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Our story
Our Brand Story
“There is a common denominator in the human experience: what we all want is to be able to live out the truest, highest expression of ourselves as human beings. That doesn’t end until you take your last breath. What is the truest, highest vision that you hold for yourself? No matter where you are in your life, there’s always the next level, till the last breath.”
Oprah Winfrey
It’s a good idea to read our brand story in conjunction with the info on our logo, as the two are so inextricably linked.
LGIT (pronounced “Legit”), which is an acronym for “Learning Gateway Inspiring Telos,” was founded in November 2000 by Natascha Prüssen, who had a vision for helping people to become the best possible versions of themselves, self-actualising their lives and empowering themselves to exude magnificence through every aspect of their existence.
For more information on “telos,” please refer to our logo page [here]. In a nutshell, though, “telos” is a Greek word meaning “end,” and in this context, this means the end goal of all that we are, and what we hope to achieve during our short sojourn on this earth.
LGIT offers learning and training solutions, to help empower people to become the best that they can be. While the beginning point of this training was in the IT field (and this is where the bulk of the training remains), Natascha recognised the need to inspire people to empower themselves in all aspects of their lives, not just for their jobs. Thus there has been a move into leadership training, as well as personal development and marketing.
Our customers
Many of LGIT’s customers have been with us for a long time, and the bulk of the customers make up repeat business. Our first customer, RMB Properties (now ERIS), is still with us today – testimony to the fact that we really care about helping people in companies become their most magnificent selves.
Girl power
Run and owned by a woman (and with 51% ownership by a formerly disadvantaged woman), LGIT strongly believes in the power of women to transform the world. Some 80% of the people working at LGIT are of the fairer gender, despite the fact that the logo is of a man – the Vitruvian Man!
Of course, LGIT welcomes both genders with open arms, and has trained many people from both genders (and also those who feel they do not identify with such binary limitations of gender identity).
Innovation
Innovation is key, and it makes us nimble.
Because it is privately owned, LGIT has managed to escape the bureaucratic red tape that slows down big bloated organisations. Ever cognisant of the VUCA world (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous), we pride ourselves on innovation in the field of training, and we are constantly adapting to the changing business environment. As such, we offer formal courses in a normal classroom setting, but also blended learning, which is a combination of online and physical training, and then pure virtual training, which is completely online, with an instructor. This obviates the need for students to come to Johannesburg to train, and we have successfully offered courses to students all over the world using 100% digital online platforms.
In addition, we are always open to the challenge of finding better solutions to existing corporate (and also non-corporate) training needs. As a company, we challenge the status quo, looking for new ways to be better, and responding to the changing global environments of work, learning and lifestyle.
Leadership training
In order to navigate the muddy waters of the ever-changing business landscape, we recognised a need to start offering leadership training in the corporate space. It was Einstein who said that intelligence is measured by the ability to adapt to change, and it is within this context that we sniffed out the need to offer people leadership skills. This would either be to complement their existing formal education (degrees, diplomas), or as the starting point of their training, for those fresh out of school (or people who haven’t been able to complete their schooling).
Of course one the core tenets of leadership is marketing leadership, and LGIT now also offers courses in this field, to ensure that OUR clients know how to speak to and meet the needs of THEIR clients.
Siyakhula
LGIT also has a philanthropic arm, as we believe it is important to give back to the community, in much the same way food that is harvested from the ground also gives nourishment back to the soil.
To this end, we offer quality, affordable and accessible training to learners from all walks of life, including those who were historically disadvantaged. We train 1,500 leaners per year, and the top 100 of these are upskilled even further, after which we help them to get jobs.
We would like to make a special note here: in all spaces and for all people, our training is imbued with quality and attention to detail. Just because you are not training in a corporate environment does not mean a drop in the value of the work offered to learners.
Lula Legacy Trust
Our other philanthropic endeavour is to help you develop yours.
One of the shareholders of the LGIT group of companies is the Lula Legacy Trust, an educational trust that is designed to deliver an educational solution to address the skills gap in the world as a whole, but in South Africa in particular.
As a starting off point, we are offering a work-readiness programme for our first initiative.
Are you looking at creating a corporate training solution that you can offer to clients, so that they can help out in their communities and rack up some tax breaks in the process? In this two-birds-one-stone process, we can shape the right solution for you.
Our trainers
Our trainers have real-world experience.
All of the facilitators we use to train our students are consultants who are eminently qualified, and offer not just their academic backgrounds as a source of inspiration and learning, but also their extensive experience in their fields.
We would expect our facilitators, therefore, to be constantly on their own voyages of learning, but we have never had to ask them: the beauty is that they are constantly learning and upskilling themselves, that it becomes second nature to share that with others.
Our purpose links us to global market leaders
Because we espouse the values we teach, and try at all times to practice what we preach, LGIT is a company that has purpose, meaning and vision. As such, we end up walking the road with innovative brand leaders such as Microsoft, because we are willing to try out new ideas that are at the leading edge of innovation. We offer solutions that are cut according to the client’s cloth.
Our agility at responding to customer needs means that we always proverbially test our own dog food, and we are adept at solving business pains by building specialised programmes around productivity, reducing costs, and making decisions. Because we are small and flight of foot, we can roll out solutions in a matter of weeks as opposed to months and years. We believe it’s all about collaboration, communication, and providing the right knowledge at the right time.
But of course you need to eat the pudding to know this (or the dog food if you prefer), for that truly is where the proof lies. And so we invite you into our kitchen, to come hang out with us while we whip up a sweet solution for you.