By Chancy Namadzunda, AfricaNews reporter in Lilongwe, Malawi

Leading global telecommunications company, Bharti Airtel announced a partnership with the largest e-learning provider in Africa – The Learning Resources Management Group – to provide an extensive e-learning program for Airtel employees across 17 African countries.

The implementation of this program signals a new dawn of staff development, reinforcing the telco’s commitment to nurture and develop local talent and groom its employees for leadership positions within the company.

“Our people are our main source of competitive advantage,” explains David Ssegawa, Chief Human Resources Officer at Airtel Africa. “We are committed in investing and providing our employees with opportunities to learn and grow within the organization. This latest initiative is in line with our commitment to nurture local talent and develop the capabilities of the workforce. We firmly believe that this initiative will bring in benefits of ‘flexibility and convenience’ which will allow the employees to have access to their chosen courses anytime, anywhere.

He further added, “In addition to the practical benefits it offers, the program will also build a culture of learning and community amongst Airtel employees by facilitating and sharing knowledge and expertise between peers. In the long run, I am confident this will increase both the capabilities and the productivity of our employees.”

Airtel has invested in a comprehensive suite of 500 courses from the Learning Resources Management Group touching on a range of subjects including - Accounting, IT, HR, Customer Service, Leadership and Management skills, amongst others.

Bharti Airtel Limited is a leading integrated telecommunications company with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa.

Headquartered in New Delhi India, the company ranks amongst the top 5 mobile service providers globally in terms of subscribers.

In India, the company's product offerings include 2G, 3G and 4G services, fixed line, high speed broadband through DSL, IPTV, DTH, enterprise services including national & international long distance services to carriers. In the rest of the geographies, it offers 2G, 3G mobile services. Bharti Airtel had over 257 million customers across its operations at the end of June 2012.