Press Release

Samsung Electronics East Africa (SEEA) launches Engineering Academy in Kenya

As the pilot phase of the program ends in South Africa, Kenya becomes home to the second Samsung Electronics Engineering Academy in Africa

1 February 2012

Nairobi, Kenya - The second Samsung Electronics Engineering Academy in Africa was launched today, 1 February at the Woodvale Centre in Westlands, Nairobi, Kenya. A core part of Samsung’s vision to fast-track the entry of African youths into the electronics job market, the Engineering Academy program has a short-term goal to develop 10 000 Electronics Engineers across the continent by 2015, and aligns to the government’s 2030 Vision to encourage entrepreneurship and self-employment initiatives.

120 students, selected from Samsung E-learning Centers located at PC Kinyanjui and Kabete Technical, will attend the Samsung Electronics Engineering Academy and receive hands-on, practical skills training at no cost, enabling them to move into well-paying jobs after they graduate. After they complete their training at the Academy, Samsung will also assist students in kick-starting their careers by giving them the opportunity to intern and thereafter work and serve as independent service technicians or employees in their retail channel outlets in the region.

In conjunction with the launch of the Academy, Samsung East Africa also opened a Customer Service Plaza in the same building, which will provide a one-stop shop for service, repair and inquiries on all Samsung products as part of the company’s continued efforts to improve customer service in the region. It will also provide students at the Engineering Academy with first-hand experience of how customer and product repairs are managed.

 “We believe we can best achieve our goal of positively impacting the communities in which we operate by connecting our CSR initiatives to our history and core business,” says Samsung Business Leader, Robert Ngeru.  “Our aim is to promote co-operation, innovation and the exchange of new ideas in technology so that our products and technologies continue to respond to the real needs and conditions of the continent. To reach our business goals, we need a skilled workforce of technicians and exclusive service experts to differentiate Samsung as a quality service-oriented company. We also need to sustain our level of innovation, which can only be achieved if we invest in education to facilitate thought-leadership in Africa”.

Yesterday, the pilot phase of the program officially ended as the first class of students graduated from the first Engineering Academy in Africa in Boksburg, South Africa; which was launched in March 2011. The ceremony was an important milestone for the students, Samsung and the African electronics industry, signifying the program’s success and the ‘green light’ for its rollout in other Africa countries.  Samsung plans to launch the third Academy in Nigeria in the first quarter of this year.

Notes Ngeru, “We envision a future where products are designed by engineers in Africa, manufactured in Africa and tailored to meet the needs of consumers in Africa. Today’s launch of the second Samsung Electronics Engineering Academy is going to help us realise this vision and ensure that the wealth of opportunity that exists in the region is shared by all”. 

The academies are a part of the company’s global ‘Hope for Children’ initiative, which places a strategic focus on bringing attention to the worldwide need for childhood education and healthcare in an effort to improve communities worldwide.

About Samsung Hope for Children

Since our founding in 1969, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. has worked with passion and purpose to actively serve as a generous and ethical corporate citizen everywhere we operate. Samsung Hope for Children program was launched globally to bring attention to the worldwide need for childhood education and healthcare. By supplying Samsung products, lending our expertise and providing financial support, we’re able to give thousands of children in communities around the world access to education, mentorship, leadership skills and life-saving medical treatment. It is one of the ways in which Samsung uses our innovation to create a better world. For more information, please visit http://www.samsung.com/us/aboutsamsung/citizenship/hopeforchildren/ 

About Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in semiconductor, telecommunication, digital media and digital convergence technologies with 2010 consolidated sales of US$135.8 billion. Employing approximately 190,500 people in 206 offices across 68 countries, the company operates two separate organisations to coordinate its nine independent business units: Digital Media & Communications, comprising Visual Display, Mobile Communications, Telecommunication Systems, Digital Appliances, IT Solutions, and Digital Imaging; and Device Solutions, consisting of Memory, System LSI and LCD. Recognised for its industry-leading performance across a range of economic, environmental and social criteria, Samsung Electronics was named the world’s most sustainable technology company in the 2011 Dow Jones Sustainability Index. For more information, please visit www.samsung.com. E