Econet sets up ‘Innoversity’ academy

Econet Wireless has launched the Econet Group Innoversity, a virtual learning academy designed to develop critical skills in the digital age.

“I am excited to launch the Econet Innoversity, a learning academy that we will use to develop and deliver skills of the future in line with our business strategy,” said Econet CEO Mr Douglas Mboweni at the launch of the academy in Harare on Monday.

“This will be a vehicle for developing requisite mission-critical skills that are imperative for us to not only survive but thrive in the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” said Mr Mboweni.

He said with the fast changes in technology — new skills, which are currently not being taught locally, were urgently required to address the current skills gap in key talent segments and to position organisations to compete for the future.

“For us at Econet our people are the foundation of our success. They are our main source of competitive advantage and are the key drivers of innovation and business resilience,” Mr Mboweni said.

“It is, therefore, critical for our continued success that we retrain them and equip them with Fourth Industrial Revolution skills through the world class certification programmes the Econet Innoversity will offer.”

The term “Fourth Industrial Revolution”, first coined by World Economic Forum founder and executive chairman, Professor Klaus Martin Schwab, describes the phenomena in which disruptive new technologies are changing how people live and work.

A recent national skills audit report published by the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary education revealed skills deficits in some key sectors and disciplines in Zimbabwe. The report said the country had a 93,5 percent skills deficit in engineering, a 88 percent deficit in agricultural skills and a 95 percent deficit in the medical and health science fields.

Mr Mboweni said the Econet group Innoversity would seek to bridge the skills gaps, both within its organisation and outside, in the broader marketplace. It will play a key role in accelerating skills development in order to “future-proof” individuals’ skills the business-critical competences going into the future.

Speaking at the launch, Econet chief human resources officer, Mr Dennis Nyabadza, said the Innoversity came at a time the nation was battling a skills deficit, and would play an important skills-bridging role.

He said the Innoversity would harness new technologies to increase business output and enable quick and accurate decision-making while offering skills that translate into relevant products and services.

Econet head of talent and organisational development, Mr Darlington Hukuimwe, said the new academy would run certification programmes in a variety of courses and offer new and senior management development courses, including coaching and mentorship-based learning.

Econet has long exposed its middle, senior and executive management to a wide range of effective management and leadership courses — including the globally acclaimed Success Motivation Institute (SMI) courses, for which it won the SMI World Client of The Year award last year. The Chronicle