Intellegere Holdings, a company owned by a young Motswana, Itumeleng Garebatshabe is currently running an independent and self-financed project named Cyber Defence Hub (CDH).
CDH is a program that nurtures skills across all cyber security disciplines. According to Garebatshabe, one of the key objectives is to equip students with the technical expertise to ready them for the market.
“We are currently setting up what would be the first independent professional Computer Emergency Response Team (C.E.R.T.),” he revealed.
Garebatshabe told Voice Money he came up with the initiative because the industry has long bemoaned the calibre of IT graduates, who mostly lack the practical skills needed.
“We took it upon ourselves to help solve that problem by teaming up with tertiary institutions to do periodic walk-in lectures,” explained the country’s first local cyber security consultant.
The project was launched in 2017, with Botho University College as the first beneficiary.
He further said save for government, the private sector does not have Computer Incident Response Team (CIRT) and mainly imports such services from South African based companies.
“By setting up CDH independently we aim to be the last line of defence for all companies using talented and skilled local professionals,” noted the computer whiz kid, estimating that Botswana requires around 5, 000 Cyber Security professionals.
“That is why we are setting up CDH and have to capacitate these students so that when they graduate this year they don’t join a queue of job seekers but will find permanent employment in the hub,” he added.
However, Garebatshabe stressed that the project will only take off if they get the right funding.
“We need financial support to set up divisions of the hub in other institutions and build capacity with workshops exclusively designed for graduates.”
Indeed, he is optimistic that his dream of securing the country’s cyber security will be realised in the near future.
“I’ve received overwhelming feedback from the students in this programme. There’s hope that this project will take off and reach its target!” he told Voice Money.
