SAP Africa has marked the successful conclusion of a month spent by several of its employees who have worked with four Ethiopian organisations to help improve the lives of the communities in which they operate. These SAP employees form part of a global programme called the SAP Social Sabbatical, which matches talented employees with entrepreneurs and non-profit organisations in emerging markets.
The SAP Social Sabbatical team has been in Addis Ababa since July 11 and has been working with the following organisations: International Development Enterprises (iDE), Ethiopian Centre for Disability and Development, Camara Education, and AhadooTec.
"The SAP Social Sabbatical programme allows us to provide our employees with innovative development opportunities while strengthening entrepreneurship in emerging economies such as Ethiopia. We're incredibly excited to once again host this dynamic group of employees from around the world who not only work together to solve problems in a foreign setting, but also help strengthen communities and develop individuals into future leaders," said Andrew Waititu, MD, SAP East Africa.
"SAP's strategy is centred around helping the world run better and improving people's lives, with a focus on equipping the world's youth with skills to tackle society's problems and thrive in the 21st century workforce. SAP supports education and emerging entrepreneurship to successfully drive sustainable economic growth, innovation and job creation. Our programmes focus on building the capacity of innovative social enterprises that put young people on the path to successful careers, and building a skilled workforce for the IT sector with training and workforce development programmes," he added.
Highlights about the four organisations:
International Development Enterprises (iDE) is an international non-government, non-profit organisation with its headquarters in Denver, Colorado. iDE Ethiopia is an affiliate of iDE international and has been operational in Ethiopia for the last ten years with the objective of reducing poverty and sustainably improving food security and livelihoods of the poor farming households. In Ethiopia, iDE started its operations in 2005 as a pilot programme and was registered with the Ethiopian authorities in 2007.
Ethiopian Centre for Disability and Development (ECDD) is a local non-profit organisation founded to promote disability inclusive development in Ethiopia. Working in six regions and two city administrations, ECDD runs inclusive education, health, child sponsorship, urban and rural development programmes, reaching more than 350 institutions.
Camara Education is an international charity and social enterprise that uses technology to deliver 21st century skills, with the goal to improve education in disadvantaged communities in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Rwanda, Lesotho, Haiti and Ireland. In Ethiopia, Camara follows a strict social enterprise model where it charges a small fee to provide refurbished computers, teacher training and capacity building to primary and secondary schools as part of a five-year agreement with the Federal Ministry of Education.
AhadooTec is an Ethiopian technology start-up with a social mission specialising in mobile and web applications development. Its objective is to provide quality services to clients using the latest technology and methodologies, while building local capacities. The business received grants from the Centre for International Migration & Development, and Forward Foundation. Today most of its income is generated through software development services provided for private organisations and NGOs.
A relatively new area for global pro-bono engagement, the social sabbatical initiative was launched in 2012 with 30 SAP employees in Brazil, India and South Africa. A second and third team spent time in South Africa in October 2013 and Kenya in April 2014, with a further three teams being deployed to various African countries in the next 12 months. This is the fourth year in which SAP is sending its employees to emerging markets to help make a difference.
Since 2012, the programme deployed 72 employees in the 2013/14 cycle, reaching 96 participants in the 2014/15 cycle. This year, SAP will be serving 32 different organisations in a total of eight countries, namely Ethiopia, South Africa, India, Colombia, Philippines, Turkey, China, and Brazil.
Source: AllAfrica
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