Helping hand from IT
2006-07-06
THE partnership between Koinonia Community Centre in Paarl and Microsoft South Africa was recently extended with a grant to the value of R200 000 for the Qalabotjha multi-purpose centre in Villiers in the North East Free State.
This is the first project outside Drakenstein, involving these two stakeholders.
Qalabotjha, a rural area in the Free State province, is characterised by a high rate of unemployment and the multi-purpose centre, which was established in 2004 by Microsoft and Koinonia, houses a digital village, which supports small businesses, run primarily by women in the community.
“It is anticipated that through this grant, these local entrepreneurs can benefit from additional training on how technology can speed up their business process.
“Training will include courses on bookkeeping, budgeting and costing as well as office administration,” says Earl Ontong, spokesperson for Koinonia.
This is one of five grants made by Microsoft in the last 12 months in its Unlimited Potential programme, which is dedicated to improving the learning opportunities for individuals outside of formal traditional education settings by focusing on providing technology-related skills.
“By making technology more accessible to as many individuals as possible through initiatives such as these, we hope to make a real difference to people’s lives and empower South Africans to build their own future,” concludes Lungile Lose.
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