Libya dedicates more than a third of its national budget on education, striving to compete in the global economy. The nation has the wealthiest citizenry in Africa, but is still trying to close the digital divide after more than two decades of trade embargo that were not lifted until 2004.

Khaled El Hamedi, chairman of ENG Holding Libya, dedicated the last 15 years to closing that divide through training and Certiport’s Internet and Computing Core Certification (IC³). On August 1, he was recognized as the Inspiration Award winner after being inducted into the Certiport Champions of Digital Literacy Hall of Fame. He is one of only five people, worldwide, to be inducted into the Hall of Fame this year.

His goal is to continue spreading his digital literacy program beyond the borders of his country to the entire continent of Africa. He says:

“My dream is to bring this program to the entire country and even to all of Africa. But for now I would be happy to bring our program to as many people as possible and for them to benefit from these newly acquired and important skills.”

More information:
Khaled El Hamedi’s Bio (PDF)
El Hamedi’s Story: It’s Truly Inspirational (Certiblog)
His acceptance speech at Certiport PATHWAYS 2009 (YouTube)
Interview after receiving the award (YouTube)
Press Release

This entry was posted on Monday, August 3rd, 2009 at 2:38 pm and is filed under Social Media PR, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.