Kern AG's commitment in Afghanistan
Since mid-August, Afghanistan has been ruled by the Taliban. This development concerns us not only from a safe distance, but because of close personal as well as professional contacts to Herat and Kabul. With the partner program Kite Runner, Kern AG cooperates with two software teams in the two cities and supports them in building up their professional independence. We maintain ongoing contact with the managing directors of the offices and pursue a coordinated strategy. The safety of the team members is paramount. On this basis, our partners have developed rules of conduct and established procedures for the developers - men and women - to perform their tasks in protected spaces and under reliable conditions. The young, motivated people value their daily work and the cooperation with us as a German partner company on the one hand as a sign of respected participation in the outside world. Secondly, they see this work as a significant factor in their personal and family economic participation. Seventeen people currently work for the two offices in Herat and Kabul. Two groups develop applications; another group is undergoing a student training program to become ABAP developers.
Even the difficult security situation does not change our conviction that we have gained reliable and professionally strong partners in the developers in Herat and Kabul. The professional experience of the past few months strengthens our resolve to continue working with these people beyond these difficult times - because they are technically good and because they deserve a chance.
Eckhard Moos
Joscha Greuel
Software development in Afghanistan
Since April, Joscha Greuel has been strengthening Kern AG with his expertise and his "Kite Runner" brand. The idea for Kite Runner arose in connection with Joscha's work with the German-Afghan initiative, because there are many very well-trained developers in Afghanistan. Therefore, the idea was born to offer Afghan development services in Germany - the partner program Kite Runner was born.
Since 2019, there has already been a Kite Runner development office in Herat with currently seven employees. Another one in Kabul is under construction. In order to drive its growth and independence, Kern AG together with Kite Runner selected seven students from Kabul University in a two-stage selection process over the past two weeks for whom Kern AG will provide training to become certified SAP ABAP developers.
The interest was great. In the end, a total of 27 applicants were shortlisted, of which seven were convincing. Currently, they are already attending the programming lecture of our new Kite Runner manager and lecturer for Computer Science at Kabul University, Ziaullah Momand, who is also based in Kabul. The cooperation with Mr. Momand was started for the purpose of finding suitable trainees and was coordinated and advanced together with him. We are very grateful to our Kite Runner manager in Herat, Taqi Safdari, for establishing the valuable contact with Mr. Momand.
In addition to attending the lecture, the seven trainees will have access to the erp4students program through Kern AG, which is a comprehensive, high-quality, three-module SAP training program. In the online program, the trainees receive a detailed introduction to the SAP software and its development environment, as well as support from certified tutors. Upon course completion, our program provides for the acquisition of an SAP certificate.
In order to provide the trainees with good working and learning conditions, Kern AG, together with Kite Runner in Kabul, provides an office space with good Internet access. Mr. Momand also provides on-site support. After completing their training, the new junior ABAP developers will have the opportunity to work on internal projects as well as customer projects of Kern AG as external service providers. In the medium term, the goal is to also offer pure development services separate from Kern products.
We are looking forward to the future reinforcement from Kabul.
Here you can get a detailed insight into the objectives and the scope of the training by Kite Runner.