Conception and launch of a Corporate University

Stake

Our customer, one of the largest mobile operators in Eastern Africa, has performed a profound transformation of its business over the past 10 years. Its intention was to modernize, become more agile, more profitable and embrace the new digital opportunities.
Our client has identified that the availability of highly qualified, skilled and experienced human resources is one the strategic levers required to achieve its vision. Our client decided to set up its own corporate university (CU) as a means to:

• Accelerate the strategy and development of the company, by ensuring that its own employees develop the right skills and attitudes;
• Create a center of excellence for ICT in the country, where professionals are trained to lead the way for ICT;
• Set up a national innovation hub for ICT, where multiple stakeholders contribute to R&D to develop innovative services.

Methodology

The project was delivered in 2 phases:

1. A 2-year construction phase, where the strategy, governance and key training programs of the Corporate University were designed according to business priorities
2. A 2-year operational launch phase, to consolidate the organization and scale up the activities of the CU.

During the construction phase, our consultants orchestrated the definition and validation of structural components of the Corporate University in collaboration with the key business stakeholders:

• Its vision and ambition
• Its branding
• Its scope of activities: the University was to include 3 schools: a leadership & management and business innovation, a technical, and a commercial one
• The governance
• The training programs required

To do so, they partnered with Orange Campus, the Orange group’s entity in charge of management trainings.

Out of the 200 training programs identified, priority was given to the development of 9 programs.
For each of these 9 programs, our consultants defined the training objectives, the detailed content, the learning methodology, and produced both the facilitator’s guide and participant’s booklet. Finally, they certified over 150 trainers who would deliver the programs to our client’s employees.

During the operational launch phase, our consultants’ objective was to set the right conditions for the Corporate University to strive, expand and meet its ambition, autonomously.

First of all, they defined the final organization of the CU and orchestrated the recruitment of the permanent team. It was critical to attract and select the right profiles. After recruiting the management team, they defined a recruitment framework so the new management team could be more involved and autonomous in the recruitment of their own team members.

The second main task in this phase has been to equip the Corporate University team with the appropriate hard and soft skills so they could deliver the CU ambition.
Our consultants defined 6 different training paths adapted to the different job profiles. For each one, they put together a rich blend of development approaches amongst which:

• Executive coaching
• Ad hoc training
• Sharing of Orange best practices
• Practical assignments
• A learning expedition etc.

In parallel, they continued detailing additional programs to enrich the CU catalog.

Result

Today, our client’s Corporate University is a reality: over 20 000 people have been trained, 24 training programs are defined, and 150 trainers are certified. The satisfaction rate reaches 96%.
The CU management team is now fully autonomous to develop and deliver new programs that will contribute to the transformation of the company into an innovative and major player in the ICT field.
The Corporate University has reached its goal: to be a powerful level to support our client’s expansion strategy and ambition in the region.