Youth embrace ICT

LEKOPANYE MOOKETSI
Correspondent | Monday November 15, 2010 00:00

The youth have become an integral part of this amazing phenomenon that makes it crucial to possess ICT skills in order to survive.

Besides studying ICT young people are also practising and running related businesses. As a result they have also created employment in the ICT industry for their peers. If you pop into an Internet caf, you will see young people busy at work on the computers.

Director of Youth and Culture, Tlhabologo Ndzinge underscores the importance of ICT to the nation. She said for any country to develop it must have a robust ICT. Ndzinge said ICT is used to bring the most needed information at the click of a button. 

She spoke about the many initiatives that the government has taken to bring ICT services to Batswana.  One of these initiatives is e-government in which government services are offered online.

She said in the reviewed youth policy, one of the emergency issues to be given priority is that of ICT. 

She revealed that the youth fund which issues grants to young people also caters for ICT related businesses.  She said many young people have benefited from the grant and others have opened ICT businesses such as internet cafes.

But the director called for more young people to apply for ICT related projects.  'We want to see more young people coming forward to utilise ICT.' 

She said most of the projects that have been funded through the youth fund are for agriculture.

To her, ICT is an emerging issue. She said government has realised that most ICT businesses are run by foreigners and would like to see more Batswana, especially the youth, joining the super highway.

Ndzinge said they are also running what they have termed an 'e-nnovation youth empowerment' programme as a pilot project.  The e-nnovation youth empowerment programme is a project where young people and IT graduates submit feasible business proposals in the ICT, science and technology.  Interested youths, either individually or in groups, are encouraged to submit and present business concepts that are unique yet beneficial to society in the long term.

Under this project, three successful businesses will be funded up to P145,000 each. The objectives of the project are to promote creativity and innovation among young people. It also aims to promote entrepreneurship amongst the young people of Botswana as a whole. Another objective is to increase the usage of ICTs by the public.

It is not only the government which is promoting the use of ICT. Even the private sector has joined the bandwagon. Adebayo Giwa, originally from Nigeria, is one entrepreneur spearheading the ICT crusade. Giwa runs a number of ICT businesses which have employed the youth. The services he offers range from digital photographing, graphic design and secretarial.    

 Giwa is a former teacher at Moshupa Secondary School where he was teaching commerce and business studies.

He was also a coordinator of Junior Achievement at the school. 'This is why I became interested in business and employing Form Five school leavers, especially my former students.'

He said his business has also conducted ICT training skills for its employees.  Most of the employees are school leavers. Giwa's business started in 2003 when he started recruiting his former students to join him.

Before he started operating, Giwa upgraded his skills by enrolling for a computer studies course. His son, a computer engineer assisted him. He said his son, who studied in Russia, has come up with many innovative ideas.   

'We are able to train the employees with my son. Not all of them had a computer background. One of our former employees has left to start his own business in Mochudi. Some of the former employees are studying IT related course at Limkomkwing University, while others are working for institutions like the Botswana Police and Botswana Defence Force (BDF). They still consult me about how to start their own businesses,' he revealed.

Giwa said his business employs 22 people and there is one employee based in Kanye, who is over 40 years of age. He said it is very important for the youth to possess ICT skills. 'Our business might look small but we are imparting so much knowledge to young people.  You don't have to only go to the university to acquire ICT skills,' he said.

Giwa is operating his ICT businesses at the Gaborone Hotel, BBS mall, Kanye and in Mochudi. At Gaborone Hotel, his businesses operate from porta camps. 

He said people look at a caravan establishment as a small business, adding that even the authorities are not supportive.

James Balikana operates an Internet caf at Gaborone West mall, which also employs young people.  Some of the young people that he has employed were equipped with ICT skills from schools.  But he said when they complete school it is not as if they know everything.  'But at least they have basic skills,' he said. There are other young people without ICT skills, who are trained on the job. 

However, he said the ICT terminology changes every now and then.  As a result, he said, they also have to update their employees' skills on a regular basis.