Before Derek went to Tanzania to help improving their technology and education infrastructure, his assumption on the major problem there was Money. But after years of working on the project onsite and offsite, he discovered that in reality the issues are:
- Planning: inadequate proper project management knowledge and skills
- Scoping and expectations: how big to build? How to scale?
- Mentoring: how to maintain/pass the knowledge to next generations
- Infrastructure: computer, equipment, power, communication, Internet, city planning
In his UBC alumni/industry lecture talk: Going High-Tech in Africa: Lessons Learned in Global Teaming, Cultural Diversity, and Emerging Markets, Derek Shimozawa talked about his experience in joining The IBM Corporate Service Corps (CSC) program, which sends teams of the company’s top performers from around the world to engage in community-driven economic development projects in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America. He went to work with the University of Dodoma in general technology, learning management system, and management information system.
He pointed out that some companies has corporate volunteer programs as part of business strategies: Pfizer (health research), Timberland (planting trees in China), Starbucks/Earthwatch Institute, Pricewaterhouse Cooper Ulysses. it sure helps to improve their corporate image. But since there’s no good matrices in measuring the ROI of such programs to the contribution of the company’s revenue, I think only big corporates can afford the luxuries of paying a bunch of industry elites to poor countries for community works.
- More information about UBC CS Alumni/Industry Lecture Series can be found at http://www.cs.ubc.ca/news/press/AlumniLectureSeries.shtml.
- IBM Corporate Service Corps (CSC)
- Blog about working with University of Dodoma, Tanzania
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