Background

INBEKON Management Institute (Pty) Ltd has been active in the provision of training at NQF Levels 6 - 7 since 1994. More than 500 persons active in the ICT field have completed advanced certificate courses in the management of Information Technology with IMI.

Under the trade name of UniSchool, our wholly owned subsidiary Xantium Trading 85 (Pty) Ltd has provided computer literacy training since 1996 at NQF levels 2 - 5 to more than 8000 previously disadvantaged individuals.

In 1998, UniSchool became involved in the establishment of a computer centre at the disadvantaged community of Siyabuswa. Working with SEIDET (the Siyabuswa Education Improvement and Development Trust), the centre was founded with 27 computers donated by Persetel. UniSchool further provided all the teachers involved in SEIDET with computer literacy training. The facility was at first only used by SEIDET as part of their programme to provide additional educational services to students from the surrounding schools on Saturday mornings.

At a Computer Indaba held at the time, teachers and representatives of the SEIDET Board determined what they further expected from the computer centre and how it should be utilized. A clear objective emerged: To establish the centre as a well-managed facility and specifically as a centre of development for the surrounding community of Siyabuswa.

We were invited to establish a local branch of our training operation, focusing mainly on computer literacy training for the people of Siyabuswa. The training process was initiated in October 1998, and the centre has since been managed and run by local people trained by us. 

The next phase entailed establishing the training centre as a self-sufficient business, offering employment opportunities to the local community. Aided by our support and guidelines, the teachers themselves developed the business plan to transform the centre, with provision for the establishment of a closed corporation to run the business. 

Apart from the provision of training to the community, the business now enables graduates of the training program to provide IT services to the community - ranging from computer repair and upgrade services, to software and printing services.

The jury might still be out on the extent of development that has taken place in the Siyabuswa community by virtue of the innovation hub that the computer centre has become. It is, however, already abundantly clear that the community of Siyabuswa has assumed ownership of this facility and that a healthy diffusion process has been initiated. 

The story of Siyabuswa has also been heard outside the borders of South Africa. Prof Ojelanki Ngwenyama from the Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, has visited the facility on several occasions and has commented as follows about the project: "The Siyabuswa experiment has … been recognized by the international community as an innovation in the application of information technology for social development. Many colleagues around the world are now interested in learning from this project for application elsewhere."

We believe that we have an obligation to contribute more to the country than the mere training of individuals who attend our courses. We further believe that we have the capacity to contribute more to the country than being involved in only one training/development hub such as the one at Siyabuswa. 

These convictions paved the way for the planning of our Sustainable Development Initiative.

 

Outline