IBM Boosts Commitment to Africa, Doubles Employee Leadership Development and Public Service Program

NEW YORK, Sept. 21, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- THINK FORUM --  IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced it will double the number of emerging leaders it sends on pro bono assignments to Africa during the next three years.  As part of the company's Corporate Service Corps (CSC) program, aimed at developing IBM leaders and providing skilled assistance to local governments and non-government organizations in emerging markets, IBM will send about 600 employees to Africa through 2015. The company made the announcement at THINK: A Forum on the Future of Leadership.

(Logo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090416/IBMLOGO )

As part of this commitment, a team from IBM will work on a global health project, the Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon initiative, which is aimed at reducing cervical cancer deaths in Africa and Latin America.  The Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon initiative is a cause championed by the George W. Bush Institute and its partners - the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), Susan G. Komen for the Cure®, and UNAIDS.  The IBM team will create a business plan for the technology that enables the participating organizations to achieve shared objectives such as treating and preventing cervical cancer and raising breast cancer awareness.  

"The world is discovering Africa's potential, and IBM is uniquely poised to help the region meet its growing demands. IBM's Corporate Service Corps program helps lay the groundwork with communities by strengthening relationships with government officials and local partners, while providing IBM employees with a unique leadership development experience," said Bruno Di Leo, General Manager, IBM Growth Markets Unit.  "As IBM targets more growth and emerging markets, leadership programs such as the Corporate Service Corps are vital to help train our employees on growth market environments and development opportunities."

Leadership for the 21st Century

The expansion of IBM's commitment to Africa and leadership development was announced at THINK: A Forum on the Future of Leadership, an IBM conference to mark the company's Centennial that convenes more than 700 emerging leaders from government, business, academia and science from around the globe, and examines how models of leadership in business, technology and society must evolve to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

The Corporate Service Corps program provides local communities with the services and expertise of IBM's top talent, while training them to be 21st century leaders.  It cultivates future IBM leaders from all parts of the globe to offer pro bono business and IT consulting in growth markets. Since the launch of the Corporate Service Corps in 2008, nearly 1,400 IBM employees have been dispatched on more than 120 team assignments in 24 countries, including Brazil, Cambodia, Chile, China, Ghana, India, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Nigeria, Poland, Morocco, Tanzania and Vietnam.  

IBM currently has two Corporate Service Corps teams on the ground in Morogoro, Tanzania working with the country's postal system, and a team in Limpopo, South Africa assisting in the development of an education strategy in conjunction with the Limpopo Department of Education.   Other IBM Corporate Service Corps teams are due to arrive in Ghana and Kenya in October.

"Expanding the Corporate Service Corps will differentiate IBM by providing us with a next generation of skilled leaders while helping nations around the world solve their most pressing problems," said Stanley S. Litow, IBM Vice President of Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Affairs, and President of the IBM Foundation.  "This is a model that increasingly our clients will be emulating.  Given that IBM anticipates 30 percent of its geographic revenue will be tied to emerging markets by 2015, the Corporate Service Corps allows IBM to do well by doing good -- especially in Africa."  

Hands-on Experience in Growth Markets

Taking notice of IBM's success, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) recently announced it is working with IBM to increase U.S.-based international corporate volunteerism, which Washington, DC-based CDC Development Solutions (CDS) estimates has risen from just 280 employees dispatched in 2006 to 2,000 employee volunteers in 58 nations this year. Now IBM, USAID and CDS are providing corporations of all sizes with strategies needed to make their own international volunteerism projects more effective.

A new survey shows that the Corporate Service Corps is helping IBM employees develop leadership and problem-solving skills.  Nine of every ten participants in the program said their international corporate service experience provided them with an excellent leadership opportunity, while helping them better understand IBM's role in the developing world, increasing their cultural awareness, and making them more effective at their jobs.

Corporate Service Corps projects reinforce the transformation of Africa, which is building out its technology infrastructure, civic and social institutions in light of a growing middle class.  In Nigeria's Cross River province, IBM teams developed programs to provide free health care to mothers and young children, as well as one that provides financial assistance to disadvantaged households to spur entrepreneurialism.

In Ghana, IBM teams have worked on projects to narrow the digital divide between rural and urban areas.  In Kenya, IBM employees have provided advice to improve the country's ability to develop and retain top technology talent; modernize the national postal service; and establish a framework for e-government services for citizens, including electronic voting. In Tanzania, IBMers helped the country develop an eco-tourism industry and adopt technology in its universities.

IBM (NYSE: IBM) has been a leader in corporate social responsibility and corporate citizenship for 100 years.  For more information about IBM's Corporate Service Corps, please visit www.ibm.com/corporateservicecorps.  

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Lisa Lanspery
IBM Media Relations
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Marie-Ann Kinyanjui
IBM Media Relations
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Ari Fishkind
IBM Media Relations
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SOURCE IBM