skills transfer in South Africa." Although some reports suggest the country's economy has slipped to third place in Africa, behind Nigeria and Egypt, South Africa is still regarded as Africa's most advanced and industrialised economy, with Johannesburg its undisputed wealthiest city. "This gives us an infrastructure, processes and knowledge advantage over other countries in Africa," Pr"ussen added. "We can use this to enhance effective skills transfer, which will ensure that the IT specialists coming out of South Africa are among the best and brightest in the world. This can then be used to play a bigger role in the growth of IT on the continent. By upskilling local people, we can reach out to other people in Africa and help upskill them too."
The purposeful MD further explained the considerable value to LGIT clients, elaborating that aside from the obvious benefits in terms of transformation and skills transfer, another big advantage is that it helps customers receive maximum points on their BEE scorecards. LGIT has accomplished B-BBEE Level 2 recognition on the new scorecard, which enables clients to receive consequential procurement benefits plus points for skills development, ED and SED funding. LGIT is a 51% black-owned, qualifying small enterprise and as such every R1 spent with LGIT will count as R3.75 on your procurement scorecard. LGIT, as an accredited learning institution, will take care of your employed and unemployed learning requirements - earning you maximum points on the skills development and procurement scorecard. LGIT has also ensured that they qualify as an Enterprise and Supplier Development beneficiary.
And then of course there's Siyakhula. The Siyakhula Computer School began to take shape in 2001, when a group of individuals variously connected to the IT industry began voluntarily providing computer literacy classes to a small group of individuals. A few years into the programme, the informal Saturday morning sessions had expanded to midweek evening sessions and the number of volunteers began to grow. LGIT Smart Solutions were among the earliest volunteers and were soon training 60-70 students a year.
With a glint in her eye, Pr"ussen delights the listener with the adventure. "From the outset there was a natural synergy between LGIT and Siyakhula Computer School, and what we were trying to achieve. The unemployment rate in South Africa was a huge concern and we knew that computer skills would provide learners with a better opportunity to get a job."
The more we got involved, the more we saw the synergies between LGIT and Siyakhula, and over time we committed more resources to the project. Our mantra has always been about changing lives and empowering individuals, building communities, and ultimately bringing sustained benefit to Africa."
Empowering women has also been a driving factor in getting the Siyakhula programme off the ground, as statistics show that when a woman becomes empowered, both the immediate family and then the community do too. A great example of this is the case study of Mavis Mohlolo, the current centre manager at Cala. When she first enrolled at Siyakhula she did not know how to use a computer at all. All she knew was that she wanted to improve her circumstances and help others do the same. Once she graduated she started volunteering and discovered that she had a gift for teaching. Soon she was running the centre as her own grassroots social enterprise. She dedicated her time and energy to the community of Ivory Park and trained and monitored her students daily. Today, she's opened up a branch in the Eastern Cape to spread IT literacy into the rural communities.
The growth of the Siyakhula Centres has seen a number of pressing needs of contemporary South Africa being addressed, including:
* affordable computer literacy learning to individuals at a fraction of the market-related costs for Microsoft end-user training;
* accessibility to students who are first-time computer users and non-first language English speakers;
* affordable access to the Internet;
* sustainable employment through locally owned-and-managed computer centres that run as grassroots social enterprises; and
* fully functional centres that run training for over 1 500 students across five branches, every year.
"It's a natural fit," Pr"ussen believes. "Taking on a BEE partner to aid in further transformation of Africa's IT sector and the work we do with Siyakhula dovetails beautifully with our company mission, which is expressed through our slogan: Uplifting: Business, People, Community. And in the immortal words of Einstein, 'Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.' We can't argue with that!"
To develop a learning solution that meets your needs, please contact us www.lgit.co.za.
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