HP has launched an education and training centre in Nairobi, Kenya. HP announced yesterday that the firm would be partnering with Quintica to offer professional training in the East African region. The announcement was made by Bjoern Weeber, HP’s Education Manager Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa, Franz Munnich, HP’s Technology Services Sales Manager for Southern and Eastern Africa and Charles Osburn, CEO Quintica Group.

Munnich says that organizations spend most of their resources on maintenance, leaving a few resources for innovation. Organizations can reduce their spending on maintenance through reduction of downtime through training, adding that a CIO’s main focus is on growing the business, lowering costs and risk reduction.

According to Munnich, risk reduction is achieved through educating staff to understand the tools they work with, such as the operating system and hardware. “Hardware causes 20% of failures while 80% is caused by people and process. Training can reduce this percentage,” he says.

To Weeber, the opening of the new center in Nairobi adds to already existing ones in Egypt, South Africa and Nigeria. HP Education established its African presence in 2005 and has invested in more than $ 2 Million worth of training equipment on the continent. 

Ken Mbwaya, managing director HP East Africa says most customers and local experts who have invested in HP products and services have felt the need to up their IT staff with the relevant skills for them to effectively manage their new technologies within their respective IT environments.

So far HP has certified more than 25,000 students at the rate of 5,000 students a month.
At the moment, HP’s Education biggest project to date is currently ongoing in Egypt where HP is to train and certify 100,000 government employees in ICDL (International Computer Driving License).

Weeber says all HP Certifications are available in Africa and are customisable to match the client’s requirements. Some of the categories for the courses to be offered include project management, data center management, business analysis and ITSM (IT service management) version 3.

The firm carries out both live and virtual practical training with virtual training done via remote training equipment that it has set up in its Virtual Lab in the United Sates.  These include 3,200 Blade, HP-UX and Proliant servers, 1 Petabyte storage. The Virtual Lab handles more than 1,500 events monthly.

To cater for anticipated demand, Quintica will expand the training rooms from 1 to 3 in the next 18 months while HP will be investing in local hardware to complement remote education delivery. Ousborn says that the firm, whose current strength lies in the banking and telecommunication sectors, will be expanding to Golden Plaza in Westlands and later to a “new refurbished and dedicated premises.” At the moment, the training room is located at the Mezzanine premises of Quintica’s premises along Waiyaki way. Quintica is also in the process of finishing up a workshop and practical area in its first floor.

Ousborn also revealed plans to partner with a tours and travel firm to offer eco-tourism packages bundled as part of the training packages.

Other initiatives been undertaken by HP Education include the offering of its enterprise curriculum to Universities who then integrate it into their University curriculum's. This is currently happening in Nigeria.

HP also mentioned that training in Egypt had stopped for 3 weeks following the 2011 Egyptian Revolution. ICDL training for government employees is expected to continue later this year after the country holds its general elections.