The Kenyan mobile industry continues to experience substantial growth with increased uptake of smartphones. Various brands are competing for customers. This can be attributed to the growing economy and increasing internet and mobile connectivity, which have created a favourable competitive landscape, bringing onto the market more brands and cheaper devices.
However, as these mobile companies ship in millions of handsets to increase their market share, little or no attention has been paid to the quality of thousands of phone repair shops that have sprung up across the country to attend to faulty handsets. As a result many consumers are left exposed to phone technicians without certified training.
It is from this background that in 2012 Samsung decided to launch an Electronics Engineering Academy to equip young people with latest global technological skills and bridge the gap that is occasioned by lack of resources.
According to Ms Patricia Kingori, the regional head of marketing at Samsung East Africa, the academy is part of the company’s broader goal to develop skilled electronics engineers across the country through bridging the skills gap that has resulted from lack of resources.
“Most Kenyan students cannot afford to travel abroad to gain these skills, as a result the idea of Samsung Engineering Academy was mooted to bring these skills that meet industry standards closer home,” Ms Kingori explained.
She said the selection process to join the academy is very competitive and recruitment is done from leading technical institutions across the country.
“The selected students should be in their final year of study at their respective university,” she said. “Our focus is on those pursing electrical and computer engineering, information technology, scientific computing and mechanical and industrial engineering.who undergo technical skills training for a period of one year. We offer a chance to top performers to become interns/service technicians with Samsung retail channels in the region.”
About 60 students are incorporated every session and over 400 students have graduated from the school since its inception. Samsung Electronics has launched similar academies in South Africa, Ethiopia and Nigeria as part of its broader goal to develop 10,000 skilled electronics engineers across Africa.
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