Selim Kolgec

From Network Academy to Network Provider

NetAcad student and Internet cafe owner Selim Kolgec, 22, got his town online by becoming a local service provider.

Although he has still not had the opportunity to complete the fourth part of his CCNA qualifications, Selim has already put his experience to excellent use. At just 22 years old, he is the proud owner/manager of a successful internet cafe, and also provides much-needed bandwidth to about 200 clients in his role as the first-ever Internet Service Provider in the town of Suhareka, in Kosovo.

Multitasking multiple roles

Now Selim combines running and managing the Internet cafe with network administration, and still has high hopes of completing his CCNA 4. "I want more knowledge," he explains, "even though I've already learnt a lot - both on the course, and through my businesses."

Selim explains how it all began in 2004: "Well, it was a pretty hard process. In the beginning when I first started this, it seemed impossible, but after trying hard and thinking smart, I used the skills that I got from the Cisco Academy to enable me to start this business. And I finally achieved my dream."

NetAcad know-how

Selim joined a Networking Academy in Prishtina on the recommendation of a friend, a computer engineer from the USA. As he already considered himself quite experienced, Selim was surprised at just how much the CCNA course could teach him, as he explains:

"When I first applied to this place, I thought that I was just going to attend the course and consolidate my knowledge. But after spending a week there, I saw that I'd made a really good decision."

On a mission

That decision bore fruit when Selim set out to remedy the lack of home internet access in his home town of Suhareka. The locals could already get online – at Selim's cybercafe – but no connections were available for the growing number of PCs. He confidently explains how he took matters into his own hands:

"I simply went out and bought some Sectorial and Omni antennas, some routers and everything else I needed, then I ordered a higher-speed link from a different provider. And so I became the first-ever ISP in town."

Was his NetAcad experience of help? "Definitely," says Selim. "Without the Networking Academy I am 100 percent sure that I wouldn't have be able to do anything like this!"

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