Johannesburg, South Africa and Bangalore, India - April 15, 2015:
The programme aims at building critical leadership and technology skills to lead organisations into the future
Wipro Ltd. (NYSE:WIT), a leading global information technology, consulting and business process services company today announced its partnership with the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS), a leading business school in South Africa for a first of its kind 'Future CIO' programme. Wipro and GIBS have come together to co-design this programme, which aims to build future technology leaders. The programme's objective is to impart leadership skills, build proficiency in technologies of the future and help mold leaders with a globalised outlook that will enable them to successfully lead their organisations into the future.
The USP of this programme is that the nominations will have to come directly from the CEOs and Boards of their respective organisations, across industry sectors, in South Africa. The candidates will be further shortlisted by a panel of experts. The first batch will commence in August 2015 and will have a total of 20 candidates. Two seats have been exclusively reserved for previously disadvantaged candidates and small medium enterprises.
GIBS is a top ranked African business school with expertise in developing industry-aligned executive development programmes. It has been ranked as one of the top business schools globally, by the UK's Financial Times, since 2003. GIBS will co-design and implement the programme.
The programme comprises of three modules, and is spread over a period of six months. The first module, which focuses on Enterprise Leadership will be conducted at the GIBS campus during August over four days. The second module will see the candidates travel to India in October for seven days, where they will receive in-depth theoretical and hands-on training on global leadership skills and technology themes. As a part of the curriculum, the programme will also provide the opportunity for the candidates to interact with business leaders, CEOs, CIOs and CTOs from leading global organisations. The last module on Functional Leadership will be conducted over four days at the GIBS campus in November 2015. Once the programme is completed, the individuals will be well placed to become Future CIOs and CTOs.
"The growth of a sustainable economy in South Africa hinges on skills development, something which Wipro is committed to supporting. We strongly believe that CIOs and CTOs have an important part to play in the success of businesses today and in the future. We believe that true business transformation will require significant amounts of teamwork and collaboration, and we are proud to partner with GIBS on this ground-breaking initiative," said Ulrich Meister, Sr. Vice President, Continental Europe and Africa, Wipro Ltd.
"Ultimately the focus of the programme is to transfer skills, knowledge and insights to enable executives to convert these learnings into the strategy of their organisations. The composition of the programme includes enterprise functional leadership which is delivered on campus, as well as a week of international travel. Candidates will be nominated by their organisations, and an admissions committee will review all applications," says Shaun Rozyn, GIBS Director of Executive Education.
Participants in the programme will have access to the best in thought leadership through exposure to some of the country's leading and established experts in their respective fields. They will gain invaluable exposure to high-level problem solving and strategic thinking, which will encourage and nurture real innovative thinking in a global business context. The GIBS Future CIO programme will offer candidates insight into disruptive business and technology trends, key strategic factors for globalising operations and more. All participants will benefit from course content on the importance of corporate governance.
About Wipro Ltd.
Wipro Ltd. (NYSE:WIT) is a leading Information Technology, Consulting and Business Process Services company that delivers solutions to enable its clients do business better. Wipro delivers winning business outcomes through its deep industry experience and a 360 degree view of "Business through Technology" - helping clients create successful and adaptive businesses. A company recognized globally for its comprehensive portfolio of services, a practitioner's approach to delivering innovation, and an organization wide commitment to sustainability, Wipro has a workforce of over 150,000, serving clients in 175+ cities across 6 continents. For more information, please visit www.wipro.com
About GIBS
Founded in 2000, GIBS is an internationally accredited business school based in Johannesburg, South Africa’s economic hub. As the “business school for business”, GIBS’ purpose is to significantly improve the performance of individuals and organisations through business education in dynamic markets. Consistently rated as one of the top business schools in South Africa, in May 2014 GIBS was again ranked among the top business schools globally by the Financial Times in Africa for executive education programmes. This is the eleventh year running that GIBS has been ranked among the top business schools worldwide. In October 2014 the GIBS MBA was ranked among the top 100 business schools globally in the prestigious Financial Times Executive MBA Rankings. GIBS is the only business school in Africa to appear in this ranking.
GIBS is accredited by the Association of MBAs (AMBA), the Council on Higher Education (CHE) and is a member of the South African Business Schools Association (SABSA), the Association of African Business Schools (AABS) and the European Academy of Business in Society (EABIS).
Media Contacts:
Olwin Kleve
Wipro Limited, South Africa
+27 110616500
olwin.kleve@wipro.com
GIBS
Nishen Munnisunker
Director Executive Education Open Programmes
+27 11 771 4000
Munnisunkern@gibs.co.za
Wipro's Forward-looking and Cautionary Statements
Certain statements in this release concerning our future growth prospects are forward-looking statements, which involve a number of risks, and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding fluctuations in our earnings, revenue and profits, our ability to generate and manage growth, intense competition in IT services, our ability to maintain our cost advantage, wage increases in India, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which we make strategic investments, withdrawal of fiscal governmental incentives, political instability, war, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, unauthorized use of our intellectual property, and general economic conditions affecting our business and industry. Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. We may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. We do not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time by us or on our behalf.
