On Friday, SAP Africa hosted a Celebrity Charity Software Coding Challenge in Johannesburg, in support of the inaugural Africa Code Week, scheduled for October 2015. Celebrities included international musician Loyiso Bala; Bafana Bafana footballer Simphiwe Tshabalala; International beach volleyball player, Sheana Abrahams; President of the Oprah Winfrey Foundation, Rebecca Sykes; Miss RSA International, Shajar Khan; Mrs Globe, Riana Mooi; former TV presenter, Gerri Eldson; South African actor, Jet Novuka; Mr. South Africa 2014/15, Armand du Plessis; Celebrity Chef and TV personality, Yudhika Sujanani; Elizabeth Arden make-up artist, Gina Myers; celebrity plastic surgeon, Dr. Reza Mia; former Miss South Africa, Bokang Montjane; former Miss South Africa, Joan Ramogoshi Madibeng; Lions rugby team players Robbie Coetzee and Howard Mnisi.
Through the simplification of what has historically been perceived as a highly technical arena, SAP is making coding more appealing and accessible to a wider audience, starting with last Friday's Celebrity Charity Coding Challenge. At this event, SAP’s global coding experts mentored and coached the celebrities as part of a Global Corporate Social Responsibility International Skilled Volunteering program. They also facilitated a ‘Train The Trainer’ session with teachers this weekend and they will pilot project with learners at the Cape Town Science Centre this week.
SAP has developed a coding course which is available free of charge on openSAP: registrations are now open for all learners in Africa with courses scheduled to begin on 2 June, 2015. The openSAP platform offers a highly engaging and effective learning experience through gamification, whilst allowing real time interaction between SAP experts and learners. The “Africa Code Week: Teaching Programming to Young Learners” course has been developed in partnership with Simplon.co, the Cape Town Science Centre and the Galway Education Centre, with the purpose of empowering youth, teachers and parents with the language of programming using the freely available "Scratch" system to help bridge the digital skills gap across Africa.
“The ultimate goal of the Celebrity Charity Coding Challenge was to involve people who would normally have no exposure to coding other than consuming applications on mobile devices or computers. Coding is relevant to all industries in the 21st century and as a result, skills need to be constantly updated. SAP believes that, "by sharing skills and knowledge, we will empower people to take control of their futures,” commented Mehmood Khan, COO of Sap Africa. “openSAP provides this platform for sharing and we encourage teachers, parents and students across the continent to register for the “Africa Code Week: Teaching Programming to Young Learners” course on the openSAP platform as a means of accessing a valuable resource to further develop the youth of Africa.”
We look forward to having you on board this historic journey!