NIL Africa receives dual Cisco awards, announces global expansion of Project 525

NIL Africa receives dual Cisco awards, announces global expansion of Project 525.

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NIL Africa has been recognised with two awards at the Cisco Partner Summit 2025, underscoring its role as a Cisco Platinum Learning Partner delivering high-impact certification training and mentorship across Africa and international markets.

This award recognises NIL Africa's consistent excellence in Cisco-authorised training delivery across the Middle East and Africa. It reflects the organisation's instructor-led programmes, mentor-driven methodology and the measurable impact its learners are having within the region's growing IT skills ecosystem.

This award highlights Project 525, NIL Africa's globally recognised mentorship programme designed to support engineers through structured preparation for Cisco professional and advanced certifications.

Born in Africa, Project 525 has empowered engineers across multiple continents by combining expert mentorship, guided study plans, cohort-based accountability and practical lab experience – helping professionals achieve certification success and accelerate their careers.

Building on the global success of the Project 525 CCIE Programme, NIL Africa has announced the expansion of Project 525 into additional Cisco certification pathways spanning professional-level certification and advanced design-focused certifications.

Following strong international demand, Project 525 CCNP will officially launch globally, with new cohorts commencing in February 2026. Designed for engineers operating at the professional certification level, the programme applies the same proven, mentor-led structure that has defined Project 525's success – providing guided preparation, accountability and hands-on lab experience to improve certification outcomes.

In addition, NIL Africa has confirmed that Project 525 CCDE will launch globally soon. Widely regarded as one of Cisco's most demanding design-focused certifications, the CCDE assesses an engineer's ability to make complex architectural and strategic network design decisions. Historically, candidates preparing for CCDE have had limited access to structured preparation pathways. Project 525 CCDE is designed to address this gap and will be the first structured, mentorship-driven CCDE training programme of its kind, purpose-built to support engineers preparing for this design-focused certification.

Together, these initiatives position Project 525 as a comprehensive certification development framework, supporting engineers from professional-level certification through to advanced design capability on a global scale.

"These awards represent more than recognition – they celebrate the power of education, mentorship and collaboration," said Brad Thomas, Director at NIL Africa. "Project 525 began as a regional initiative, and today it's changing lives globally. Expanding the programme allows us to replicate that success and create clear, supported pathways for engineers at every stage of their certification journey."

"NIL Africa's ongoing investment in Cisco-aligned skills development is playing a critical role in building Africa's digital workforce," said Hayward Rose, Leader – Partner Sales, sub-Saharan Africa. "They received the award at our Partner Summit hosted in San Diego last year for the work they did on the 525 Program as well as the fact that they are expanding on the programme to replicate the success. They are truly worthy of this award, and it has been a pleasure working with them."

The Cisco Partner Summit 2025 brought together global partners, innovators and educators to celebrate excellence in technology enablement and learning. NIL Africa's recognition follows a consistent track record of delivering high-impact training and building the next generation of IT leaders.

With growing global demand for certified networking, cloud and cyber security professionals, NIL Africa continues to lead the way in future-ready skills development, Cisco Learning Partner enablement and transformative mentorship.