Samsung Opens the Second Engineering Academy in Kenya, Plans a Third for Nigeria

Samsung has today launched its second Samsung Electronics Engineering Academy in Africa . The academy which is based  Nairobi, Kenya came into being as a result of Samsung’s core vision to fast-track the entry of African youths into the electronics job market. The  Engineering Academy program has an initial short-term goal to develop 10 000 Electronics Engineers across the continent by 2015, and align to the vision of various continent’s government key being, to encourage entrepreneurship and self-employment initiatives.

For a start, the first 120 students for the Engineering Academy will be selected from Samsung E-learning Centers located at PC Kinyanjui and Kabete Technical. They will attend the Samsung Electronics Engineering Academy and receive hands-on, practical skills training at no cost.

After completing their training at the Academy, Samsung will absorb them as interns  before releasing them to serve as independent service technicians or employees in Samsung retail channel outlets in Africa.

Samsung also opened a Customer Service Plaza in the same building. The service plaza is a one-stop shop for service, repair and inquiries on all Samsung products . The Customer Service Plaza will also be a great venue for the Engineering Academy graduates to intern at.

 “We believe we can best achieve our goal of positively impacting the communities in which we operate by connecting our CSR initiatives to our history and core business,”

says Samsung Business Leader, Robert Ngeru.

“Our aim is to promote co-operation, innovation and the exchange of new ideas in technology so that our products and technologies continue to respond to the real needs and conditions of the continent. To reach our business goals, we need a skilled workforce of technicians and exclusive service experts to differentiate Samsung as a quality service-oriented company. We also need to sustain our level of innovation, which can only be achieved if we invest in education to facilitate thought-leadership in Africa”.

The pilot phase of the program officially ended yesterday, 31st January, as the first class of students graduated from the first Engineering Academy in Africa in Boksburg, South Africa. The Engineering Acdemy in SA was launched in March 2011.

Samsung plans to launch the third Academy in Nigeria in the first quarter of this year.

Notes Ngeru,

“We envision a future where products are designed by engineers in Africa, manufactured in Africa and tailored to meet the needs of consumers in Africa. Today’s launch of the second Samsung Electronics Engineering Academy is going to help us realise this vision and ensure that the wealth of opportunity that exists in the region is shared by all”. 

The academies are a part of the Samsung’s global ‘Hope for Children’ initiative.