CoachLab mentor wins MTN knowledge share award

Owen Griffith, receiving the CoachLab's "Mentoring Excellence Award" from The Innovation Hub's CEO, Dr Neville Comins, at the 2006 graduation ceremony, in recognition of the exceptional quality of his mentoring and coaching.

Owen Griffith, a Specialist Engineer and participant in The Innovation Hub's 2006 CoachLab leadersip programme recently won a MTN Y'elloStars award in the knowledge share category.

Over and above his function as Specialist Engineer with NWG, Owen was assigned as mentor and coach for four post-graduate students (all at Honours and Masters level) who participated in the 2006 MTN - CoachLab partnership projects.

The aim of the CoachLab leadership programme is to ensure the development of high-level technical and leadership competence in the knowledge industries. Top-notch students from tertiary institutions are recruited to this elite programme, and MTN is partnering with the CoachLab, Cisco Systems and Epi-Use, together with the Tshwane University of Technology, University of Pretoria and UNISA, to develop the business acumen of these post-graduate students.

Owen (jointly with a mentor from Epi-use) also received the CoachLab's "Mentoring Excellence Award" at the 2006 graduation ceremony, in recognition of the exceptional quality of his mentoring and coaching, and the quality of the products and research these students developed for MTN as part of the programme. Owen spent time with the students (twice per month and sometimes more) and ensured that they were equipped with whatever tools and skills they needed to complete their projects.

It was widely acknowledged that the projects Owen had given the MTN recruits had by far exceeded those assigned to the other students recruited by Cisco and Epi-Use, and from the presentations by the MTN, Cisco and Epi-use syndicates respectively it was again clear that the MTN syndicate had excelled above the other syndicates. This confirms the quality of Owen's knowledge sharing to develop the kind of high-level competence the project aimed to instill in the post graduate students.

The CoachLab mainly recruits top graduates and post-graduates from the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology (EBIT) in Computer Science, Informatics, Information Science and Engineering. CoachLab students participate in several projects, where an emphasis is placed on value-added, creative solutions. These projects are run as partnerships with industry and tertiary education institutions, where the partners provide infrastructure, project work, mentorship and supervision to the tertiary institutions' post-graduate students.

Through the close integration of core IT and engineering competencies, leadership, presentation and other relevant practical skills, the programme endeavors to establish a physical, entrepreneurial learning environment where students can, within a year, mature into new IT and applied science innovators who can take initiative, work in a team, apply knowledge and solve problems.

They gain invaluable experience through exposure to the "real world" and the practical applications of their respective fields of study. This is the core of the programme: "To develop top students for future technological leadership". The principles of the CoachLab programme also contribute towards this end.

The students participate in several projects, where an emphasis is placed on teamwork, problem solving and value-added, creative solutions. Students also get insight by being exposed to seminars and mentorship from IT professionals.

A strong focus is placed on leadership, where students are encouraged to take initiative in the competitive ICT applied science business environment. Focus is also placed on the qualities of integrity, honesty and respect, which lead to CoachLab students being more confident and therefore creating successful future leaders.

For more information on the CoachLab™, visit the website at www.theinnovationhub.com/coachlab.

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