The repositioning of the Fibre Processing and Manufacturing Sector Education and Training Authority (FP&M Seta) and its business processes will ensure improved performance in reaching strategic targets and in providing customer service.

This is according to FP&M Seta CEO Felleng Yende, who adds that the repositioning process began with the approval of the new business model for implementation in March 2014, which is expected to be completed in March 2015.

Following the amalgamation of the clothing. textiles, footwear and leather Seta, the forest industry Seta; and the media, advertising, publishing, printing and packaging Seta in 2011, efforts were made to combine previous staffing and operational structures into one consolidated organisation, while the FP&M Seta continued as a separate Seta.

Yende says that while the organisation performed reasonably well during its first two years, it had failed to establish itself as a credible skills development partner to the FP&M sector owing to a perceived lack of customer service and inefficient management of mandatory and discretionary grant disbursements.

Yende says she was appointed as CEO by the FP&M board in May “to steer the organisation in a different direction through result-driven leadership”, adding that she is also tasked to improve the organisation’s performance and restore its reputation among stakeholders.”

Her first task was to develop and implement an innovative business model to improve organisational performance through high-performing staff, meticulous planning and professional execution of strategic projects, including the requisite risk-management measures.

A further priority was to build and strengthen relationships with stakeholders across all subsectors of the FP&M Seta to restore their confidence in the training authority.

The implementation of the business model requires some restructuring of the current organisation to fully capitalise on the available human resources, as well as the redesign of in-house processes to enhance service delivery to Seta stakeholders.

The FP&M has also undertaken a rebranding strategy, which includes the development of a new corporate identity and extensive promotion of the FP&M Seta using various media.

“The repositioning will have a positive impact on stakeholder relationships, and the expected improvement in performance by the FP&M Seta will have a positive impact on discretionary grant beneficiaries, as well as the communities they come from or operate in,” Yende states.

Based on their experience and expertise in human resource development, industrial and labour relations, and financial management, members of the FP&M board and advisory committees will assist with the repositioning by advising the FP&M Seta’s executive management.

The FP&M Seta aims to address the critical and scarce skills required in the FP&M sector through a consolidated skills development approach to support the capacity of the sector so that it can become economically sustainable and globally competitive.

Yende explains that the FP&M Seta is mandated to facilitate skills development in the subsectors such as clothing, footwear, forestry, furniture, general goods, leather, packaging, printing, print media, publishing, pulp and paper, textiles and wood products.