DaimlerChrysler Opens Training Center in Malawi

Muamer Hodzic September 19, 2007

DaimlerChrysler opened a training center for vocational training of motor vehicle mechatronics in , today. The ceremony was attended by representatives of DaimlerChrysler and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), the Minister of Labour and Vocational Training, Anna Kachikho, the Minister for Trade and Private Sector Development, Dr. Ken Lipenga, and other high-ranking political and business representatives.

The state-approved is a public-private partnership project resulting from cooperation with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GTZ). With this new training location in the heart of , DaimlerChrysler is pursuing several objectives simultaneously. “Firstly, through the present vocational training location we want to ensure that the vehicles we sell in the region can also be professionally serviced and repaired in the long term”, explained Oskar Heer, who is responsible for Labour Relations at DaimlerChrysler. “Secondly”, continued Heer, “we are of course also happy that the challenging vocational training can do something positive for the people and the economy in on a sustained basis.”

The in is the region’s first training center for skilled vehicle maintenance and service staff in line with the European model. Each year, the center provides 16 young persons with training as motor vehicle mechatronic professionals. The two-year apprenticeship, which requires a completed course of basic education, is strongly aligned to German training contents. “Together with our partners we have set up a modern training workshop, including the current diagnosis equipment, as well as training rooms with computer stations”, explains Tich Robb, Managing Director at Stansfield Motors, the general distributor in for Mercedes-Benz vehicles.
For the first three years, the practical and theoretical content of the training will come from a German instructor. Parallel to the motor vehicle mechatronics, the German instructor will also train two instructors who will later assume the training in and continue it independently.

The location will serve as a center for vocational training and further education for the general distributors in Malawi, Angola, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The framework conditions in these countries are almost identical. There is a shortage of qualified service staff for vehicle maintenance. Consequently, the availability of skilled workers is also a decisive factor for the economic development in these African countries: “The more quickly we can reduce the massive shortage of skilled workers in the motor vehicle branch, the more rapidly we will be able to expand the infrastructure, and improve the mobility”, said Malawi Minister of Labour and Vocational Training, Anna Kachikho. “We are very grateful that DaimlerChrysler and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit are supporting us in these tasks, enabling the qualification of skilled workers”, continued Kachikho.

After completing their apprenticeship at the , the graduates will repair vehicles of the Mercedes-Benz brand, as well as cars and trucks by other manufacturers. An element of the cooperation with the GTZ includes training that goes beyond company requirements. “What is important for us is that the entire automobile branch in and the adjacent countries benefit from this training program,” commented Dr. Wilfried Goertler from Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit. ” The DaimlerChrysler commitment enables us to build and maintain high quality training centres on a long-term basis. The cost-intensive repairs and maintenance of the sophisticated technical equipment could hardly be financed through government funds alone. The public-private partnership project creates a win-win situation, from which both government and private enterprise can benefit”, continued Gà¶rtler. GTZ is regularly commissioned for realisation of PPP projects by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.

DaimlerChrysler wants to go one step further. In order to secure servicing and repairing vehicles from the DaimlerChrysler Group in and to improve the level of training, DaimlerChrysler wants to develop a network of training centers in in the long term. Here the Group will continue the successful cooperation with the GTZ and is also targeting an alliance with other automobile manufacturers. The DaimlerChrysler Group operates other training centers for motor vehicle skilled staff in Africa: in South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria.