Standard Bank and GE partner to skill health professionals in business management

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Standard Bank Group has partnered with GE to provide the country-first ‘Health Accelerator’ programme for technical, clinical and business acumen to South African healthcare professionals who want to improve and grow their existing practices. The programme was announced in November 2016, and the first cohort of thirty participants begin their training in this month. The programme is aimed at both private and public practitioners who want to transition into private practice.

 

Over the next six months, the first cohort of participants will undertake a professional development journey, in which they will be able to learn from leading experts in enterprise development, healthcare management and innovation, human resources, marketing, business ethics, and governance. The modules – a total of 24 – will be delivered weekly in a classroom environment at the GE Africa Innovation Centre in Houghton and at the Standard Bank Incubator in. Additional resources will be provided through e-learning platforms and masterclasses.

The programme is part of GE’s Enterprise and Supplier Development Accelerator in Africa. It was activated by Londvolota, GE South Africa’s BBBEE partner, which is focused on building entrepreneurial capability and capacity within Black-Owned companies in the country. The Standard Bank Incubator supports entrepreneurs through skills development, support and mentorship and will provide access to leading experts to deliver on content. 

“Both Standard Bank and GE recognise the value of small businesses as drivers of job creation and economic growth.  Both companies hold enterprise development, skills development and innovation as core business objectives, and we are both strongly committed to supporting more inclusive growth and economic transformation in South Africa,” says Standard Bank Joint-CEO Sim Tshabalala.

Farid Fezoua, President & CEO GE Healthcare Africa, says healthcare is major priority on the continent, and it is important for private sector players to get involved in trying to find solutions. “This is an entirely new push towards tackling healthcare challenges in Africa. Our goal is to support capacity building.” 

 

Standard Bank and GE are long-time partners. In 2014, they forged a partnership focused on improving access to affordable power infrastructure. That has since expanded to collaboration into new sectors, including a partnership between Standard Bank Kenya and General Electric Healthcare East Africa to finance, install and manage diagnostic equipment in Kenya’s public hospitals.

“I’m delighted that the strong and enduring partnership we’ve forged over the past several years has enabled us to pool our different areas of expertise to support these shared objectives, through the launch of the Healthcare Accelerator,” says Mr Tshabalala.

Jayshree Naidoo, Head of the Standard Bank Incubator, says the ‘Healthcare Accelerator’ provides a great opportunity for the partners to work on developing a critical sector. “Our goal in partnering with GE is to work jointly towards growing the community of health care professionals across the continent, by ensuring the success of the professionals that are selected on this Accelerator.”