IBM employees volunteer for charitable scheme
22-05-2008
by Billy MacInnes

An employee at IBM Ireland has been chosen as part of a programme by the IT giant to develop leadership skills in emerging markets.

A total of 100 employees from 33 countries have been selected to take part in the Corporate Service Corps programme to work on projects that combine economic development and information technology.

More than 5,000 IBM employees applied to the programme and IBM is committed to sending 600 of its "emerging leaders" on the scheme over the next three years.

Elisabeth Dirnberger, IBM Ireland business consulting services workforce manager and originally from Austria, will travel to the Philippines with seven other IBM staff to look at how rural small and medium businesses can access regional and global markets.

She said the programme was "a terrific opportunity to give something back through volunteering and sharing what I have learned at IBM with people in the Philippines, helping them to develop their skills and offering practical advice on their business issues".

Deirdre Kennedy, IBM corporate citizenship and corporate affairs manager, told ENN the employees chosen for the programme were very excited and "blogging like mad on the internal system. They can't believe they were picked".

She added that IBM had a very strong volunteering ethos, with employees donating over 6 million hours in the last five years. Twelve teams of IBM employees will be sent to Ghana, the Philippines, Romania, Turkey, Tanzania and Vietnam as part of the programme this year.

The initiative is part of IBM's Global Citizen's Portfolio, announced last summer, which covers a range of investments and schemes to help IBM employees "enhance their skills and expertise in order to become global leaders, professionals and empowered citizens in the 21st century workforce".

Three NGO partners -- Citizens Development Corps based in Washington, D.C., Canada-based Digital Opportunity Trust, and Australian Business Volunteers -- help to identify the right projects and local organisations where the IBM employees can have the most effect.

Michael Levett, president, Citizens Development Corps, said the programme was different because it was "making a real commitment to send hundreds of employees, year over year, to the same country".