Press Release

2008

CII and NIIT join hands for ICT development in Africa

New Delhi, April 2, 2008: CII, India's apex industry body and NIIT, leading Global Talent Development Corporation have entered into an agreement to help create ICT infrastructure and foster International Software Talent in the African continent. As part of this capacity building and skill development endeavour, NIIT and CII will share high quality education resources from India and involve other appropriate players from the Indian industry to help Africa develop human capital for the global IT industry.

A Co-operation Agreement to this effect was signed between Ms Shipra Tripathi, Director & Head-Africa, CII and Mr P Rajendran, Director & COO, NIIT here today. A senior delegation comprising of business leaders and government officials from African countries are currently in India for the 'First India Africa Summit' dialogue that aims at strengthening bilateral relations.

As part of the agreement, NIIT will provide relevant IT curricula in line with international IT trends, and content for IT, soft skills and entrepreneurship for training in Universities and Colleges in Africa. CII on the other hand will facilitate internship with the Indian industry.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr P Rajendran, Chief Operating Officer, NIIT said, "Our endeavour in this capacity building partnership is to scale up the offering of quality educational resources and methodology from NIIT, to foster talent in Africa for global IT industry.

"We are confident that together with CII, we will be able to accelerate talent growth and push forward development of ICT in Africa, at a fast pace," added Mr Rajendran.

Elaborating on the MoU, Ms. Shipra Tripathi, Director & Head-Africa, from CII said, "CII believes that private sector will drive the IT revolution in Africa and effectively bridge the digital gap that presently exists. NIIT is a key partner in this endeavour. Our joint effort will be to address the immediate needs and the long term ambitions of the African countries."

NIIT and CII will work together and explore modalities of embedding NIIT's industry endorsed IT training programs in the curriculum of universities and colleges in Africa, under its 'NIIT Inside' model. Both organizations will also look at possibilities of establishing 'Centers of Excellence' for Talent Development in different African countries.

NIIT, the leading Global Talent Development Corporation has been developing ICT manpower through its state-of-the-art IT training centres in Africa, for over a decade.

NIIT: Committed to ICT Manpower Development in Africa

NIIT, the leading Global Talent Development Corporation, ventured into the African continent over a decade ago by setting up its first IT education centre in Botswana in 1997. For nearly a decade now, NIIT has been involved in creation of skilled ICT manpower in the continent and has trained nearly 150,000 students till date. The talent development company is touching over 20,000 learners every year, through three dozen learning centres in 8 African countries- Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Libya, Sudan, Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

The Government of Botswana has acknowledged NIIT's decade long contribution to providing skilled ICT manpower to the country, by awarding the accreditation of 'Tertiary Education Council' (TEC) to its industry recognized IT training programs.

NIIT's flagship DNIIT program is the most popular IT training program in many African countries. NIIT has enabled thousands of young people in these countries to join the global IT workforce, many of whom are working in large IT and non-IT organizations such as Debswana, Govt of Botswana, Zenith International Bank, Shell Corporation, Total, Dunlop, Chevron Texaco, Tower Aluminum, Unilever, Mobitel, Grant Thorton, Barclays, Standard Bank, Multilink, Shell, Afribank International, Unilever, First bank, Union Bank, Zenith Intl Bank, UBA, Linkserve, KPMG, Ericsson etc.

To enable large number of people to board the ICT bandwagon in Africa, NIIT regularly offers scholarship programs for students. NIIT's scholarship programs in countries such as Nigeria & Ghana have witnessed overwhelming response by over 50,000 students participating in a single event.

NIIT has also been instrumental in providing IT and soft skills development programs for employees of large organizations. The talent development organization now plans to address the need for developing ICT skills among children by offering its learning solutions for the school segment, in many African countries.

Hole in the Wall (HiWEL) project of NIIT- a Minimally Invasive Computer literacy initiative, has been implemented in various Sub-Saharan countries in Africa like- Rwanda, Namibia, South Africa, Botswana, Mozambique.

NIIT is working closely with Governments of many African countries to help them develop the ICT infrastructure in their country. NIIT Chairman Rajendra S Pawar, who is a member of Presidential International Advisory Council (PIAC) in South Africa has been helping the Government develop a growth strategy for its ICT industry.

In line with its commitment of providing skilled ICT manpower in the region- NIIT recently launched the State of Art Training campus in Botswana which will accommodate 7000 students in various IT streams by 2010. NIIT now plans to scale up operations and forge partnerships with more Universities and Colleges to extend its IT training offerings for the youth in Africa.

About CII in Africa

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) works to create and sustain an environment conducive to the growth of industry in India, partnering industry and government alike through advisory and consultative processes.

CII is a non-government, not-for-profit, industry led and industry managed organisation, playing a proactive role in India's development process. Founded over 112 years ago, it is India's premier business association, with a direct membership of over 7000 organisations from the private as well as public sectors, including SMEs and MNCs, and an indirect membership of over 90,000 companies from around 362 national and regional sectoral associations.

A facilitator, CII catalyses change by working closely with government on policy issues, enhancing efficiency, competitiveness and expanding business opportunities for industry through a range of specialised services and global linkages. It also provides a platform for sectoral consensus building and networking. Major emphasis is laid on projecting a positive image of business, assisting industry to identify and execute corporate citizenship programmes.

Partnerships with over 120 NGOs across the country carry forward our initiatives in integrated and inclusive development, which include health, education, livelihood, diversity management, skill development and water, to name a few.

CII's theme of 'Building People, Building India' puts the spotlight on Human Resource Development: making people more  efficient, entrepreneurial and innovative, to make  India and Indian industry even more competitive, across all sectors of the economy and all sections of society, at all levels – Global, National, Regional, State and Zonal.

With 63 offices in India, 8 overseas in Australia, Austria, China, France, Japan, Singapore, UK, USA and institutional partnerships with 271 counterpart organisations in 100 countries, CII serves as a reference point for Indian industry and the international business community.

With a special focus on Africa CII has built its linkages through 39 institutional partners and a dedicated team working with Indian industry towards strengthening partnerships.

New Initiatives under the CII Africa committee and a continuing dialogue has ensured that African delegations find CII to be the stop organization to answer all their queries.