Mam N Touray GAMTEL, Gambia

1. Gambia Telecommunications Company Ltd (Gamtel) HR Skills Development Strategies - GAMTEL Paper Presented online to the Strategic Skills Seminar – J’Burg, Sept 7 – 8th 2004 (using Interwise Platform) Mam N Touray GAMTEL, Gambia

2. Agenda • The Gambia & Gamtel in Brief • The Challenges we face • Our Current offerings • Future offerings • Rationale for the Change • Challenges facing Gambia (Africa??) • Recommendation? • Conclusion

3. The Gambia

4. Gambia & Gamtel (in brief) • The Gambia – Western most end of West Africa with Population – about 1.2Million Pre-Gamtel era • Separation of Telecom and the Post (1977) • Telecom handled national services • International services handled by Cable & Wireless (a UK company). • Gamtel established in 1984. • National & International services merged • Public owned –Government (99%), GNIC (1%)

5. Gambia & Gamtel (in brief Ctd.) Gambia has a fast-growing telecommunications market (43% growth during 2003 alone), with three main participants: • A monopoly fixed-line operator (Gamtel) providing services to 45,000 customers • Gamtel’s mobile subsidiary (Gamcel) providing 80,000 customers with GSM services • A second mobile (Africell) operator with 35,000 customers

6. Our current offerings • Classroom based, instructor led • IT Training – Microsoft Office • Telecoms Technicians Programs • Customer Relations (Customer care) • Introductory Management Courses • In-Country Courses – Courses conducted by KCCT, AFRALTI, MDPI, BT, etc

7. Future Offerings • Customized and Industry specific - ICDL - e-Learning Platform - Cisco Courses a. Networking b. CCNA c. CCNP etc

8. Rationale for the Change • Due to the changes in society, business and technology, there is the need to: • Deliver training to the whole workforce including part-time / shift employees - whilst keeping check on overhead costs • Improve knowledge and performance (SKILLS) • Reach people in remote locations • Provide training at flexible times • Make Training more readily available • Make Training more cost effective

9. Challenges facing Africa • Poor Infrastructure • Inability to capitalize on modern productive methods • New Technologies not supported easily by Telecoms Networks • Poor/erratic Power Supply • Limited transportation, therefore high costs • Limited connectivity • telephone connections and Internet Lack of Skilled Labour (Due to lack of relevant Learning Facilities) • Tertiary Education is unsuccessful in addressing skills shortages (Programs academic in Nature) • A large number of graduates are trained in non-productive areas

10. Challenges facing Africa (Cont) • New graduates have no work experience • Relevant Industrial attachment possibilities not available • Resultant High levels of Unemployment • = increase in poverty and crime • Financial/Budgetary Constraints • High cost of fuel resulting in overall HIGH cost of living

11. Transforming to Blended (“mix of”) e-Learning • Employers are more interested in using training methods that tend to Increase Learner Engagement and Reduce Training Costs. • Thus the need to use Blended e-learning approach to: • 1) increase learning impact, • 2) increase learner satisfaction and ease of use, and • 3) reduce the total cost of training.

12. Conclusion Together we can build skills !