Electricity and Control January 2020

RESKILLING, UPSKILLING + TRAINING

AWS invests in South Africa’s tech entrepreneurs

A mazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com company, recently launched its Equity Equivalent Investment Programme (AWS EEIP), designed by Amazon Web Services South Africa and Amazon Data Services South Africa. The AWS EEIP will see over R365 million invested in the development of sustainable 100% black- owned South African small businesses in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector, supporting them to become cloud computing experts using the AWS Partner Network (APN). The EEIP is a programme of the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti), aimed at providing multinational companies an opportunity to take part in the development of South African black-owned small businesses and contribute towards broad-based black economic empowerment in South Africa. The AWS EEIP is a seven-year programme that will support the growth of new black-owned small businesses, helping them todevelop their skills in advanced technologies such as cloud computing, Internet of Things (IoT), machine learning (ML), mobile technologies, and more. Minister of Trade and Industry, Ebrahim Patel, noted: “The AWS EEIP will lead to the development of numerous highly skilled jobs in the local economy. The intention of the programme is to give the black-owned small businesses the knowledge, resources, and skills to be successful. This will enable them to provide professional services to organisations, in both the private and public sectors, supporting them with their ICT strategies and helping them to take advantage of cloud computing and other digital technologies to innovate and grow. We aim to develop local businesses and ensure net job creation in the South African economy.” The AWS EEIP will support the black-owned small businesses through an 18- to 24-month enterprise development and incubation programme. AWS will provide training and education and support the businesses in

growing their technical expertise in cloud computing – developing new AWS Certified Developers and Solutions Architects. The businesses will also receive business enablement support, such as exposure to industry leaders, coaching, mentorship, and funding to help take their enterprise to the next stage of growth. As the businesses complete their training and gain AWS competencies, they will go up a tier in the APN, becoming Select or Advanced Partners. On completion of the programme, they will have access to AWS’s ecosystem of millions of active customers, of every size, across virtually every industry, around the world. Successful completion of the programme will also afford the businesses exposure to opportunities beyond those presented by AWS. Prabashni Naidoo, Director at Amazon Web Services South Africa, said: “We have been blown away with the high quality of technical talent we have already seen in South Africa and are excited to see the creativity and unique thinking that the AWS EEIP will now drive. Through this new programme, we are committed to producing a new generation of highly skilled and productive black-owned South African small businesses. These new APN Partners will help create limitless opportunities for our customers, helping them to innovate and further contribute to economic growth in South Africa.” South Africa has some of the most creative and technically gifted people in the world. The AWS EEIP offers the nation’s technical entrepreneurs the opportunity to build businesses that can flourish in South Africa and have the potential to expand internationally. Importantly, this initiative supports the country’s aim to transform the economy and create inclusive participation. For 13 years, Amazon Web Services has been the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform. AWS offers over 165 services for computing, storage, databases, networking, analytics, robotics, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), mobile, security, hybrid, virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR), media, and application development, deployment, and management from 69 Availability Zones within 22 geographic regions, with plans announced for 13 more Availability Zones and four more AWS regions in Indonesia, Italy, South Africa, and Spain. Millions of customers – including fast-growing startups, large enterprises, and leading government agencies – trust AWS to power their infrastructure and enable them to become more agile and lower costs.

For more information on AWS, visit: aws.amazon.com

28 Electricity + Control

JANUARY 2020