Following the formal signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Maseru-based technical and vocational training institution , Lerotholi Polytechnic (LP), and Samsung Electronics Africa, to establish the Samsung Innovation Campus (SIC) programme at LP in December last year, the first cohort of 44 selected students have now graduated.

The graduation ceremony was held on the  3^rd of  November 2023 at Lerotholi Polytechnic Grounds. The event was graced by Lesotho Ministers of Education and Training; Communications, Science and Technology; and Trade, Industry, Business Development and Tourism, as well as the Samsung Africa CEO and President among other delegates. In Lesotho, LP is the first institution that has benefitted from this initiative and the third in Africa after South Africa’s Walter Sisulu University in the Eastern Cape and Central University of Technology (CUT) in Bloemfontein.

This award ceremony where LP students received certificates celebrating the successful completion of the SIC programme, is evidence of the smooth execution of this strategic agreement in its first year of implementation. This SIC programme seeks to provide various technology-aligned courses to selected students in institutions of higher learning in Lesotho and in South Africa.

The programme aims to develop Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) skills by teaching Coding and Programming (C&P) education in Python, Software Development in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT) and Big Data to increase their chances of employability after school. To date, the completed course is the six-month Coding and Programming education in Python, while Artificial Intelligence and finally Big Data will follow after a performance evaluation on the C&P course is completed. The evaluation process is a crucial step before proceeding into the next courses.

Hlubi Shivanda, Director: Business Operations, Innovation & Corporate Affairs at Samsung South Africa said: “As Samsung, we recognise the talent and potential of the youth in Lesotho. We are therefore stepping in to give them the boost that they need to acquire the skills that will serve them beyond their tertiary education. We chose to enter into this partnership with LP because this institution prioritises education through technology and places special emphasis on exposing its students to practical experience and entrepreneurship.”

This partnership with LP was formed in a bid to boost youth employment in Lesotho’s technology sector and help to empower the leaders of tomorrow. The SIC programme itself, has been tailored to offer the youth of Lesotho the opportunity to enhance their employment prospects and gain practical education in new technologies.

Initially, there were 50 students who joined the programme, but due to employment and further study commitments, 6 students dropped out. One of the main objectives of the SIC programme is to equip youth at tertiary level of education with work ready skills to address issues around 4IR. The collaboration with LP, combined with the principles of SIC enables these partners to provide a low-volume and high-impact approach programme to the Lesotho-based student community.

Advocate  – Mosakeng, the Registrar at Lerotholi Polytechnic (LP) said: “Lecturers and instructors from industry were used to deliver the content of the programme in order to blend academic instruction offered by our lecturers with real life practice from the industry. The final phase of the programme was the Hackathon Project, in which students designed and programmed prototypes that aim to address specific challenges facing our country.”

Students presented innovative ideas to solve various problems including problems of Burst Wasco Sewage and water pipes, managing the high cost of electricity through regulating electricity consumption and sharing electricity units with others, as well as improving service delivery in community councils through data collection and analysis.

Advocate Lepota – Mosakeng explained further saying that one of the attributes key to employment that have been instilled throughout this SIC programme is team work. Throughout the programme, the students had to be in pairs and teams. Also, this programme has been able to encourage and entrench a culture of hard work in the students where good performance is rewarded through exposure to such opportunities. The highest performers in the Hackathon Project were awarded prizes by Samsung on Graduation Day.

One of the primary goals of the SIC programme is to create work-ready, employable graduands and empower them to become future technological entrepreneurs. “The initiative not only resonates with the Strategic Development Goals (SDG’s), , but also with the government of Lesotho’s strategic goal of promoting the youth through innovation and entrepreneurship”,  Advocate Lepota – Mosakeng added.

These graduates are now officially part of the Global SIC initiative that is able to offer youth in different countries curriculum that is tailor-made for their specific needs. This global programme is already running successfully in South Africa and now Lesotho. Importantly, Samsung is already working on further growing this SIC programme by rolling it out into the rest of Africa, into territories including Malawi, Kenya, Namibia and Nigeria.

