Partnership assists the youth

THE City of Ekurhuleni has partnered with computer software giant Microsoft and NGM (New Generation Mindset) Centre of Excellence to work in conjunction with the youth in developing mobility solutions that will help local government and municipalities improve on their service delivery.

The programme will focus on developing relevant mobility solutions, or mobile applications, for local government that aim to enhance service delivery.

The project is the brainchild of NGM, a company dedicated to applying ground-breaking and sustainable economic development and enterprise development solutions for SMME development, incubation and mentorship programmes.

“We want to use the most technologically advanced methods to find a solution to efficient service delivery by local governments, and at the same time tackle the issue of high unemployment among our youth,” Zaid Mohidin, CEO of NGM, said.

“That’s when we came with the idea of recruiting youth who already have an IT background or qualification, train them practically and hone their skills in a way that will go hand-in-hand with our goals of using mobile applications to advance service delivery at municipal level.”

“These solutions will be used as a platform to drive efficiency within Ekurhuleni Metro and to enhance service delivery.”

This will be done through the job readiness programme, where 30 IT graduates have been selected to take part in a one-year learnership programme where they will receive more practical, hands-on experience.

Twenty of the students will specialise in application and web development. The training facility, situated at the new Ekurhuleni Business Facilitation Network Centre on Monument Road will see these graduates exploring the latest technologies and software.

The students will also receive a stipend, sponsored by Ekurhuleni Municipality.

Since last year October/November, when the advertisement was put out for graduates to apply for the programme, they received thousands of applications within a short space of time. The students chosen are from the Ekurhuleni region and most come from disadvantaged backgrounds.

One such student is Nthabiseng Makwande from Birchleigh, who was working at a petrol station since 2011.

She first studied for one year for a certificate in computer technical support, then went on to do a two-year diploma in IT at PC Training College in Kempton Park.

She had been unable to graduate because the tuition required her to complete an internship programme before she could graduate.

Makwande says her life was changed while on night duty at the garage a few weeks ago.

“I was looking through the classifieds. Prince Ndlovu, who works at NGM, came into the shop and saw me looking through the paper. He asked me what I was doing and told him I was looking for a job.”

After telling Ndlovu her situation and what she had studied, he gave her his business card to call him. Mawkande wasted no time and gave him a ring the very next day. She has since started the programme and says she is very excited and grateful for this opportunity.

“At least now I will finally graduate from college and have my diploma, and will also be employed and get experience in my field.

The students are also awarded the chance of starting their own business through Microsoft’s BizSpark, which assists small businesses through providing them with the resources they need to run their ventures.

One such example is that of Ephraim Mafetsa (22) of Tembisa. He studied IT in school and worked as an intern for six months at EOH.

When the internship was not renewed, Mafetsa decided to approach Mohidin, who recruited him as a network administrator.

Mafetsa and a friend came up with an idea to start a mobile applications company that would develop mobile and web applications as well as software development.

“We will apply at Microsoft BizSpark to help sponsor us by supplying us with software and networking, basically any resources we may need for the business.”

Mafetsa and his colleagues have already developed a mobile application called iWant, which is a navigation application people around Ekurhuleni can use to locate certain places they need to get to in the area.

Companies around Ekurhuleni can register with iWant if they want to have their location easily accessed by potential customers. The application is available for Android, Blackberry and iPhones.

“Joining the programme has changed my life. I never dreamed that one day I could be the director of my very own company, no matter how small it may be,” Mafetsa said.