Since the dawn of the South African democracy when Samsung entered the African continent through the establishment of the South Africa office, our company has been investing in education-focused Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes for the future, which have now led to positive social changes within the broader African continent.

In our history of Corporate Citizenship in Africa, our CSR activities have been focusing mainly on Education and Skills Development for Employment as well as Sustainability efforts. Our success in the last three decades is also due to our Operational Synergies that were created through our Associations with government institutions and NGOs alike. In the South African context, our CSR programmes are complemented by our already successful landmark multi-million-rand Equity Equivalent Investment Programme (EEIP), which was launched in 2019. Our ten-year plan aims to address key developmental aspects linked to the National Development Plan (NDP) and the overall transformation of the economy.

As a company, we also subscribe to the sustainable development goals of the United Nations Development Plan (UNDP). Our advocacy to the United Nations Development Goals (UNDG’s)^* of “Quality Education” and “Reduced Inequalities” aims to improve access to technology, information and communication services for the youth in the continent. For decades, our African operation has  been putting great emphasis on the need to empower the youth. We have done this by ensuring that young people contribute greatly to Africa’s Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) agenda and objectives.

To do this, we needed to ensure that the execution of our CSR strategy is linked and focused 100% on education through technology, targeting mostly the young people in the continent. This has, over time had a positive impact on youth within the regional community. As technology suppliers, we understand the importance of 4IR in the lives of the broad youth base in the continent and most importantly; access to new technologies.

^*Source: UNDP Report: https://books.google.co.za/books?hl=en&lr=&id=ARtZEAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA89&dq=Managing+inclusive+digital+transformation,+lessons+from+100+countries&ots=Hofj6JhvJI&sig=k2vZvDUf13fZG8zbvgWmfuvp1gM

We have therefore been striving to use technology to develop future innovators for a better world. Our youth in Africa is currently in a positive position to seize the opportunities ahead.

We have undertaken a number of forward-thinking CSR initiatives in order to empower the youth of tomorrow. As a legacy programme of Solve for Tomorrow and Samsung Innovation Campus, Samsung Engineering Academy aimed to address the shortages in technical and engineering skills in the continent by educating the next generation from 2012 to 2020. Hundreds of graduates from countries such as South Africa, Nigeria and more completed the programme successfully, emerging as changemakers to lead innovation for years to come. Additionally, we launched the Women Technical Programme and Boys to Men initiative in South Africa in 2018 to provide technical education opportunities to disadvantaged students, and the Coding Academy in Rwanda in 2021 to equip students with the latest knowledge in coding and software development.

In addition, as an organisation that is well aware of the great importance of education, we have in recent years continued our quest of equipping young people both in high school and tertiary level with the skills and knowledge they will need to build a better world. As a company, we have launched many skills development initiatives aimed at addressing Africa’s digital divide. Over the past few years, we have been able to put technology in the hands of the youth from under-served communities and provided them with smart classrooms in the form of ICT Innovation Hubs or Smart Labs.

These Innovation Hubs or Smart Labs created access to computer literacy, the internet, basic IT and coding skills in remote communities and they included the following:

• An investment into an ICT Project where an ICT Innovation Hub was unveiled aimed at benefitting the community in Kwa-Zulu Natal School.
• We set up an Innovation Campus (Innovation Hub) in Agona Swedru in the Central Region aimed at leveraging technology to support the dreams of young Ghanaians. In this Hub, we housed a series of coding programmes where young children between the ages of 5-to-17 years in public basic schools in the community were trained on technology and coding.
• And furthermore, we donated an Innovation Hub in Lagos, Nigeria.

From the ICT Innovation Hubs, we evolved into the global Samsung Solve for Tomorrow competition. As a result, the Solve for Tomorrow competition based on Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) was launched for the first time in Africa in 2023.

Recently launched and piloted in 51 schools across South Africa, this programme is providing learners in grade 10 and 11 from underserved communities an opportunity to gain invaluable skills, while solving some of the challenges within their communities. Learners are encouraged to use STEM to find solutions to some of the most pressing societal challenges faced by their communities. The launch event that was held in March was used as a platform to announce the 2023 Top 10 schools who were going through to Phase Two (2).

At this stage, they had an opportunity to tackle a challenge and produce tangible innovations to help improve issues within their communities. With Samsung helping them with resources and mentors guiding them, the learners had to conduct research and develop prototypes for the challenges they had identified. For their efforts, Mbilwi Secondary School from Venda in Limpopo walked away with the first prize, while second place was taken by Maphuthaditshaba Secondary from Acornhoek (Mpumalanga) and in third place, it was Umlazi Comprehensive Tech from Kwa-Zulu Natal.

Through the Samsung Innovation Campus (SIC) programme, we have successfully partnered with universities of technology including the Walter Sisulu University (WSU) in the Eastern Cape and the Central University of Technology (CUT) in the Free State to develop and teach coding, software development, internet of things (IOT) and artificial intelligence (AI) skills to youth from under-serviced communities.

We have further expanded the SIC into other African countries such as Lesotho and entered into partnerships with Lerotholi Polytechnic (LP) as well as the National University of Lesotho (NUL).

There is an upcoming SIC graduation of the first cohort in Lesotho on 03 November 2023. Also, we are currently working on further growing the SIC programme by rolling it out into the rest of Africa, into territories including Kenya, Malawi, Namibia and Nigeria.

