• HRM
• Consultancy
• South Africa

Human Capital Management and Skills Developement trade mission

The Dutch participants toasting on the success of their mission

South Africa has experienced a transformation during the last 12-years to rebuild a nation and improve the ability to compete within business. A problem, which slows down the economic growth, is the lack of skills of employees. The government is committed to deal with this and gave development priority. The South African Government launched a broad Human Resource Development Strategy for 2005-2010, the Joint Initiative on Priority Skills Acquisition (JIPSA).

JIPSA is part of the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa where the SA government identified six issues, which obstruct economic growth. JIPSA focuses on one of these issues, the lack of skills. Strategies to deal with this problem contain special training programmes, bringing South Africans who live abroad back, making use of retired workers and import immigrants where needed.

Why this trip?

South Africa welcomes global HRM experts from the rest of the world to visit South Africa and think about the role they can play developing the economic growth of South Africa and the rest of Southern Africa. Especially helping in managing big infra structural projects like the world cup soccer 2010. External HR professionals and personnel experts will be able to contribute in finding answers using their practical knowledge and experience. These skills will be used to implement skills exchange programmes and learning projects to all South Africans. Special interest we have in retired experts and students with a HR or business degree or almost graduates who are willing to participate in projects in South Africa.

Goal of the mission.

The goal of the mission was for development purposes of the participants and to give potential investors in knowledge and finances an insight in the complex but very interesting Human Resource Management culture. Participants can also present themselves and their companies to the African Leadership Group regarding participation in various interesting and sustainable projects of this organisation. The ALG will participate during this mission. On the Human Resource Development Africa convention (HRDA) participants can network with HR specialist from all over Africa.

Human Capital Management and Skills Development Trade Mission Report-back

At the first Human Capital Management and Skills Development Trade Mission, Marc Habets and OAVM Organisation & Consultancy in alliance with SANEC, Netherlands and SANEC, South Africa took delegates on a journey of leadership development and the effectiveness of human capital in South African companies.

Cape Town, June 2, 2007 was the start of a long awaited initiative and collaberation between the Netherlands and South Africa. This collaberation was witnessed and experienced by OAVM and SANEC in the Netherlands and SANEC,  South Africa.

The trip commenced with a trip to Morgenhof Winery then proceeded to  Stellenbosch, site visits and presentations at WESGRO, MTN, Netcare, SAB Miller, Hollard Insurance, Standard Bank and the HRDA Exhibition at Callagher Estate in Midrand.

The delegation was introduced to local South African business partners at the match-making meetings in Cape Town and Johannesburg. Workshops conducted by Terry Meyer gave perspectives in learnerships and the building blocks of human capital from the South African perspective.

The site visits to various organisations shared their experiences and insight of building a talent pipeline, and the importance that investment in human capital development has brought  to them in terms of talent management. 

Tery Meyer debating with Marc Habets Managing Director of OAVM during the HR session ath the Hilton Hotel in Sandton

Eric Mafuna, HR guru and Chairman of the African Leadership Group  enabled us to see that leaders are grown not born. From the seeds they sow, for the initiative that has been taken, and the vision of a new way of African Leadership. We were able to witness first hand the energy, inspiration and toil that is being invested in making his vision real and sharing that vision with all of us. This engaging presentation and discussion raised many thoughts as to how we identify leaders, build leaders and develop effective leadership processes in our organisation. These workshops were welcomed and appreciated by all.

There was also a visit to the Human Resources Development Africa exhibition, one of the biggest HR exhibitions in South Africa. It was interesting to see what South Africa had offer and what the needs were on Human Resource Management issues.

Gathering knowledge and in-sight was not the only vehicle during this mission. The organized match-making sessions and the informal contacts proved to be successful. The relations that were established through this mission holds the key to unleash Africa's treasures.

The results in one week were overwhelming. The tone of this mission was engaging, high spirited with a high level of discussion and questioning. In many respects it provided a true opportunity to open ones mind to seeing and doing things differently.

OAVM and SANEC in alliance are planning to give this trade mission a more structural character. Human Capital and Skills Development are important issues with every business transaction, especially in South Africa. Other African countries could benefit from this concept as well.

The goal for this mission has been accomplished. We are committed to the realisation that human potential has a ripple-effect in every aspect of business.  The mission ended in Johannesburg on June 9, 2007, but the dialogue has only just begun.

A cockail was offered by the Dutch Consulate in Cape Town on Tuesday to the Dutch delegation during their last night in Cape Town