There is no shortage of bicycles in South Africa, but there is a dire shortage of qualified bicycle mechanics to service these bikes. Often people purchase bikes from mass retailers and discover that they have bought a dysfunctional tool that could discourage that person from continuing with cycling. Torq Zone Academy (TZA) has come up with an innovative way to address this skills shortage.
Paid partnership with Torq Zone Academy
Cycling will remain a growth sport in South Africa for a multitude of reasons. There is the aspirational desire to emulate heroes in the Tour de France and local events like the ABSA Cape Epic and the Cape Town Cycle Tour. There is a socio-economic necessity to use cycling as a reliable method of transport due to high costs of transport and the unreliability of public transport. Then there are those that view cycling as a leisure vehicle, a healthy way to spend a morning.
Torq Zone Academy (TZA) has come up with an innovative way to address the bicycle technician skills shortage by offering a six-month internship to train bicycle technicians against the internationally recognised, United Kingdom based Cytech technical scheme. The internship combines a theoretical programme that is combined with a six month practical internship where the technician will hone their academic skills in a workshop.
TZA has been running the programme for the last 10 years and has seen 500 technicians begin their careers in the cycling industry with one of their qualifications. The necessity to extend the programme into an internship is based on apprenticeship principles, you only become proficient in something if you work in an environment that promotes the practical application of that skill.
Torq Zone Academy Director, Graeme Stickells, is of the opinion that the internship will encourage employment and entrepreneurship. “Entry level bicycles are still complicated machines that need to be maintained on a regular basis, specifically in the poorer urban and rural areas where road infrastructure is poor. We are the only company in South Africa that operates under a Cytech licence, and in order to retain that licence we need to maintain a high level of technical excellence.”
TZA has now opened up its internship for corporate sponsorship under the skills development element of all black economic codes. Sponsorship will attract skills spend as well as unemployed people participating in internships. This sponsorship has also opened up the qualification to female technicians. The internship has opened up new employment opportunities for technicians with large sporting chains looking at bringing these technicians inhouse to set up and service the bicycles they sell.
For Stickells, this programme has extraordinary potential for entrepreneurship particularly in rural areas under TZA’s enterprise development acceleration programme.
Getting involved
Working in conjunction with RISE Training Academy, TZA has packaged the internship for BEE purposes. Each corporate sponsoring a technician will attract points under the Skills Development element with all documentation being provided. In addition, corporates are encouraged to make use of the services of these technicians for the cyclists in their company. This extends the internship into a supplier development relationship.
For more information, contact Paul Janisch 083 227-1375 or Rudolf Rautenbach 083 759-0374 or email info@ownershield.co.za
