Mindware Academy launched to bridge technology skills gap in the Middle East

Mindware Academy will start with two programs a year in UAE, with six students attending each program

February 24, 2023

a group of people sitting behind a table smiling at the camera — The Mindware Academy initial cohort of interns were welcomed recently at the company HQ. Here are, from third left, Farah Adly Azmy Watsy, Hanaa Ahmed Kamel Khalil Metwalli, and Shehab Ahmed Mohamed Elsayed. The interns were joined by Mindware CEO Philippe Jarre, back row, fourth from the right. Photo credit - Mindware.

DUBAI, UAE, February 22, 2023: Mindware, a leading Value Added Distributor (VAD) in the Middle East and Africa, has announced the launch of Mindware Academy, an initiative designed to develop young talent and help combat the challenge of IT skills shortage in the Middle East.

Mindware teamed up with the American University of Sharjah (AUS) for a pilot program in December, where a few select students from the University successfully underwent a five week internship. The two institutions are now working towards signing a Memorandum of Agreement with the intention of growing the relationship and deepening the collaboration. As part of the agreement, the University will commit to providing the best potential candidates for the program on an on-going basis.

The pilot program covered the following topics and information:

Introduction to Cloud, Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), and Cloud vs On-premise
Security overview, Data Protection, Endpoint Security and Identity & Access Management, Data center and Cloud Security, Security Operations and Incident Response
Data center overview, Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery, Digital Workspace, Network Management, Server Virtualization fundamentals, Endpoint foundation
Mindware service offerings and understanding processes from receiving the RFP, preparing the quotation, SoW, pricing and assigning engineers.

The internship not only helped the students enhance their technical knowledge but also helped significantly improve their communication and presentation skills, besides giving them clarity on which courses/ tracks to opt for in the next four years of their university education.

Mindware Academy will start with two programs a year in UAE, with six students attending each program. As the Academy grows from strength to strength, Mindware will look to ramp up the number of programs, as well as expand the concept from UAE to the wider Middle East region, involving more universities.

The initial phase will feature technical skills development, but in time the program will be expanded to include sales, marketing, e-commerce, marketplace and other disciplines. These new areas will be mapped to Mindware’s own requirements for talent, so that once interns finish the programs, top performing students could be presented with a job offer from Mindware.

Mindware Academy is the brainchild of Philippe Jarre, CEO of Mindware, who believes that in a dynamic, ever-evolving tech industry, the minds of tomorrow need to be equipped to take on all its challenges. He advocates that there is no better way than to invest and train students in real world scenarios with practical experience that gives them the tools they need to be able to make a positive impact in the industry.

“We are excited to launch Mindware Academy and provide opportunities for the next generation of talent to learn and grow with our company. We believe this program will be beneficial for both, the interns as well as our organization, and we look forward to seeing the impact it will have. There is a skills gap in the region and this program aims to bridge that gap by providing young talent with the opportunity to gain valuable hands-on experience” Philippe Jarre concludes.

More about Mindware

As one of the leading distributors of the finest IT products in the Middle East and Africa, Mindware’s extensive portfolio includes top-class global brands reaching out to over 4,000 partners. Mindware’s comprehensive offering includes a selection of infrastructure, networking, security, and storage leading brands. As part of its VAD methodology, Mindware also offers supplementary value-added services to its reselling partners including pre-sales consultancy, implementation services, local technical support, marketing enablement tools, and multiple channel-enabling programs. Headquartered in Dubai UAE since 1991, Mindware has been uncompromisingly serving its customers for more than three decades.

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