HSBC and Microsoft to provide job-oriented IT skills to Lankan youth

Continuing to empower young people across the nation, HSBC together with Microsoft Sri Lanka have renewed their commitment to provide information technology training to young people in several parts of the country, through the Unlimited Potential Partnership (UPP) programme.

With the country forging ahead in development and growth, the focus is on a future generation of skilled and trained young people to take on the responsibility of leadership. As such, this partnership of two corporate giants, HSBC and Microsoft, aims to empower young people with the provision of IT scholarships to follow courses that focus on many sectors such as apparel, hotel and tourism and agriculture in helping them become more employable.

As part of their commitment to meet this need of the nation, HSBC will provide the necessary funds to enable the learning process, whilst Microsoft will be providing expertise, software and the curriculum to enhance the longevity of the project.

The bank will part fund 500 scholarships for young people in the Eastern, Northern /North Central/North Western, Western and Southern Provinces amounting to Rs. 2.4 million. The training will be facilitated through IDM, the implementing partner, which will contribute 25% of the total cost and conduct training sessions via its training centres in these areas.  

Speaking on the project, Sriyan de Silva Wijeyeratne, Country Manager, Microsoft Sri Lanka, said: “It is imperative that multinationals like ours take on the responsibility of providing guidance and knowhow to improve the lives of these young people who are the future of our nation. Our Unlimited Potential Partnerships is the perfect platform to engage youth and mobilise them towards sustainable lifestyles and livelihoods.”

Both Microsoft and HSBC believe in the potential of the country’s youth. They are the next generation leaders in the country, who will contribute to the development of the economy and ensure a better and more prosperous future with the use of technology.

Nick Nicolaou, Chief Executive Officer of HSBC Sri Lanka and Maldives, said: “As an ongoing commitment, we are pleased to partner with Microsoft for the second time and this time, to provide job-oriented IT-based scholarships to young people, for better employment prospects in a competitive job market. As education has been a major thrust in our global Corporate Sustainability efforts, we see this as a perfect fit in addressing the greater need of the country.”

The Unlimited Potential Partnership (UPP) ICT  training programme targets workforce development in the apparel, media, hotel and tourism, and agriculture industries and features basic and customised curricula designed to strengthen the employability of young people and adults in disadvantaged communities, as well as improve the availability of workers with ICT skills.

By offering the programme, study centres address the need for relevant skills training, strengthen the capacities of existing courses and help improve student employability.

This is a Global Development Alliance between the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Microsoft and Infoshare.  

The bank will also play a hands-on role in monitoring the progress and the training of the UPP project through IDM which is a pioneer in ICT training in Sri Lanka with over 30 years of experience in ICT training and HR capacity building.

The company has affiliations and close working relationships with the public and private sector training providers as well as employers and introduced several industry oriented skills development training programmes for students, who wish to start their careers in many industry sectors.