The high-profiled visit of President, Microsoft Africa, Cheick Modibo Diarra to Cameroon, recently, did not only end at the Pavilion of the Unity Palace, where, the distinguished son of Africa and Scientist from Mali held talks with Cameroon’s First Lady, Chantal Biya. He moved downstairs to sign a partnership deal with one of Cameroon’s leading IT institutions, Buea-based ADCOME.
After officially co-launching the multimedia centre of College de la Retraite in Yaounde, Friday, December 14, with the Arch-Bishop of Yaounde, Mgr. Felix Tonye Bakot, the Deputy CEO of MTN Cameroon, Jean Claude Ottou and Executive Director, ADCOME, Roland Kwemain, the one time Director of NASA quickly moved ahead to clinch a deal with ADCOME.
According to Kwemain, ADCOME IT Training Centre in Buea will become a certified Microsoft IT Academy. “Cameroonians will have the opportunity to do certified Microsoft Examinations with ADCOME, without having to spend much to go abroad,” he noted.
The partnership deal highlights an improved educational content and software of ADCOME’s activities, especially in the School Connectivity Programme, which have been installed in more than thirty secondary and high schools in Cameroon.
Kwemain, who is also the 2008 JCI AMDEC Chair (African and Middle East Development Council), just elected in Antalya, Turkey, during the JCI 2007 World Congress, added that the newfound relationship with IT guru, Microsoft, will enable ADCOME run computer laboratory and content. “This will reduce the financial burden on schools and other education-related institutions interested in the business of internet connections and content,” he explained.
While launching the multimedia centre of College de la Retraite, Kwemain, the 2007 JCI International Vice-President and Award-winner for 2007 JCI Most Outstanding Vice-President, brought to the fore the inevitable role and resources of Microsoft and the MTN School Connectivity Programme in the entire processes his institution has gone through in setting up the more than 30 multimedia centres across Cameroon. “Thanks to these relationships, we’ve reached more than 75,000 students and 4,500 teachers in secondary and high schools in Cameroon,” he revealed.
MTN Cameroon’s Deputy CEO, Ottou said ADCOME has come in to give meaning to their concept of being socially responsible to their community. “We’re involved in businesses that profit the community sustainably. MTN through the MTN Foundation fund projects in the areas of; Education, Science and Technology, Environment, Health and HIV/AIDS, Community Development and Art and Culture.”
Ottou commented that improvement on the access to education and IT are amongst his company’s strategic objectives. “Since 2005, ADCOME and MTN have been in partnership, working together to ensure that MTN Foundation’s strategic objectives are met and ADCOME’s mission of bridging IT with education also achieved.”
The Arch-Bishop of Yaounde, Tonye Bakot, recognised the initiatives of all the stakeholders involved in the successful conception and implementation of the MTN School Connectivity Programme in College de la Retraite, which has been placed under the supervision of the Secretariat of Education in the Catholic Mission in Cameroon.
Microsoft, the leader in the field of IT worldwide, has identified in MTN Cameroon and ADCOME, the leading strands to reach to a greater part of Cameroonians so as to place the numerous opportunities Microsoft offers.
