First Car Care College continues to up-skill unemployed youth in the Western Cape

A collaborative training initiative run by the Western Cape based group of STi (Service through Integrity) Auto body Repairers is continuing to make a real difference in the lives of local unemployed youth through its industry owned and managed First Car Care College in Paarden Island, Cape Town.

 

Founded in 2006 by STi members with the support of Mutual & Federal, the STi Group members, BASF and a number of other players in the autobody repair industry, First Car Care College supports socio-economic upliftment initiatives for previously disadvantaged communities, and is a fully fledged registered and accredited private Further Education and Training (FET) College. An industry-first initiative, the College focuses entirely on the training of spray painters and panel beaters for the auto body repair industry and provides bursaries to learners from surrounding areas who normally would not have the financial means to access further training and education.

 

"When we initially started the College we offered learners bursaries to attend accredited NQF level 2 spray painting courses, but the demand was such that we have now expanded our offering to include panel beating. Learners now have the opportunity to attain an NQF level 4 qualification in either of these areas which officially qualifies them as artisans and allows them access to employment within the industry,” explains Theo von Solms, Executive Chairman of the Sti group.

 

From an initial intake of 23 learners, the College has grown to the extent that it has relocated from its previous location in Goodwood to larger, high-tech premises in Paarden Island and currently has the capacity to accommodate 60 learners and 60 apprenticeships.

 

"We are extremely proud of our achievements to date and in particular the fact that we have managed to achieve a major shift in the demographics of our student ratios with even greater numbers of black females entering our trades. The latest group of panel beating learners is comprised entirely of black females who have demonstrated an extremely high work ethic and a great attention to detail in terms of the quality of their work,” says von Solms.

 

As a franchise group of independently owned motor repair workshops, the STi Group supports the project financially by providing facilities for practical training as well as employment opportunities and is otherwise almost entirely reliant on private sponsorship to fund the bursaries provided to its students. "Coming from impoverished communities, the learners do not have the means to fund their studies and while we were initially assisted with funding by government this has since dried up as all funding is now directed solely to public FETs - as a private FET college we unfortunately do not qualify,” comments von Solms.

 

With great success being achieved by this initiative to produce top-notch spray painters and panel beaters, Mutual & Federal has shown its support for the First Car Care College by funding unemployed learnership grants. Some 21 learners benefitted from support received from Mutual & Federal in 2012.

 

A total of 267 learners have qualified on various levels of the National Qualification framework with First Car Care College since inception in 2006. In June 2012, the college graduated its first 15 learners to complete NQF level 4 on spray painting nationally. In June 2013, the college not only graduated its first nine students on NQF level 4 panel beating nationally, but also boasted that it was the first all-female class to achieve this goal.

 

"South Africa is desperate for skilled artisans. There is also a need for artisans who operate in local communities”, says Laurien Comyn, Head of Business Responsibility at Mutual & Federal. "This project not only serves to provide the youth with the opportunity to learn a trade and find employment but it is also doing much to up skill young women and open the door to enter a profession and industry that traditionally has not been seen as a viable option for them,” she continues.

 

Mutual & Federal has been involved in this initiative from the beginning. To date, it has provided the opportunity for 145 learners through its funding of this skills development initiative.

 

"It is extremely gratifying knowing that we have contributed towards training artisans in communities where there are otherwise little or no career prospects.”

 

"This is an initiative that is continuing to make a measurable contribution to the social upliftment of these communities and we are proud to be associated with it,” Comyn concludes.

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CONTACT INFORMATION: 

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