By Abdulai Fasineh Dumbuya
Nekotech Centre of Excellence Readiness College in collaboration with the Ministry of Employment, Labour and Social Security have discussed procedures for the non-collateral loan of $100 million for post-graduate applicants intending to study/work in the United States of America and Canada.
The essence of the meeting was to fully understand the Transfer2Transform programme and encourage postgraduates in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), Masters in Business Administration (MBA) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) programmes for a five year period.
The programme is tailored for citizens who are between the ages of 21 and 40 years , with a minimum Grade Point Average GPA of 3.0 and better.
Speaking at the occasion, the Executive Director of Nekotech, a privately -owned Ghana based college, Rev Dr Asie Kabuki Ocansey, said that their role is to help put together the documentation processes of all candidates across West Africa through a weekly web study online programme where experts teach the candidates with the critical and requisite knowledge in the areas such as writing covering letters, Curriculum Vitae CV and Statement Of Purpose SOP.
She explained that their primary goal is to accelerate the application of candidates so that they cannot stay longer in putting their papers together, noting that candidates can apply to their website: www.nekotechcenter.com.
She stated that the candidates will attend four days virtual weekly classes from 5pm-7pm on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays which started July 31st 2023 and ends November 2024.
She encouraged Sierra Leonean first degree holders to apply to Nekotech website and get knowledge on the loan documentations so that their application processes can be smoothly done.
She disclosed that in order for candidates to join the NekoTeck class they needed to pay $236,000 or its equivalent in local currency payable online or ECO Bank, as well as revealing that they are working with fifteen USA universities who are participating at 100% Prep school Scholarships upon certification at the Nekoteck.
She said the loan is a two year programme of $50,000 for each year, adding that the other three years is the Optional Practical Training (OPT) which makes it to five years.
She emphasized that candidates for the masters’ degree programme should be somebody with a calibrated mindset of purpose, commitment and readiness to pursue a five-year course, noting that if a candidate maintains a good GPA it is highly likely that the person will continue to have loans and that is why they need strong and committed candidates.
She noted that for candidates to be given the loan, even after going through the application processes, the individual have to bring a guarantor whose bank statement ranges from four thousand to seven thousand US dollar, saying that the bank statement is for the loan application and the US visa respectively.
‘’The reason why we are asking for the bank statement is because if somebody discontinues with the programme, we are going to have somebody responsible to refund the loan and that person has to be the guarantor. This loan is to be refunded within ten years period,’’ she emphasized.
Asked whether there is any means to bring the loan scheme to African universities in order to upgrade the tertiary education on the continent, she said the programme is to Transfer2Transform youths in Africa by moving out of the continent to USA or Canada to get masters’ degree and come back to their countries to transform them.
She went on to note that the pioneers’ goal is to unlock the heavy chains of illiteracy that still continues to affect the growth of the continent. She added that the loan scheme might be converted to African universities in the future.
She therefore noted that inasmuch as their training is borne out of the teaching with expertise in web study programme, they are ready to welcome all qualified youths in Sierra Leone to apply, noting that there is no exact quota for any country. ‘’Once they meet the criteria, they can apply as many as possible,’’ she said.
The programme started five years ago in Ghana and it is now being rolled out to all English-speaking African countries. The Nekotech College of Readiness is concerned about the chronic African unemployment youth and therefore finding ways to accelerate the development of Africa.
Copyright © 2023 (09/10/23)