The award ceremony was the crowning moment of both parties’ efforts to use education through technology to equip young people with the skills and knowledge they will need to not only build a better Lesotho, but the African continent and the world as a whole. The SIC programme in partnership with LP has given both partners the opportunity to empower a generation of problem-solvers by equipping these Lesotho-based students with future-proof skills and provided them with practical understanding of the technologies that will shape their future and enrich sustainable growth of the world.

Lesotho has made great progress in the field of education. It has one of the highest adult literacy rates in Africa and is now striving to build a better future for its youth through education. This strategic partnership with LP is offering Samsung yet another opportunity to re-affirm its commitment of helping Lesotho achieve its education-related goals.

“For Samsung, investing in the youth by providing them with quality education through innovative technology is key. Through our SIC partnership with LP, we are now able to achieve our vision for this global youth investment initiative, of enabling the Basotho people for the upliftment of humanity through innovation and digital transformation”, concluded Shivanda.

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

At an official signing ceremony of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), Samsung has cemented its partnership with the Malawi University of Science & Technology (MUST) in an effort to expand its Samsung Innovation Campus (SIC) programme into other African territories, starting with Malawi.

This Global SIC programme is already running successfully in the African continent in countries that include South Africa and Lesotho. The partnership with MUST, therefore, is the first step towards fulfilling Samsung’s ambitious plan of further growing the SIC programme into the rest of Africa. Through this SIC programme, the partners will be able to develop Fourth Industrial Revolution skills (4IR) skills by teaching Coding and Programming (C&P) education in Python, Software Development in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT) and Big Data to increase the chances of employability for Malawian students after school.

MUST is currently one of the top universities in Malawi that specialises in science and technology, this is a perfect partnership for Samsung that is equally focused on education through technology. Driven by the need for excellence, MUST is interested in extending software development skills to youth in Malawi, who are either unemployed or could not obtain acceptance into university. Through this SIC programme, Malawian youth will be offered critical skills in basic coding and programming education of this strategic MOU.

Lenhle Khoza, BBBEE and Transformation Manager at Samsung said: “For us at Samsung, investing in the youth by providing them with quality education through innovative technology is key. We are always happy to enter into strategic partnerships with like-minded education institutions, such as the MUST with a collective vision of targeting youth in the African continent who are either at university level or those who are unemployed with the aim of empowering them to develop their 4IR skill.”

It is a well-known fact that millions of young people around the world are unemployed or underemployed, more so in the African continent, while employers have jobs they cannot fill. This is a challenge partially rooted in the growing mismatch between youths’ skills and employer needs. The SIC programme is perfectly positioned to help address this issue. This is why Samsung is always looking forward to partnering with both education institutions and government who share the vision of empowering young people in the continent, starting with Malawi as part of the company’s SIC roll-out plan into Africa.

Vice Chancellor, Professor Address Malata says: “We are very excited about our partnership with Samsung because we feel that their commitment to providing quality education through innovative technology fits perfectly into our university’s vision. In 2014, we established the Malawian Institute of Technology (MIT) in line with the vision and mission of our mother university.”

MUST is on a mission to become a world-class centre of science and technology education, research and entrepreneurship. The institution is well aware of the fact that this will only be realised through the provision of a conducive environment for quality education, training, research and entrepreneurship as well as outreach activities to its students. MIT is a strategic department within MUST that is now positioning itself as the centre of excellence in science, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship education, training and research through provision of a healthy teaching, learning and research environment grounded well in the principles of science and technology, promoting creativity and nurturing teamwork.

“As a partner in the SIC programme, we will now be able to capitalise on our synergies including the work done by our MIT academy. This essentially means that we will now be part of Samsung’s noble cause of empowering a generation of problem-solvers by equipping our students with future-proof skills and practical understanding of the technologies that will shape their future and enrich the sustainable growth of the world,” Malata added.

The formal signing of MOU has not only served as an official launch of the SIC programme in Malawi. This agreement also comes with a number of benefits that include the provision of technical skills that will enable the MUST student community to lead in 4IR with ease and boost youth employment in the country’s technology sector.

“This SIC partnership will allow us to create a combination of work-ready and employable students in Malawi as well as those who are enabled and empowered to become future technological leaders. Ultimately, our vision for this global youth investment initiative is to enable all people for the upliftment of humanity through innovation and digital transformation,” Khoza concluded.

