IBM says it will double down on its investment in Africa, including sending twice as many up-and-coming IBM leaders to Africa via the company's Corporate Service Corps (CSC) program.
Litow said the Corporate Service Corps program provides local
communities with the services and expertise of IBM's top talent. It
cultivates future IBM leaders from all parts of the globe to offer
pro-bono business and IT consulting in growth markets. Since the launch
of
the CSC in 2008, nearly 1,400 IBM employees have been dispatched on
more than 120 team assignments in 24 countries, including Brazil,
Cambodia, Chile, China, Ghana, India, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Nigeria,
Poland, Morocco, Tanzania and Vietnam. Competition to participate in
the program is steep. Litow said between 8,000 and 9,000 applicants vie
for spots in the CSC but IBM only takes about 500 per year.
IBM currently has two Corporate Service Corps teams on the ground in
Morogoro, Tanzania, working with the country's postal system, and a
team in Limpopo, South Africa, assisting in the development of an
education strategy in conjunction with the Limpopo Department of
Education. Other IBM Corporate Service Corps teams are due to arrive in
Ghana and Kenya in October.
"Expanding the Corporate Service Corps will differentiate IBM by
providing us with a next generation of skilled leaders while helping
nations around the world solve their most pressing problems," Litow
said in a statement. "This is a model that increasingly our clients
will be emulating. Given that IBM anticipates 30 percent of its
geographic revenue will be tied to emerging markets by 2015, the
Corporate Service Corps allows IBM to do well by doing good --
especially in Africa."
Litow added that IBM enterprise customers such as FedEx, John Deere
and Dow Chemical have instituted programs similar to IBM's CSC program.
In addition, taking notice of IBM's success, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) recently
announced
it is working with IBM to increase U.S.-based international corporate
volunteerism, which Washington, DC-based CDC Development Solutions
(CDS) estimates has risen from just 280 employees dispatched in 2006 to
2,000 employee volunteers in 58 nations this year. Now IBM, USAID and
CDS are providing corporations of all sizes with strategies needed to
make their own international volunteerism projects more effective.
Also, a new
survey
shows that the Corporate Service Corps is helping IBM employees develop
leadership and problem-solving skills. Nine of every 10 participants in
the program said their international corporate service experience
provided them with an excellent leadership opportunity, while helping
them better understand IBM's role in the developing world, increasing
their cultural awareness, and making them more effective at their jobs.
And Litow said eight out of 10 said the program increased the
likelihood of them continuing their careers with IBM.
IBM officials said Corporate Service Corps projects reinforce the
transformation of Africa, which is building out its technology
infrastructure, civic and social institutions in light of a growing
middle class. In Nigeria's Cross River province, IBM teams
developed programs to provide free health care to mothers and young
children, as well as one that provides financial assistance to
disadvantaged households to spur entrepreneurialism, Di Leo said.
In Ghana, IBM teams have worked on projects to narrow the digital
divide between rural and urban areas. In Kenya, IBM employees have
provided advice to improve the country's ability to develop and retain
top technology talent; modernize the national postal service; and
establish a framework for e-government services for citizens, including
electronic voting. In Tanzania, IBMers helped the country develop an
eco-tourism industry and adopt technology in its universities.
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