Training In Africa
In Africa, our support goes to entrepreneurs. Many studies report increasing emigration of great minds out of Africa, Asia, and Latin America towards western countries. The practice of selective immigration made this situation worse. With an integrated world economy, the impact of this situation on the economies of these countries as well as those of developed countries is evident. The existing companies in developing countries that fall victim to this massive exodus of great minds have a hard time following the evolution of knowledge in the world economy. As a result, these businesses are less viable since they lack appropriate human resources. Therefore, they do little to support the local economy, and they cannot be viable partners for the western companies wanting to invest in them. The lack of skilled workforce is one of the main obstacles to direct foreign investments. At CIBEC, we believe that we can and must work to spread knowledge around in order to reduce the cognitive gap between developing and developed countries. The future of the planet depends on it.
So, CIBEC launched the Africa Business Practitioners University initiative (ABPU), which is a series of trainings which utilize information technology (teleconferencing) to contribute to training the decision-makers in private companies in some African countries. It is a work of collective intelligence which aims to help company executives find practical solutions to their growth problems. This way, we put innovation in the service of the organizational development of companies. Renowned researchers provide cutting edge training for the decision-makers in Africa from North America. This is a unique opportunity to go from innovation to commercialization. These trainings help the companies by allowing their executives to acquire practical knowledge that they can apply in their environment. It is a technology transfer dynamic, which aims to implement and recover a technology within the company.
This work is all the more praiseworthy that very few companies in developing countries have R&D; departments. Therefore, they have few resources available to take the necessary step back to adopt a rigorous method to search for solutions to a problem within the company. The ABPU aims to give these companies the necessary cognitive resources without them having to break the bank and send their employees to be trained in developed countries. The latter option also carries the risk that the employees may just never return.
The ABPU uses new technologies to bring the appropriate knowledge where it is needed. In this setting, we address all production topics that may improve the companies’ productivity. A study of training needs was done, and the trainings are offered based on that.
The companies are monitored to see how the decision-makers who took part in the training are using the knowledge they acquired to make a difference in the daily management of their business.
