The scarcity of programming skills in the South African market has motivated Striata to form a partnership that seeks to address this issue. "One of our key long-term initiatives is to grow the pool of programming skills available to businesses like Striata," explains Alison Treadaway, Striata SA Managing Director. "Our *enterprise development partnership with Khuphulanani Training Institute aims to help us drive this initiative."
Khuphulanani Training Institute has a fully computerised training centre near Alexandra. It provides corporate training as well as offers the youth in the area basic computer and workplace skills in order to assist them in the job market. Says Treadaway: "We were honoured to attend the June graduation ceremony of the students who recently finished their basic computer and workplace skills courses. It was incredibly inspiring to see how hard the learners had worked and how proud and excited they were to receive their certificates."
Together with Khuphulanani, Striata is developing a basic HTML course, which will be delivered at the training institute. Graduates of this certification will be suitable for entry-level Web development. "Our aim is to have learners graduating with a certificate in HTML programming and Web page development by this time next year. We are hoping this will make a meaningful impact on the number of people entering into programming as a career," says Treadaway.
As Striata's ED beneficiary, Khathu Maphari - owner and managing director of Khuphulanani Training Institute - will be participating in a mentorship programme through Raizcorp, sponsored by Striata. The programme provides personal and business mentorship, both during and after the formal programme.
Says Maphari: "We are very excited by our partnership with Striata. Not only have they provided me personally with business mentorship through Raizcorp, but more significantly, we will work together to introduce a basic programming course that will equip learners to enter into a career in Web development."
Concludes Treadaway: "We're hoping this initiative will inspire other software-reliant businesses to enter into similar initiatives and grow programming as a career choice among the youth. We're also hoping to impress on high school learners how important it is to persevere with maths and science, as these are essential building blocks for a career in programming."
* Enterprise development is the support of black-owned small/medium-sized enterprises with either financial assistance, time or services investment with a view to expand or improve that business. It is one of the seven measured pillars of BBBEE.
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