The Netherlands’ largest professional learning platform, SkillsTown, is expanding into Africa.
SkillsTown, The Netherlands’ largest professional learning platform, has launched in South Africa as part of its venture into Africa. Founded five years ago, the platform is centred on a very competitive, subscription-based model, effectively giving all employees of an organisation access to hundreds of online learning modules. These range from management basics, finance for dummies and social media marketing, to soft skills, time management and everything in-between.
While the Dutch platform has more than 1,000 online modules, SkillsTown South Africa will start with around 100 of their most popular courses, with new – and local – content being added monthly. Furthermore, SkillsTown South Africa will be partnering with SETA-accredited organisations to ensure B-BBEE scorecard compliance, as well as with specific sector content providers to address the needs of customers requiring a learning experience platform in a particular industry.
“We provide our customers with a completely customised digital learning experience,” explains Kevin Hardy, MD of SkillsTown SA, adding that companies can quickly and easily create their own content specific to their business needs while maintaining the look and feel of their own branding. There is also a diverse range of learning solutions on the platform.
“Everyone learns differently, so it is important for employees to choose how they want to learn. Our online academy offers a variety of learning resources, from e-learning modules, podcasts and webinars to collaborative WE-learning, short micro-courses and video feedback sessions.”
A new MBA
Employees can also take personalised assessments to gain useful insights into their strengths and weaknesses. These can then be used by staff members and their managers to personalise their individual growth trajectories. Furthermore, SkillsTown has collaborated with the world-renowned Maastricht University in the field of artificial intelligence to develop the world’s first online Corporate MBA (c-MBA). Hans Schuurmans, CEO of SkillsTown, says this is a unique global offering that will disrupt the traditional MBA, which is typically only accessible to the privileged few.
Says Hans: “At the cost of one MBA, our c-MBA will enable entire organisations, especially managers and executives, to educate themselves at an MBA level. Instead of fictitious business cases, employees immediately start working on business cases within and relevant to the organisation. This means that from day one, the c-MBA ensures that all employees, as well as the organisation itself, performs better.”
SkillsTown’s Corporate MBA will be available online in South Africa before the end of 2020.
