Smedsep moves to developCebu's IT manpower pool

The German government, through the Small and Medium Enterprise Development for Sustainable Employment Program (Smedsep), gears up to help develop the two crucial fields of the Information Technology (IT) sector in Cebu, the human resource and market information.

Smedsep's two business development service (BDS) providers, the Leaders Link Training and LEAD (Life's Essence for Achievement & Development) recently launched its human resource technologies and training products to improve the IT human resource and market capability of homegrown IT players in Cebu.

"We would like to support business development providers to help the IT human resource pool in Cebu improve their capabilities, as well as expand their reach in the worldwide market," said Markus Ehmann, Smedsep senior adviser for business development services.

Ehmann said the program (Smedsep) which is a project implemented jointly by the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and Technical Education & Skills Development Authority (TESDA), has also identified the need to improve the capability skills of the software developers, and develop confidence to hit the international market.

Although there are long lists of barriers to the development of IT in Cebu, Ehmann said Smedsep has focused its help on the information and marketing support for homegrown developed IT products, and strengthening the capability of the IT HR supply here.

Smedsep had introduced IT-focused training programs to education institutions and business service providers, to enhance the capability of IT sector in Cebu.

Last year, Smedsep has signed a partnership agreement with the Cebu Educational Development for IT (Cedfit), Interface Computer College (ICC) Leaders' Link Inc., Lead Inc., and University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R). These institutions will provide the training polished by the experts provided by the Smedsep to these institutions at a minimum cost.

Smedsep is a technical cooperation project between the Philippines the Federal Republic of Germany. This program aimed at addressing the challenges that SMEs are facing specifically in the third world countries, like the Philippines.

Smedsep's end goal is to enable public and private institutions to create favorable business conditions to develop entrepreneurial potential and encourage competition.