Johannesburg - Dell Enterprise Solutions Group, the American information technology company, announced on Friday that it has launched the Dell Academy as part of the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) Equity Equivalent program with the department of trade and industry.
The launch of the multi-million rand Dell Equity Equivalent brings the total investment amount to date, of all the approved Equity Equivalent Investment Programme (EEIP), to just over R1 billion.
The programme would see an establishment of an Information and Communication Technology academy, along with the Centre of High Performance Computing (CHPC). Dell MD Stewart van Graan said the academy would have 20 students a year, who would be exposed to the ITC industry.
A team from Dell would source deserving matriculants and undergraduates, the entrants would receive specialist training over a two year period and be paid a salary.
“They will be put through the academy, with intent to address IT employment in our country. It will be creating opportunities for students to charter their course. We have had children that were picked out from rural areas and some work for Dell now.” Van Graan said.
He said the academy was established out of Dell’s own history of transformation and South Africa’s empowerment programme and its codes of good practice.
The academy involves a partnership with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, and particularly the Centre for high performance computing.
“Today’s event marks another milestone for the evolution of the B-BBEE policy and in particular the EEIP. We are glad that we are launching the seventh B-BBEE Equity equivalent project in the history of B-BBEE that will be running for the next ten years,” said Malebo Mabitje-Thompson, Deputy Director-General of Incentives Administration at the Department of Trade and Industry.
The Equity Equivalent is a programme that government created to enable multinationals who are willing to participate and contribute positively towards BEE but are precluded from selling equity stakes by their ownership model or intellectual property consideration.
The academy is set to launch on 1 May 2015.
ANA