The Oracle Centre of Excel­lence was successfully launched on 10^th Septem­ber 2014 at @iLabAfrica research center, Strath­more Uni­ver­sity. The Cen­ter which is set to become the focal point of Oracle train­ing and resources, is targeted at creating opportunities for Kenyan youth to gain technology-related skills which enable them to work across industries and borders.

 

The Centre, which was funded by grant from Oracle, will be used for a variety of Oracle training workshops and activities for university faculty and students, high school teachers and students, and technology entrepreneurs. It is a state-?of-?the-?art com­puter lab that will run courses such as Java and Oracle 11 g data­bases. The lab which has a capa­city of more than 30 desktop computers is part of the Oracle Academy pro­gram and is already run­ning the first course in Oracle data­base administrator.

 

In his warm remarks, guest of honor, Dr. Fred Matiang’I-Cabinet Secretary ICT, lauded the col­lab­or­a­tion between gov­ern­ment and private sec­tors, adding that this would help nar­row the skills gap in ICT’s in the coun­try. He invited Oracle to expand the pro­gram across other uni­ver­sit­ies in Kenya so as to tap into the great tal­ent pos­sessed by the youth.

 

Other invited guests in attendance included the Oracle team led by coun­try man­ager for Kenya, Dr Gil­bert Sag­gia, Njeri Maina, Busi­ness Man­ager Oracle Academy Africa and James Richard­son, man­ager- Oracle Academy EMEA. Also in attendance from Strathmore were, Dir­ector of @iLabAfrica Dr. Joseph Sevilla and Dean of the Fac­ulty of IT Dr. Joseph Orero.

 

Development of effective and collaborative innovation ecosystems like @iLabAfrica can help drive African economies like Kenya’s,” said Dr. Joseph Sevilla. “Collaboration is crucial to innovation. Working together with Oracle has enabled us to leverage technology as a means of addressing our most pressing challenges. This collaborative drive gave rise to the new Centre of Excellence @iLabAfrica, which can be a powerful vehicle for delivering technology education.”

 

Dr. Sevilla also poin­ted out that @iLabAfrica has feet on the ground to impart stu­dents with skills rel­ev­ant in the industry. The Oracle Centre of Excel­lence would play a big role in help­ing out @iLabAfrica in this man­date.