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

Samsung Electronics and the National University of Lesotho (NUL) have signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) to cement a strategic partnership created through Samsung’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes. This ceremony served as the official launch of the Samsung Innovation Campus (SIC) in conjunction with NUL.

The SIC programme is targeted at students in higher learning institutions with the main objective of teaching Coding and Programming (C&P) in Python, Software Development in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT) and Big Data to increase their chances of employability after school. This programme will provide technical skills that will enable the NUL student community to not only thrive in, but to also lead in Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) with ease.

Prof. Isaac Olusola Fajana, the Vice-Chancellor of NUL, said: “As NUL, we believe that this SIC programme will play a crucial role in helping us achieve our vision of being the leading University – in both teaching and research to provide innovative solutions to societal problems.

“This partnership with Samsung is important as it will also assist the Faculty of Science and Technology in the pursuit of this University’s mandate – taking due cognisance of the overarching University Mission and ensuring that we place science, technology and Innovation as key drivers for the developmental process of the whole Lesotho nation as contained in the National Strategic Development II as extended.”

With the skills learnt in the SIC programme, NUL students will be able to apply the problem-solving techniques that they have learnt to solve real world problems. In addition, this programme may prepare these students for possible opportunities as entrepreneurs in technology.

Hlubi Shivanda, Director of Business Operations, Innovation and Corporate Affairs at Samsung South Africa said: “As Samsung, we are striving to partner with Lesotho to not only help develop it into a major player in 4IR, but to also become a more resilient and inclusive economy which, in turn, creates further opportunities for growth.”

Samsung strongly believes that transformation is everyone’s business. More than ever, empowering the youth with skills needed by the global community as well as work opportunities is essential. This is one of the reasons why we, as a company,  are so committed to expanding our footprint in Lesotho through SIC – one of our Global CSR programmes.

Shivanda adds: “This partnership with NUL and our SIC programme is helping us to achieve our vision for this global youth investment initiative – of enabling the Basotho people for the upliftment of humanity through innovation and digital transformation.”

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

Thirty-four employees from Samsung’s global headquarters in South Korea, will be mentoring 19 start-ups in Cape Town for four days as part of the Samsung Employee Volunteer Programme. These volunteers are using their own time to assist these businesses in becoming digitised and helping them to find the right Information and Communications solutions for their needs. This is a part of Samsung South Africa’s ongoing mission to address the critical technical and engineering skills shortage and demonstrate its commitment to the Enterprise and Supplier Development agenda. The initiative is also aligned with government’s Vision 2030, that encourages entrepreneurship and self-employment initiatives.

From 10 to 13 September 2018, small businesses will participate in a boot-camp to better understand the hurdles they face in developing their products and services. They will then showcase their business models to Venture Capital firms and a panel consisting of staff from Samsung South Africa, Samsung South Korea and SEDA. On the last day, Deputy Minister of Small Business Development, Cassel Mathale, will officiate at the prize giving ceremony.

“At Samsung we strive to encourage young minds and nurture the spirit of innovation. With the Global Start-up Acceleration Programme, our experts and engineers from various domains are volunteering to support the sustainable growth of local entrepreneurs in their early stages,” said Hlubi Shivanda, Director: Business Innovation Group and Corporate Affairs.

Since 2010, about 1,500 employees have joined this programme in 43 countries. This year, Samsung is focused on supporting local entrepreneurs and helping them build their businesses for a sustainable impact on society.

This programme is also being presented in Indonesia, Malaysia and India. Among the winners in the four countries, five small businesses will be invited to visit Samsung’s headquarters in South Korea.

The selected participants work in a wide array of areas, such as security for cloud data, Artificial Intelligence-powered solutions, Information Management Systems, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, Health-Care Solutions, the use of the Internet of Things (IoT) for healthcare and energy efficient IoT devices.

Samsung employee volunteers bring their global business experience and expertise in the domains of B2B market research, pricing strategies, IoT strategic planning, Artificial Intelligence, cloud, data, strategic investments and planning, databases, machine leaning algorithms, Android programming, health-care businesses, computer vision technology and biomedical engineering to the table, amongst other skills.

