The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the technology company HP announced on Tuesday the opening of 20 additional training centers in Africa and the Middle East to expand HP's youth entrepreneurship and IT education program. The new centers, part of the HP Graduate Entrepreneurship Training through IT program (GET-IT), will operate in Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Morocco, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa. The total number of GET-IT centers will now reach 33 in ten countries in Africa and the Middle East. The GET-IT program provides training to unemployed youth and graduates between the ages of 16 and 25, and helps potential entrepreneurs acquire IT skills with the aim of becoming better placed to create and run their own businesses. GET-IT courses teach practical IT solutions for daily business challenges in areas such as finance, management, marketing and technology management. “The UNIDO-HP partnership aims at addressing the high level of unemployment among young people in developing countries by integrating them into the labor market through successful entrepreneurship”, said Kandeh K. Yumkella, UNIDO Director-General. “HP and UNIDO have been working together to provide IT technology and training to promote innovative uses of information and communication technologies to support entrepreneurship, help encourage economic development and create new business opportunities. It is essential to keep expanding this initiative to reach as many communities as possible and to continue assisting countries in Africa and the Middle East in educating their young generation in IT.” John Hoonhout, managing director for HP Middle East, added: “HP believes that entrepreneurship is vital for the economy and that young people can play a major role in creating their own businesses and their own jobs. The GET-IT training courses combine entrepreneurship education with practical hands-on experience in using IT to enhance young people's professional skills.” Through its extensive field office network in Africa and the Middle East, UNIDO identifies non-profit organizations who are eligible to become GET-IT partners and monitors the activities of these partners to ensure the sustainability of the GET-IT program. GET-IT is part of HP's social investment strategy aimed at innovating teaching and learning to help young entrepreneurs in achieving success in their future careers. The program provides IT equipment, a cash donation, training as well as training of trainers for the respective local partner organizations. HP and its partners have now rolled out the GET-IT programme in nearly 100 centres in 30 countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, reaching out to more than 43,000 people through online and offline training courses.
