USIU-Africa & Techno Brain Group partner to train students

Techno Brain Group, a leading Global ICT organization & United States International University-Africa (USIU-Africa) have partnered to equip professionals & young Kenyans with high-end ICT, entrepreneurship & leadership skills leading to creation of Micro-organization & Global workforce development. The primary goal of this unique capacity building platform is to build the 21st Century knowledge economy leading to the development of next generation of globally competitive ICT leadership and technology talents that will transform Kenya & beyond through world-class service, both to the benefit of the private and the public sectors. The focus here is to overcome the challenges of skill not restricted to ICT skills but needed functional skills, language barriers which are all overcome by drawing the strengths & experiences of both the parties. Broad objectives and intent of this collaboration is to: 1. Make available for training Modern ERP systems professional certification training to both USIU-Africa students and faculty 2. Provide High end ICT Professional training in the areas of Banking, Insurance, Finance, Marketing & HR specializations to both USIU-Africa students and faculty 3. Conduct Joint collaborative research and development with industry based on identified needs 4. Develop a micro-organization within campus simulating a real organization with diverse functional units, in which the students will have the opportunity to be mentored by both an industry expert and faculty member 5. Provide opportunities for USIU-Africa students to engage in real life IT projects to boost their mastery and experience in such related projects 6. Give internship and placement opportunities to USIU-Africa students 7. Provide Mentorship opportunities for both faculty and students by industry experts. Key strategic benefits to the University: 1. Production of IST /APT and MIST students will state of the art and well sought ICT skills including Training and certifications in Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP) 2. Access for training by our students and faculty to many industry systems like SAP ERP without incurring expensive software access licenses 3. Other USIU-Arica students can graduate with additional state of the art and well sought ICT skills including Training & certifications in Industry and market adopted systems such as: a. Banking, b. Insurance, c. Finance, d. Marketing & e. HR specializations 4. Increased USIU-Africa Research and Development (R&D) output through collaboration with industry. 5. Addition of Techno Brain entrepreneurship & employment placement opportunities to our students, and Improved marketability of our graduates by equipping them with well sort industry skills and attitude

Jamii Social Business Plan Competition

The deadline for submission of the Jamii Social Business Plans has been extended to Monday, March 18. This is of special note to teams that signed up for the competition and participated in the previous 3 training workshops held on campus. The next workshop will be held on Friday, March 15 in Room B1 from 10:00am covering the topic, ‘Financial Projections’. The workshops shall be held every Friday henceforth up until the announcement of the selected top five business plans on Friday, March 29

USIU-Africa GAME Center Awarded KES 33 Million Grant

USIU-Africa Global Agribusiness Management and Entrepreneurship center awarded Kshs 33M grant to enhance youth employment in Kenya’s fish and poultry sectors Nairobi, Kenya 15th September 2015. The USIU-Africa Global Agribusiness Management and Entrepreneurship (GAME) Center has been awarded a grant of KES 33,883,211 by Cultivate Africa’s Future (CultiAF), a joint program of the International Development Research Center of Canada (IDRC) and the Australian Center for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR). The 18-month grant is for undertaking a project entitled, “Expanding Business Opportunities for Youth in the Fish and Poultry sectors in Kenya”. The project will be implemented by a consortium of partners; USIU-Africa through GAME Center, License to Grow (Netherlands), Van Hall Larenstein University of Applied Sciences (VHL University) (Netherlands) and Michigan State University (USA). This unique research project has been designed to identify and field test innovative business models for taking agricultural innovations to scale, and support Kenya’s youth to actively engage in profitable agri-businesses. Using USIU-Africa’s metropolitan living lab model, the project will guide current and aspiring youth entrepreneurs in developing profitable agribusiness enterprises in the fish and poultry sectors. The model combines a unique set of activities, and services that create the needed synergy to support not only learning, but also innovation, business development and the creation of new knowledge. Speaking at the launch of the research project, USIU-Africa’s Associate Deputy Vice Chancellor-Academic Affairs (Research) Prof. Francis Wambalaba said that the living-lab will build on existing entrepreneurship content that has proved to be highly successful at USIUAfrica’s Global Agribusiness Management & Entrepreneurship Center (GAME Center) and the Michigan State University product centre

USIU-A Summer 2016 Factsheet

Summer 2016 Fact Shee

Conserving The Environment One Bin At A Time

Efforts to tackle global warming have been going on for decades. In fact the problems brought about by the gradual rise in the average temperature of the Earth's atmosphere are spiraling. USIU’s Sustainable Development Initiative Center (SUDIC) is leading efforts on campus to mitigate the effects through creative implementation of energy efficient measures. On Tuesday, July 24, SUDIC received 13 dustbins from Deputy Vice Chancellor Dr. Willie Butler, for use in efficiently recycling waste on campus. The dustbins - valued at Kshs 50 000 – are part of a waste management project initiated by the Center, to generate funds through the sale of such waste to the Mathare Youth Development Organization (MAYUDO) and Chandaria Industries Limited. When glass bottles, organic waste, paper and plastic are reused or recycled, energy is saved thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions – a leading cause of global warming. The colored dustbins, donated by the division of Institutional Planning and Advancement, will enable different types of waste to be collected in different bins and subsequently appropriately disposed. By introducing waste management at the beginning of the disposal process, subsequent activities will become easier, faster, and more economical to the university. The Mathare Youth Development Organization is a community based organization built around the concept of transforming the youth for more useful purpose through commitment in volunteering and changing the general structure of the community. The members engage in activities such as- waste management, HIV and AIDs, tuberculosis, malaria, malnutrition, and unemployment which are some of the impediments in community development. MAYUDO has patnered with USIU and will purchase her plastic waste which they will in turn sell to the City Council for revenue to go towards their projects. USIU will also sell organic waste to the group for use in their farming projects; these will go a long way to assist in achieving their goals. USIU has over the years partnered with Chandaria Industries Ltd. (CIL) in various ways and one of them is by selling paper waste to the company. CIL is the leading paper products producing company in Kenya; kitchen, tissue and Industrial paper are some of its largest products in various retail shops country wide. CIL utilizes a significant amount of recyclable paper from all over Kenya by partnering with communities to recycle their municipal, school, and commercial-generated paper into quality tissue products

USIU-Africa & Safaricom launch mentorship program

Safaricom has partnered with USIU–Africa to launch a one-year mentorship program that will see students undertaking various degree courses at the university paired with mentors from the telecommunications company. The Program which is being introduced on a pilot basis seeks to build the skill gap between what corporate organizations need and what graduates are trained in. The Safaricom USIU-Africa Mentorship Program will connect 20 students to 20 mentors drawn from Safaricom’s Women in Leadership and Women in Technology teams. Safaricom Rising Stars, a select group of employees recognized for their leadership potential and rapid career growth within the organization will also mentor the students

USIU-Africa partners with local county assembly

United States International University Africa (USIU-Africa) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Kiambu County Assembly on Tuesday, August 25, 2015 to provide expertise to the assembly in research, ICT, media, library services, project funding, and capacity building to accelerate the execution of the county’s development and strategic goals in those areas. The assembly needed expertise in identification of skills gaps that can enhance the its committees’ output in developing policies and debates, scrutinizing reports, conducting meetings, advocacy, lobbying, communications and pinpointing training needs. USIU-Africa will train the committees to build soft skills, knowledge areas, effective oversight skills and development of tailor-made short courses in specific areas of interest to KCA to enhance the assembly’s output