German sports car manufacturer Porsche will, from the middle of this year, train 75 young South Africans from disadvantaged backgrounds as service technicians at its new Porsche Training and Recruitment Centre, in Cape Town.

The course has a duration of three years. Those who complete the course may have the opportunity to work at Porsche South Africa (SA), or at one of its sister brands within the Volkswagen group, such as Audi or Volkswagen.

This project is being organised in association with German nongovernmental organisation Don Bosco Mondo, together with its Don Bosco Salesian Institute Youth Projects (SIYP), in Cape Town, and the Porsche importer in South Africa, LSM Distributors.

Porsche executive board chair Oliver Blume says Porsche’s global success encourages the group to “exercise social responsibility”. Porsche expected to post another record sales performance in 2016.

The company does not want to disclose the value of its education investment in South Africa, as it is not “calculating the value of a business case”, he notes.

Blume believes the training centre will provide Porsche SA with the skills it needs to deal with an ever-evolving product portfolio, which now incorporates electric drive and growing digitisation.

South Africa will be only the second country in the world to open a Porsche Training and Recruitment Centre, with the first located in Manila, the capital of the Philippines.

More than 120 young Filipinos each year receive training at the centre for after-sales jobs at Porsche, Volkswagen or Audi, in collaboration with Don Bosco Mondo.

“Our resoundingly positive experiences in Manila have encouraged us to expand this successful model to South Africa,” says Blume.

Porsche SA and LSM Distributors CEO Toby Venter says his company is happy to support the skills initiative, as South Africa’s youth requires “tangible and sustainable career prospects”. “The key to success is a solid education with career growth potential.”

He believes Porsche SA has the growth trajectory to support a number of newly trained technicians from Cape Town. Porsche sales in South Africa numbered 27 units in 1995, and were expected to grow to what would be more than 1 400 units last year.

Porsche is currently developing curricula and examination regulations, as well as training instructors, and equipping theoretical and practical lecture areas at the Don Bosco SIYP, in Cape Town, in preparation for the launch.

LSM Distributors will act as a central interface on site, with its technical manager assisting with the training of the instructors on a regular basis.

The aim is for Don Bosco to take over the service mechatronic training programme from 2020 and for the Porsche training project to extend beyond the original three years currently earmarked for the project.

There are three different routes to the training programme, depending on the applicant’s qualifications.

If an applicant is already sufficiently qualified for vocational training, he or she can access the two-year service mechatronic training programme directly.

Any applicants who do not have the required qualifications can complete a six- to eight-week life skills training course at the Don Bosco SIYP.

If an applicant lacks basic skills, he or she will be given the opportunity to complete a year-long vocational course to prepare them for the working world. This option will be available to up to 50 people a year.