Powerful mediator between nations
Young African specialists and managers receive further training in Germany thanks to the “Afrika kommt!” programme.
Steve Ngatia Maina has made it. A few years ago the Kenyan came to Germany on a scholarship, and subsequently to get a job at the German chemicals and pharmaceuticals company Merck. There he developed business strategies for markets in the Middle East, the Gulf region and North-West Africa.
Steve Ngatia Maina is one of 48 young experts and managers from Sub-Saharan Africa to have taken part in the “Afrika kommt!” (Africa is on the rise!) programme so far. A further 18 experts are currently in Germany. The initiative was founded by 19 leading German firms in 2008. Among other things, scholarship holders attend language courses, management training and spend nine months working in partner companies. The aim is to create sustainable business links between Germany and Africa. After his time at Merck, he would like to apply everything he has learned in Germany in Kenya or other parts of the world, Steve Ngatia Maina told the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), which is conducting the programme on behalf of the participating German businesses.
And this is precisely one of the central goals of “Afrika kommt!”: young specialists and managers get to know operational structures and procedures in German firms and a new culture – and become experts for economic cooperation between Germany and their native countries. The initiative is supported by the Federal Foreign Office and funded by the participating firms. Federal President Joachim Gauck supports the programme as a patron.
