EVEN as the economy continues to falter, Econet Wireless has announced that it has trained 1,000 young people over the last 12 months as specialist computer programme coders.
The young school leavers who were selected for the programme are among the 40,000 orphaned children who, annually, receive education support from Econet and its founder Strive Masiyiwa.
The company has set up a special training facility called Muzinda Hub, which is equipped with the latest computer systems to train young people on how to design computer programmes, known as “apps”.
They can also design websites for companies around the world. The young coders will be able to join other young people from across Africa who are competing to earn part of the $5 billion a year spent on buying services from African programmers.
Explaining the initiative, Douglas Mboweni, Econet Zimbabwe CEO, said: “Muzinda Hub is training coders who will earn millions for themselves and the country.
“This is a huge industry globally and even in Africa where countries like South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, and Nigeria are earning hundreds of millions a year from this industry.”
Mboweni the Muzinda Hub graduates would be trained to become independent entrepreneurs, and assisted to become real business people.
“The vision Masiyiwa gave us was that we must equip them to become independent business people.
“This is a scholarship programme in skills development to position Zimbabwe in the future economy,” he said.Advertisement