Furthermore, some of our successful legacy education programmes that have not only seen youth being empowered and comfortable in the technology space, but also employable with positive ripple effects on their families include the following:

• As part of the EEIP, we sponsored a 24-month SETA accredited Air-conditioning and Refrigeration apprenticeship programme which trained about 40 selected apprentices who had never been exposed to technology before. Recently, 38 of these youth graduated as well as two that received certificates of attendance, to work with mentors to grow their skills and address ICT education for SA’s unemployed youth.

• In 2020, as part of addressing the country’s critical shortage of technicians to service consumer electronics and hand-held devices, we sponsored a 12-month SETA accredited Electronics apprenticeship programme. Through the EEIP programme, about 41 learners were enrolled in two cohorts for the 1^st phase of the programme with the aim of empowering youth from rural areas and townships by equipping them with much-needed skills to land employment or start their own businesses. The programme had broad reach in terms of participants as it has attracted candidates from the north, south, midland and coastal areas of Kwa-Zulu Natal. In 2022, this programme was expanded to include the Eastern Cape .

With these CSR initiatives that are designed to make a difference to all people, we are striving to ensure that students and learners are empowered to ultimately grow and build a better future for themselves, their families and the African community at large.

Samsung proudly supports Busan’s bid for the World Expo 2030.

In Keith Sawyer’s book ‘The New Science of Learning,’ he states that, “By the twentieth century, all major industrialised countries offered formal schooling to all of their children. When these schools took shape in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, scientists didn’t know very much about how people learn. Even by the 1920s, when schools began to become the large bureaucratic institutions that we know today, there still was no sustained study of how people learn. As a result, the schools we have today were designed around common-sense assumptions that had never been tested scientifically.”

Education systems around the world haven’t effectively addressed learner’s ability to absorb information. As the modern world shifts, new information and ways of using that information has changed what learners need to know, including the way in which they interact with and absorb knowledge.

While education systems have evolved to an extent to include conceptual understanding as well as more practical learning, there is still a long way to go in addressing the real-world needs of future generations. This is where technology has stepped in – changing the way students interact with the material they’re required to learn as well as the way in which they absorb and experience this information.

Tech Reach
According to Sawyer, learners need “to learn integrated and usable knowledge, rather than sets of compartmentalised and decontextualised facts. They need to be able to take responsibility for their own continuing, lifelong learning. These abilities are important to the economy, to the continued success of participatory democracy and to living a fulfilling, meaningful life.”

How technology can address this new way of learning has been explored using augmented reality, virtual reality and mixed reality – technologies that enhance teacher instruction at the same time as creating fun, engaging and immersive lessons. A peek into future classrooms will see learners fully engaged with VR sets and a complete immersion into concepts, problem-solving, facts, scenarios and multi-layered subject matter.

While some countries have been able to fully embrace new technology in schools and universities, the uptake is highly dependent on teacher skill levels and funding. But all educational institutions need to make a start. This includes introducing learners to technology by allowing them to have their own individual devices, thus expanding their learning and understanding of digital domains. This helps learners to internalise the study material and connect better with their peers and teachers.

A new beginning
At Samsung, we apply the latest technology, human and financial resources to create and run regionally-tailored education programs that offer relevant and valuable learning opportunities. One such example is the partnership Samsung has with Walter Sisulu University (WSU) in the Eastern Cape, South Africa where over 2,800 Samsung Galaxy Tab E 9.6” devices were purchased by the University between 2016/7 for their first-time entering students in selected extended programme qualifications. This has not only substantially eased student and lecturer work-load, but has also given students unprecedented access to information and the ability to create and submit assignments and other learning tasks on the go.

Students have access to e-learning materials and the internet, allowing them to further explore their areas of learning and conduct their own additional research. Students are also able to access the university online learning management system (called WiSeUp), anywhere on campus. The devices have become a critical part of the performance of students, underlying the importance of integrating technology with education. “The tablet initiative has been a success in enhancing both teaching and learning at the university. Our students’ motivation to learn has increased and they have expressed that the tablets have created the ability to learn anywhere on- and off-campus.” (Tabile Loqo, Institutional Co-ordinator for Extended Curricula Programmes).

Technology is not just the future, it’s now, which is why it’s essential for every student in the world to gain experience with devices and technology, so they can learn the basic skills required for entering the workplace and interacting with the world.

Samsung worked closely with the WSU Centre for Learning and Teaching Development (CLTD) and in-house e-learning specialists to ensure that relevant specifications were met. In addition to the devices, some departments within the Faculty of Natural Sciences have purchased learning software, which is installed on the student tablets to enhance their learning experience. The software provides video and MP3 tutorials, access to virtual laboratories in which students can conduct laboratory experiments and much more.

As part of the project, Samsung also conducted training for the approximately 120 lecturers who would be using tablets in their teaching. Beyond this, the lecturers are receiving ongoing additional in-depth training. This training focuses on integrating technology into their teaching and learning methods, with the tablets serving as the devices that lecturers are trained on. This extra training is being conducted by WSU e-learning specialists and material developers based at CLTD.

Future evolution
In response to this changing world, companies and researchers are rapidly bringing new products and services to market and transforming entire industries. These will require an upskilled workforce and employment of new talent that is competent at working with these new cognitive technologies. Our partnership with WSU equips their graduates to become frontrunners in gaining employment and driving innovation in this new world.

Today’s young generation are looking at a vastly different future to that of their parent’s – a future that hasn’t yet been fully visualised and will require evolutionary thinking and the ability to consistently adapt and address novel changes and challenges. The future of this world is highly dependent on our learners being given the opportunity to embrace technology and fully engage with innovation.