Go Open Source is investing R3 million in training 270 people from small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the IT sector with open source (OS) technical skills.
Project manager Tjipo Mothobi says the process of training the trainers is already under way. The programme will officially begin in March with workshops countrywide to discuss the merits of the project.
Mothobi expects the full-scale training programme, known as the OS Channel Partner Programme, to begin in May, in five universities scattered across the Western and Eastern Cape provinces.
"There is also a venue in Gauteng," she adds, "and we`re hoping to move to a university there later in the year."
The four-month project aims to equip the 270 participants with level one Linux Professional Institute certification and the Open International Computer Driving Licence.
"The programme will target SMEs that have been in the IT industry for at least a year, and have been working on a propriety software platform," she says.
A hundred people from Johannesburg will be trained, 70 from Cape Town, 50 from Durban and 50 from East London, she adds.
"Normally sending an engineer on the curriculum we propose would cost in excess of R24 000, but with alliances we`ve built in the market and substantial investment, we`ve brought those costs down to under R10 000," she says.
In a Go Open Source press statement released recently, Mark Shuttleworth, founder of partner company Ubuntu Linux, is quoted saying: "South Africans need to take advantage of the opportunities available now in order to take the lead in the global OS movement - the more companies we have working together, the faster we will make a significant impact."
Mothobi adds that training and support initiatives such as the Channel Partner Programme are essential to OS development in SA.
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