What’s it all about?

The scheme, which is set to run for three years, will see a total of 75 men and women from disadvantaged backgrounds receive training as service mechatronics engineers. The training will afford these youngsters an opportunity to achieve gainful employment within the Volkswagen Group. The project is being organised in association with the Don Bosco Salesian Institute Youth Projects (SIYP) in Cape Town and the local Porsche importer in South Africa, LSM Distributors.

PAVE-ing the way

The three-year project will have twenty-five students per year participating. The class of 2017 comprises of eight women and sixteen men who will receive training in two seminar rooms and a workshop with vehicles to use, all provided by Porsche. The programme itself has been designed by Porsche and its after sales experts.

In addition, the experts are tasked with training the trainers of the Porsche Training and Recruitment Centre South Africa under the umbrella of its worldwide After Sales qualification initiative, PAVE (Porsche After Sales Vocational Education).

Objectives

The aim of the initiative in South Africa is to find young talent for the Volkswagen retail organisations, and to provide well-trained service mechatronics engineers in the long term. Due to the increase of digitalisation, electrification and connectivity in automotive manufacturing, it is important to have skilled personnel ready to provide after sales services.

“When I look into the eager faces of our first trainees, it’s a further confirmation that we and our partners are doing the right thing: Creating opportunities. Opportunities for young adults to enhance their skills and position themselves permanently on the job market, and opportunities to develop a professional reputation and use this reputation to strengthen their position in society,” explained Michael Drolshagen, After Sales Manager at Porsche AG.

Five minutes with the youth

At the event, I had the opportunity to conduct a short interview with one of the successful applicants for the 2017 project. I met with an enthusiastic young man named Dean Junior Heuvel who, when asked what the project means to him, responded by saying, “The project is a great opportunity for me to be the best I can be.”

He added that he sees himself working at an Audi or a Porsche dealership upon the completion of his training. Dean is no stranger to the inner workings of a car.

“I have some experience working on cars with my friends, but it will be great to receive a formal qualification so that I can pursue my dream further”. Heuvel also sees himself going overseas for a short stint. “I would like to go overseas, maybe to China or another exotic country for a short time so that I can come back to South Africa with even more experience,” he concluded.

Opportunities

Young people who are interested can apply for the training programme, but must come from disadvantaged backgrounds. There are three different avenues that potential applicants can pursue, depending on their qualifications: If an applicant is already sufficiently qualified for vocational training, he or she can access the two-year car service mechatronics engineer training programme directly.

Any applicants who do not possess the required qualifications can complete a six to eight-week life skills training course at the Don Bosco Salesian Institute Youth Projects (SIYP). If an applicant is lacking basic skills, he or she will be given the opportunity to complete a year of training to prepare them for the working world.

This option will be available to no more than 50 people and will enable them to make clear leaps in their development, regardless of whether they ultimately reach the level required to undertake the training programme or not. The Cape Town training project is modelled on one at the Porsche Training and Recruitment Center Asia in the Philippine capital, Manila, which has been training young Filipinos as service mechatronics engineers since 2008.

Going forward

From its fourth year, the training programme should be able to fund itself and sole responsibility for the training will be transferred to SIYP with Porsche and the Volkswagen Group brands continuing to supervise the project.