A few years ago, Novicell decided to undertake a rewarding adventure in Zambia, a non-profit project in which we collaborated with a school called Northern Star Academy. The way in which we participate at Novicell is varied, we started by creating a computer room that would help its students to develop certain basic technological skills. After the creation of the room, we installed internet in the school for the use of its students.

This year, we set ourselves another challenge, a group of Novicell employees will visit the Northern Star Academy from Zambia to teach villagers the basic principles of marketing and ecommerce. In addition, taking advantage of the room that we have already installed on previous trips, we will also show them how to deal with new information technologies and how to create an e-commerce. We hope that people will start using these tools and begin to generate value through the implementation of online stores in companies in the area. We will be there for 10 days, and even if this is not enough time to master all these subjects that we teach them, we do believe that we can lay certain foundations for them to start their digital journey.

Novicell Representatives

This year, not only Novicell employees in Denmark will be going to Zambia. There will also be one person from our London office, 2 from Barcelona and 3 from the Aarhus office.

The team consists of: Lars Foldager Nielsen (Novicell DK), Martin Hobert (Novicell DK), Morten Green High (Novicell DK), Jacob Tibbott (Novicell UK), Leandro Benítez (Novicell ES), Haydn John Reece (Novicell ES) and Glenn Mott (Eventure .dk).

The team will travel to Zambia on October 18 to deliver computer equipment, as well as to teach basic and essential marketing knowledge and to create an e-commerce in a simple way.

You can help too

For the idea to become a reality, we rely on donations to purchase equipment for the project. Novicell is collaborating with a monthly donation and we would like you to join this project too. 100% of all donations will go entirely to the purchase of material for the benefit of the school and the young people who attend the Northern Star Academy. All types of donations are accepted. All participating companies will be mentioned in our project and listed in our articles.

We are missing the following material that we would like to subsidize or donate:

• Digital camcorder (270€ - 540€ depending on quality)
• SD card for storing video recordings (4 x 128 GB - 36€ per unit)
• Laptop for video editing (670€)
• Materials for a safety cabinet in which the equipment can be locked inside (around 100€)
• Additional laptop batteries (5-10 pieces at 70 euros per piece)
• Money for the school students' sports equipment

If you wish to donate money, this will be used to purchase the equipment mentioned above and in accordance with the school's priorities.

The deadline for making donations is October 18, 2019.

Reinforced cooperation on common objectives

As a novelty, the Zambia Project has become a broader and more structured CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) collaboration. A number of companies have already come together to participate in the Zambia Project and will therefore contribute to efforts that have already been planned or started. The collaboration consists of 6 companies (Altan.dk, Brandiators, AI A/S, Platform.AS, Kroppens Hus and Kentaur A/S), which together must face challenges to try to make the dreams of our friends in Zambia a reality. After Novicell's visit in October, Platform.as will begin to contribute in other areas important to the project.

A development center for young people

Only a third of all students in Zambian schools receive students with more than 7 years of schooling. Zambia has 14.5 million inhabitants, so it is not surprising that there is a large group of children who do not progress beyond the seventh grade. This is the reason why, the association Eventure with the Northern Star Academy participate in and pay for education to some of the Zambian students who would otherwise be “lost” in the education system.

Northern Star Academy offers 30 selected students the opportunity to start over each year. Through a free after-school year, students are prepared to complete high school, which is then funded by Eventure and the association's sponsors. Students finally achieve what amounts to a secondary education and, to date, the experience has been very positive.

The objective of the school is to create personal development and empower young people so that they can improve their level of education and thus be able to benefit other citizens with their knowledge.

In this way, the project not only helps the school's 30 students, but also the entire community, who are provided with knowledge and skills that they didn't have until now. For example, it can make a big difference, for a local community to learn why it's a good idea to plant a new tree when an old one is cut down. Or what water quality means, how a healthy and nutritious diet is developed, and how to set a budget for starting a business.

Information Technology Can Help

One of the challenges of Northern Star Academy is to motivate young people with their education, to prepare for high school. And this is where Information Technology (IT) becomes relevant. With tablets, applications and other teaching programs, school teachers are able to teach with resources that accelerate the student's learning curve.

Many of the students at the Northern Star Academy they are already on Facebook through their mobile phones because they have free Internet. The school also has some computers that young people test during their stay there, so they know and learn to use different programs such as Excel, Word, etc.

Surely “Technology” is not the first thought that comes to mind when we think of Zambia, however there is no reason to believe that our mission is out of place in relation to Zambia's needs.

The possibilities are limited in terms of the number of teams, apart from the expense of buying new material and transporting it to school. The logistics issue is something to consider since the delivery of a package from Europe to the school can take up to 6 months.

Our idea is to buy, transport, assemble and configure computer equipment at schools in Zambia, including instructions on maintenance and teaching material.

If you are interested in making a donation or participating in the project, do not hesitate to contact us.

Do you want more information about the Zambia Project?

If you need more information, do not hesitate to contact get in touch with us.