“The kind of support a start-up receives in its initial phase can define its success. As a company that strongly believes in co-prosperity as one of our core values, we are proud to partner with SEDA and NGO Nangila to provide infrastructure and mentorship to fledgling businesses. We believe this can be the catalyst that helps the entrepreneurship ecosystem grow,” said Shivanda.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, 20 June 2018 – The shift in the way people communicate, access knowledge or entertainment and keep up to date with what’s going on in the world means that television has become a highly sophisticated window into the human mind. While many people watch television as a stress-relieving mechanism, research also suggests that watching can have a positive impact.

Long before written language, storytelling was an important aspect of everyday life and a new study has confirmed that it’s just as important today. According to research, “storytelling is a powerful means of fostering social cooperation and teaching social norms, and it pays valuable dividends to the storytellers themselves, improving their chances of being chosen as social partners, receiving community support and even having healthy offspring.”’^[i] How does this affect modern society, though? One of the interesting aspects is the ability for immigrants to more easily assimilate into their adopted country by observing social norms through TV series, news and local programming.^[ii]

Numerous studies have been conducted on the influence of television programming on social change. One such study has focused on the advent of satellite television programming in rural India. Within a year of programmes other than those aired by a public broadcaster being available, there were significant changes in gender attitudes. Women were less likely to accept domestic abuse and there was an increase in school enrolment for younger children. In fact, the differences in attitudes between women in rural areas and those in urban areas decreased from seventy to forty-five percent.^[iii]

Lyle Mitchley, Head Product Manager for TV at Samsung South Africa says, “You’d be hard pressed to find a home without a television these days, but it’s the quality of the viewing experience that makes all the difference. Samsung’s range of superlative QLED TV’s ensures that whatever you’re watching becomes a fully immersive experience.”

While putting a child in front of the TV for extended periods of time has always been a contentious issue, the content they consume is more important than the time spent. A research study showed that children in Finland scored higher than most of the rest of the world in their reading skills. One reason for this, concludes the research, is that they are often served American shows and have to read the captions in their own language.^[iv] Understanding the narrative of their own local society and learning about other societies, as well as interesting or fundamental facts about the world is also a highly value aspect of watching TV. So, while sitcoms can teach societal intricacies, its usually best to ensure children are watching age-appropriate programmes that are geared to teach. In fact, a whole new aspect of psychology has arisen from the advent of the internet – media psychology. Reports show that there are a number of positives garnered from viewing or leaning online, such as rising IQ’s due to media-assisted learning and interactive game playing; advancement of women in science; people are learning more about learning itself; communication across cultures is increasing public understanding of numerous crucial issues^[v]

“The connected home and Internet of Things (IoT), means that you can remotely control most of what goes on in your home electronically from your smartphone – and TV is one such example,” adds Mitchley.

With on-demand television programming and streaming services, researchers have been able to track viewer behaviour even more effectively across the globe. Interestingly, it’s been found that viewers tend to multi-task – by being online on various social platforms and commenting while watching a TV programme, whether its live TV or streamed.^[vi] On demand or streaming services mean that multiple programmes can be watched by different members of a household. One of the negatives in streaming, however, is that viewers feel content is better watched on a TV screen. Of course, Samsung agrees with this, which is why its QLED models are connected through smart hub and with one remote, so numerous streaming platforms can be viewed, offering a fully immersive, vivid picture no matter what is being watched. The Samsung Smart View app also means users can seamlessly connect their mobiles to their TV screens and be in complete control.

“The way people are watching TV and similar content may have changed, but one thing is for sure, the quality of the image is vital to enjoyment. Samsung affords viewers an incredibly vibrant and detailed experience that ensures they pick up every detail and nuance, whether its sport, cooking, interior design, fantasy or fiction,” concludes Mitchley.

^{[i] http://time.com/5043166/storytelling-evolution/}

^{[ii] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249471805_The_Bridging_Role_of_Television_in_Immigrant_Political_Socialization}

^{[iii] http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/emily.oster/papers/tvwomen.pdf}

^{[iv] http://www.teachhub.com/how-television-can-actually-help-learning}

^{[v] https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-media-psychology-effect/201203/brain-behavior-and-media}

^{[vi]http://www.nielsen.com/content/dam/nielsenglobal/de/docs/Nielsen%20Global%20Video-on-Demand%20Report%20DIGITAL%20FINAL.pdf}