The first IT HUB was launched in Tbilisi, Georgia, in February 2020 within the activity of StrategEast in the Eurasian region – “StrategEast Global Minds Initiative.”
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The main goal of IT HUB is to facilitate the creation of a viable IT ecosystem in Eurasia and beyond.
Project objectives:
- Increasing the number of qualified personnel in the IT sector;
- Creating and directing high-paying job offers;
- Expanding the capabilities of technological entrepreneurship;
- Attracting foreign direct investments;
- Growing IT services export;
- Integrating the IT ecosystem into the global supply chain.
To preserve and develop local human capital, we aim to create permanent jobs, support entrepreneurship in the country, attracting foreign direct investments.
IT HUB is to become a sustainable source for world-class training and employment by providing demand-driven skills development and employment opportunities to an increasing number of people, especially youth and women.
The program’s strategy is to enrich local specialists with skills within an enabling IT sector that will drive high-value employment growth, investment, and increased revenues/sales. Creating an IT Hub through the impetus of StrategEast and global software development companies will provide a toolset to achieve this goal.
IT Hub conducts training sessions across high-demand fields such as Business Analysis, Front-End Development, .NET Development, JAVA Development, Node.js Development, Quality Assurance, and others. Students receive first-rate training from qualified practitioners. Once the graduates complete the 4, 6, or 8-month blended learning training program, they are employed by global IT companies.
The program’s uniqueness is that the students are trained in the disciplines of the highest demand for local and international IT companies. Instead of the regular “study and then seek a job,” the IT HUB program proposes a “job upon graduation.”
Milestones
- The first IT HUB was launched in Tbilisi, Georgia, in February 2020.
- In May 2021, StrategEast started collaborating with international IT company Exadel on training Business and Technology University (Georgia) students.
- In 2021-2022, StrategEast expanded its operation to Moldova and Azerbaijan. In Moldova, StartegEast collaborated with Tekwill, an ICT Excellence Center located in Chisinau. In Baku, StrategEast launched the trainings in partnership with the Innovation and Technology Center Ideal Hub.
- Due to full-fledged Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, StrategEast adapted the IT HUB to the current needs of Ukrainians and invited the vulnerable population of internally displaced persons to participate in the program. The IT HUB is supported by the project “Fostering economic participation of vulnerable groups including IDPs in the Sea of Azov region” of the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ).
- The President of Kazakhstan invited StrategEast to foster the scaling up of the IT exports from the country and to support the entire training program based on our experience and network. The Tech Orda program’s budget is 30 million USD for five years, which will cover the tuition fee for the students. StrategEast Office in Almaty will manage the IT Hub project as part of the Tech Orda program. StrategEast intends to attract new global companies to Kazakstan and create thousands of new jobs for the program graduates.
- StrategEast, in collaboration with US Market Access Center Inc. (USMAC) and in partnership with Uzbekistan Venture Capital Association and the Kyrgyz Software and Services Developers’ Association, implemented two ten-day Think Big Boot Camp Programs in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan to help Early Stage Startup Founders grow a robust global growth mindset and learn the core skills to take their startups to a global scale.
The StrategEast EPAM IT HUB intends to extend its activity to other Eurasian countries.