Pictured above:  (l-r)  Michell Davidson,14 from Wollaton, Makaela Stanley, 14 of Aspley Kumail Abbas, 14, of Wollaton, Syian Cespedes, 13  and Scott Robinson,13 ( both from Bilborough) (centre) Go Digital's Natasha Johnson-Richards

A Nottingham firm which provides community training has plans to improve education and IT skills in Jamaica, with help from UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) and local schoolchildren.

Go Digital All Ltd, which employs eight people at its two training community learning centres in The Meadows and Radford, provides IT, literacy and numeracy training as well as promoting the benefits of IT.  It also works with schools to help train parents by offering accredited courses using school facilities. 

After talks with the EU and UN in Jamaica, The World Bank, The University of West Indies, the Department for International Development (DfID), as well as Jamaican churches and schools, the company plan to replicate its learning services in Kingston and rural districts in Jamaica.  It is due to open in summer 2012, after help and advice from UKTI advisers.

During the firm's next visit to the island this Autumn, they'll be taking 27 portable, hand held PCs, donated by Bilborough's Hadden Park High School, so they can be reconditioned and eventually used by Jamaican youngsters and the local community.

Natasha Johnson-Richards, Go Digital All E-Learning Director said:

"Our aim has always been to bridge the digital divide in deprived communities and so we are taking this philosophy to Jamaica. The new ICT learning centre will offer similar benefits for Jamaican people, as nothing quite like it exists. 

"As well as taking over the computers, kindly donated by local students, this visit will get the project moving.  We're due to get a formal endorsement from Jamaican officials, source more financial support and recruit local volunteers, so it looks set to be a productive trip".

"Without the help and advice from UKTI we wouldn't have got to where we are now: Advisers Mandy Rait and Tim Jelley have been really inspiring to us, helping us to think globally.  In fact, once we have launched this centre in Jamaica next year, there's no limit as to where we could go next: there's so many other countries we could approach.

"So far UKTI has helped us via its Passport to Export programme, Market Visits and OMIS (Overseas Market Introduction Service) which has given us a clear overview of what help is out there for aid-funded businesses. This includes contacts for potential sponsors and help when setting up dozens of meetings with them: we were last in Jamaica at the end of last year on a UKTI-organised market visit. "

"We are also taking on a student, via the University of Nottingham, to help us research funding routes for the project.  This could help lead to closer links with University and the University of West Indies."     

Mandy Rait, International Trade Adviser for UKTI, said:

"Go Digital All is a great example of a company with the desire to grow by taking all the opportunities open to them.  By going on the Passport to Export programme they saw a whole window of opportunity and the help and advice out there for aid-funded business."

Getting a project of this size off the ground has taken a lot of patience and understanding. So Natasha's main advice for dealing with overseas organisations is to always understand the culture, she said:

"Being of both British and Jamaican heritage, I've been at an advantage.  It's vital to adapt how you do things to fit into the cultural ways of a country, for example, as many people we will be helping will have never used a computer before, we will use our online radio digitallinkup.net as well as using the local church and school network to promote our services to young people and our training at schools for parents. 

Go Digital All is asking schools, colleges and companies from around UK to donate unwanted IT equipment, to be used at the new centre in Kingston.

Natasha added:

"It's great that a local school has already got involved by donating computers that can be recycled and reused for the new centre. If any other organisations that have unwanted IT equipment that are no longer needed, contact us on 0115 9866044.or email: bridgeway@godigitall.org "