subject: Creating Jobs And Training In West African Countries [print this page] Mentoring and providing job opportunities gives people in emerging markets the opportunity to provide for their families. A company that specializes in building power stations and providing quality diesel generators wants to empower people of impoverished nations through creating jobs and providing education.
In Africa, half of a worker's paycheck goes to his or her father while the other half is divided equally among his or her siblings.
"So with every single person we hire, typically, at least 25 people are provided for through this paycheck," says the energy solutions provider CEO Will Gruver.
Being able to make a substantial difference in the community is "really rewarding for us," Gruver says. That is why at the end of each week, the company hands out bags of rice and makes other charitable donations to the people.
This year alone, the company who is currently constructing a three-phase power plant in Guinea and operating a power plant in Sierra Leone, has created roughly 350 jobs in those nations.
When hiring people in these West African countries, Gruver says it's important to look for excellence.
"A lot of times it has nothing to do with their resume," he says. "It has nothing to do with their formal training. It has everything to do with their heart, their willingness to give it what they've got, to engage to be a team player and then when we find them, we like to pay them well."
In addition to great compensation, employees-- that are engaged and add value to the company-- receive training opportunities.
The premier supplier of diesel generators and power plant solutions has a four-year training program that offers a mechanical and engineering track. Strengths are identified and deserving employees are put through the appropriate track, which eventually, makes them eligible to advance within the company. Those employees chosen to receive training must complete and pass online testing and participate in outside training at a factory. This year, Gruver will be sending four key employees from Africa to Korea for a month to attend training at Hyundai.
"Ideally, we bring them into our family of business so we can cross train them in other countries, so we have men and women from Zambia, Botswana, Kenya, South Africa, Mozambique, Ghana, Liberia and other countries all working in Sierra Leone," Gruver says. "We feel like it's an opportunity for us to build a tighter more cohesive team of highly-trained professional engineers who can support us where we work."
