Samsung Africa will have six operational engineering academies across Africa by the end of the year, as well as many e-learning centres, ‘smart’ schools and skills- development centres, which will use technology and train the continent’s young people to develop the skills needed on the continent and by the company, says Samsung Africa business-to-government and corporate citizenship head Ntutule Tshenye.

“Samsung uses and supports several educa- tional and skills development channels and partnerships and we believe in developing young people for the future requirements of the continent, specifically using the good syner- gies between youths and their interests in technology,” he says.

About 70% of the continent’s one-billion people are younger than 30 and the opportunities presented by technologies can help to develop the skills needed to enable the economic emancipation of the continent’s population, he notes.

“With the continent’s resources and its youthful population, Africa should be able to leapfrog in developmental terms, but has been unable to do so. We identified access to technologies and technology skills as the missing ingredients required to process the raw materials and realise the economic value presented by these resources,” explains Tshenye.

Samsung Africa’s electronics engineering academies, in South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria, were established to address the lack of skills and will serve as the models for institutions of learning. It aims to open three more such academies in Côte d’Ivoire and Ethiopia and a second academy in Nigeria by the end of the year.

“To sustain our investments, we must be profitable. This is part of the reason we are developing the appropriately skilled work- force we need in Africa. Our research and understanding of the demands placed on our service centres, repair centres and assembly plants enable us to match the demand for skills in the industry to our skills-development initiatives and ensure that the skills being developed are relevant,” he says.

Samsung Africa sourced its grade 10 to grade 12 learners from four technical schools in the Ekurhuleni area, in Gauteng, since 2011 and increased this to eight technical schools in 2012.

Its partnership with these eight further education and training colleges includes 80% hands-on training for the students, coupled with 20% appropriate theoretical training, including simulations and demonstrations.

“We bring the youth closer to the world of technology to cultivate an understanding of its uses and applications. We have placed 100% of all our graduates of 2011 and 2012 in jobs. We aim to have 10 000 electronics students trained by 2015,” Tshenye emphasises.

The focus on training is part of Samsung Africa’s strategy of becoming a $10-billion company on the continent by 2015, he notes, highlighting that the principles of demand, supply and profit must remain priorities to enable sustained investment and the business opportunities necessary to sustain development on the continent.

“A lot more work must be done in Africa, including South Africa, to raise the level of engineering expertise required to produce sophisticated and complex devices. “However, the growth and success of auto- motive assembly plants in South Africa, including those of Nissan, BMW and Toyota, show that, if armed with the appropriate skills and enabling infrastructure, Africa can manufacture the goods demanded by the global marketplace.

“Further, we are also focusing on assembly plants and believe that the initiatives that bring components to the countries will bring us closer to full manufacture in these countries, while maintaining the business case on the continent,” he concludes.