Samsung’s first Africa Young Leaders Get down to Business

In 2012, Samsung invited 12 African youths from across the continent to participate in the very first Africa Young Leaders Program.

Through this initiative, Samsung aims to improve the lives of 100 African youths by 2015.

This first group has returned from their trip to Samsung Global Headquarters in Korea, having gained working experience of every aspect of the global IT giant’s business, and will now spend one year working for Samsung in their home country, to augment their global business understanding with practical local experience.

“At Samsung, we have a particular focus on developing people and ICT competence in Africa,” said Ntutule Tshenye, Business-to-Government and Corporate Citizenship Lead for Samsung Africa.

“There is a shortfall in maths and science education on the continent, and as a result a dearth of ICT skills at a higher level as well. Because of this, we believe that our business goals are inalienable from our CSR and development goals – Africa needs ICT to develop, and to grow our market in Africa, we need a healthy base of users.”

It is for this reason that Samsung carries out projects supporting maths and science education across Africa, and the Africa Young Leaders forms a part of this.

“The Africa Young Leaders Program contributes in its own small way to Samsung’s stated goal of positively impacting five million lives in Africa by 2015,” said Tshenye.

The youths are identified through broad selection processes to identify those with the qualifications, background and ambition to derive true value from the program.

Samsung sought to identify young, responsible people of good standing with a university qualification.

The program received recommendations from participating universities, but the company was also looking out for youths who were active in their communities. In this particular initiative, the selected participants were not necessarily from a disadvantaged background.

The participants then spent six months at the Samsung Global HQ in Korea, during which they got to ‘work’ and experience every aspect of the company before deciding which department or area they would like to be involved in. While in Korea, the participants receive a salary and a housing allowance. Upon their return, they are hired to work at Samsung for a minimum of one year.

“Samsung wants to advance electronics engineering in Africa,” said Tshenye. “We believe that by supporting the development of thought leadership and the advancement of electronics engineering, we will be laying the foundations for sustainability on the continent. We ultimately want to get to a point where our products are not only built for Africa, but are also built by Africa, in Africa.”

Sphiwe Fezile Mabena is a South African graduate who was approached by Samsung to participate in the program. He says it has changed the way he views the world, teaching him about Samsung’s business, and about how different races and cultures approach business. “Professionally, I now pay more attention to detail and I am more advanced in the way I do business and view business,” he said.

He has returned to South Africa to work in Samsung’s Hospitality Display Solutions division.

Another of the African Youth Leaders, Taiwo Buja from Nigeria, said she can summarise her lessons and experiences as: “Globally thinking, looking on to the innovative future”. She says that one of the most important skills she took away from her time there was learning how to work across international borders as her job involved managing the international market.

“Very few graduates at my level have had the chance to work in the headquarters of a global company like Samsung,” she says. “Every day was exciting and challenging.”

She added, “Using the Africa Young Leaders initiative as a platform to develop young graduates like myself is rewarding not just for me, but for the people around me, my community, the country and Africa as a whole.”

It is exactly this kind of impact that Samsung aims to make with the Africa Young Leaders program. “We are delighted with the success of the first group on a professional and personal level,” says Tshenye. “We look forward to watching their successful careers unfold, and we also look forward to welcoming the next group into the program.”