Kyocera supports vocational skills

December 19, 2018

The OEM’s South African division recently hosted a graduation ceremony, following its support towards the Potters House Training Centre.

The company called technical and vocational skills “an important commodity in a skills-scarce environment like South Africa,” and stated that as time goes by, the skills will become “more coveted, due to increased automation and work being designed around technology.”

Access to university education is another challenge in the environment, with practical and focussed skills being seen as “a viable way to secure employment and increase household income.”

It is said that development programmes, such as learnerships, short courses, and workplace training, can play a part with breaking this “cycle of poverty.”

Kyocera South Africa’s General Manager, Werner Engelbrecht, explained: “Kyocera Document Solutions South Africa (KDZA) is part of this job evolution, with our hi-tech automation solutions. But no matter the level of automation and technological change, we’ll always need human technicians to fix and maintain our machines.”

It’s for these reasons that Kyocera partnered with vocational non-profit training provider Potters House Training Centre in Soweto twelve years ago, and it is also why the OEM has focused its responsibilities on upskilling disadvantaged people in concrete and vocational ways. In particular, KDZA supports the xerography training programme through the provision of equipment and consumables required for the training programme. This programme effectively equips students to repair office automation equipment and, on completion, students are able to enter the IT/office automation industry job market.

KDZA recently hosted its 12th Potters House Graduation ceremony, honouring 29 students. The top achiever award went to Bafana Solly Mathebula, and KDZA Software Product Manager Jean-Pierre Lourens was the guest speaker, who spoke about the future being what one makes of it. The graduates then toured the KDZA building and networked with the Kyocera team.

“I learnt so much about the copier industry, and gained invaluable ‘soft skills’, like time management and paying and attention to detail,” Solly Mathebula said.

“KDZA’s corporate social responsibility investment is a strategic one, tackling the facets of skills shortages in our industry, which in turn tackles community poverty,” explained Engelbrecht. “We hope to celebrate with our graduates for many years to come.”

Since the programme’s inception, around 240 young people from disadvantaged backgrounds have been through the training programme.