Graduate Entrepreneurship Training through IT (GET-IT)

Organisation Name

Hewlett-Packard

Problem

According to a recent study, 18% (or 5 million) of graduates from schools and universities in Europe were under or unemployed last year. Hence, the unemployment in Europe is significantly higher than the average rate of 7.7% across all ages. More than 90% of all enterprises in Europe have less than 10 employees and they employ half of the European workforce. Hence, small and medium businesses are clearly the answer for generating jobs in Europe.

Solution

In May 2007, HP launched its new "Graduate Entrepreneurship Training through IT" (GET-IT) programme where HP and its partner Microenterprise Acceleration Institute (MEA-I) collaborate with 35 local NGOs in 18 countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). The programme provides IT equipment for these organisations as well as professional guidance courses for their trainers. It will enable them to offer interactive courses based on a curriculum specifically designed to improve business IT skills of young unemployed school leavers and graduates. The courses are designed to encourage job creation and entrepreneurship among people below the age of 25.

GET-IT is integrated into the existing training initiatives of up to 35 non-profit organisations throughout EMEA that are already active in education and job creation. GET-IT training courses deal with practical IT solutions for daily business challenges faced in areas such as finance, management, marketing and technology management.

Each organisation receives the IT equipment needed for the training in addition to the learning material and professional guidance courses for trainers. The grants are worth approximately $40,000 per organisation. The initiative is planned to grow next year to 70 centres across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

GET-IT is part of HP's Economic Development Programme and complements MAP (Microenterprise Acceleration Programme), which was launched by the company two years ago and already offers business and IT training for established entrepreneurs. Both programmes are run in collaboration with the Micro-Enterprise Acceleration Institute, a non-profit organisation, sponsored by HP, that provides business-related IT training.

Constraints

• The main constraints are the different requirements per country: Mature versus emerging markets (Russia for example)

Benefits

In the first roll-out of the programme, at least 6,000 young people will be trained in 35 centres across18 countries, making them better placed to get skilled jobs or create and run their own business. There are plans to expand GET-IT into other countries.

Year Of Submission

2007

Themes

Skills and Competence Building

Solution Champion

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