BY EMEKA AGINAM

Committed to providing qualitative training to fresh graduates and preparing them for job market across African countries, Computer Warehouse Group, CWG, has extended its training academy to the other operational bases of the Pan African company, including Accra, Kampala, Port Harcourt and Abuja, with plans to incorporate Cameroon by the first half of 2015.

With the extension into new frontiers, it is expected that beneficiaries of the Academy would better be prepared for the global job market. The goal of the CWG Academy is to bridge the workforce knowledge gap in Africa by equipping fresh graduates with the required skills that will make them employable or become successful entrepreneurs.

With well over 500 graduates from the Academy, about 85%, according to the company, have been employed in leading companies such as IBM, CWG, MTN, Standard Chartered Bank, Stanbic-IBTC, Chevron, Cadbury, Etisalat, Ericsson and Unilever among others, while about 10% have opted to become technology entrepreneurs.

Outlining the future plans of the project, CWG Boss, Mr. Austin Okere said that the project which started modestly as a means of maintaining the steady supply of high skilled engineers to the CWG enterprise has grown in leaps and bounds to become a succour for ambitious trainable youth, who would otherwise be locked out of reaching their full potential.”

He said: “Since industry has come to be dependent on our highly trained and qualified graduates, we shall be formalizing their placement through an online site currently under construction. We believe that this initiative shall contribute to the key aspiration of Africa, being inclusive growth and job creation,” he explained.

Some of the CWG Academy alumni while sharing their experiences testified that the academy is really a launch pad for challenges ahead. Ezekiel Oyerinde, who presently works with IBM West Africa as a Storage Systems Specialist told Vanguard Hi-Tech: “I am a graduate of Biochemistry but I ventured into IT after school. Although, I have gone to a couple of Computer schools, the CWG Academy was an eye opener for me into the world of endless possibilities in IT. During the interview stage of my previous employment at MTN, I was pleasantly surprised to see that among those shortlisted, the CWG Academy graduates emerged tops” he said.