Our Stories

Rural development and job creation become more feasible as the new digital African marketplace – together with its infrastructure and “cloud” – expand out of urban areas and into the previously low-tech areas of rural Africa.

VillageUp is a start-up for-profit enterprise based at Hazyview Digital Learning Campus. Operating as a Customer Interaction Centre or service desk, VillageUp has created a formidable private employment opportunity in provincial South Africa, leading to meaningful skills-training, job creation and income generation.

Graduates of the Hazyview Digital Learning Campus Bridging Academy and the IT Career-Training Academy have the option of matching their skills to a real opportunity without having to relocate to urban South Africa.

What’s more, 100% of the profits generated at VillageUp are reinvested back into the learning programmes at the campus.

This ecosystem of learning and working aims to: 1) Meet the strategic needs of national corporations; 2) Support skills-development, job creation and innovation in rural communities; and, 3) Sustain the campus and its learning programmes.

VillageUp currently employs 23 entry-level IT support engineers and its customers include T-Systems South Africa, Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles, Consol, Yes4Youth and Eskom.

GWF plans to continue to couple strategic academies with for-profit enterprises at HDLC.