World ORT Expands Partnership With HP

World ORT and Hewlett-Packard are more than doubling the size of their partnership in the Graduate Entrepreneurship Training through IT program (GET-IT) with the opening of 10 new training centers in Russia and Ukraine.

The program focuses on the need to encourage job creation and entrepreneurship among people below the age of 25. Its training courses deal with practical IT solutions for daily business challenges faced in areas such as finance, human resources, marketing, communications and technology management.

“This is further confirmation of World ORT’s status as HP’s principal partner in delivering social programming in the Former Soviet Union,” said Dr Sergey Gorinskiy, Deputy Director of the World ORT Representative Office in Moscow. “It is a great vote of confidence in ORT that this major international company wants to continue to build its partnership with us to the benefit of the citizens and economies of countries in the region.

It’s a big challenge for our management team. There are many cultural, management and administrative hurdles that Western companies need to jump before they can operate successfully in Russia and we work very hard to help HP negotiate them. Also, as a large NGO with a lot of international experience, we believe it is our mission to help the smaller, grass roots NGOs with which we work to be able to implement major programs like this efficiently.”

World ORT Director General and CEO Robert Singer said the benefits of the partnership with HP could not be overestimated.

“This is an on-going success story,” Mr Singer said. “It has proved to be a win-win for both World ORT and HP and has opened up tremendous opportunities for thousands of people around the world.”

Hewlett-Packard places a premium on the GET-IT program’s potential to plant the seeds of economic growth and social progress.

“HP believes that entrepreneurship is vital for the economy and that young people can play a major role in creating their own businesses and their own jobs,” said Gabriele Zedlmayer, vice president of Corporate Marketing and Global Citizenship, HP Europe, Middle East and Africa. “The GET-IT trainings combine entrepreneurship education with practical hands-on experience in using IT to enhance young people’s professional skills.”