Porsche, alongside the Don Bosco Mondo NGO, is set to roll out a training and recruitment centre for disadvantaged young adults in South Africa. This initiative is an effort to uplift impoverished members of society by giving them an opportunity to work for Porsche AG in its service mechatronics division.
We attended the official memorandum in Johannesburg, where Porsche AG CEO Dr Oliver Blume spoke, to find out exactly what this initiative entails and what it means for South Africa.
What makes SA a suitable candidate?
Porsche’s relationship with South Africa over the past few decades is one that has been increasingly fruitful. With a rising demand for trained technicians and SA’s status as a developing country, Porsche thought it would be prudent to introduce this initiative here after it ran a successful version over in the Philippines.
What does the programme comprise?
Given the rise of technological innovations within the automotive industry, students will be trained in the field of mechatronics, a sector in which there is currently significant demand for technicians.
The training takes place over the course of one year, after which each student will be transferred to one of the Volkswagen Group dealerships (with Porsche being a main priority) to work as an aftersales technician.
How are the candidates chosen?
Only 25 candidates will be taken on board each year. These applicants will come from difficult circumstances and must provide proof that they are incapable of paying for vocational training in the automotive sphere.
The application process itself will be headed by Don Bosco Mondo. Porsche says age is not as an important factor in the application process.
Will future positions be limited to SA?
The plan is to keep all of the trained technicians within the borders of South Africa, but if one of the employees truly wishes to work abroad, that is certainly a possibility, says Porsche.
Will the programme expand into other areas in SA?
As it stands, the institute will be based in Cape Town from July 2017. The plan is to run this initiative over three years, after which Porsche says it will consider expanding to the Gauteng area.
