More opportunities for Malaysia's ICT grads

Portal developer, Skali, has come up with an innovative way to make money for itself and help unemployed ICT graduates at the same time.

The company recently won a project worth 258 million ringgit (US$76.2 million) to upgrade and maintain hundreds of government Web sites--102 state and 471 federal sites in total.

Of course, this is a job that it cannot possibly handle on its own. But rather than hire more staff, the company has launched a program that will leverage on the high number of unemployed ICT graduates. There are about 8,000 in this country, according to some estimates.

The program, which is called Spike sees the company taking in up to 4,000 graduates for training.

During the initial three-month training, each graduate will receive a 500 ringgit (US$147.70) monthly allowance. If they progress to the next stage, they will receive a regular salary.

The aim is to help these graduates set up some 400 companies to handle the management of the various government sites.

The idea is interesting. It's certainly ambitious and something new. The big question is whether these unemployed graduates have what it takes to eventually run their own companies. Not everyone is cut out to be an entrepreneur.