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The College of Cape Town received funding to assess, train and trade test section 28 artisans with 4 to5 years’ experience – at no cost to the employer – in the following trades:

30 – electricians

30 – welders

30 – fitters

30 – turners

Applications close on 5 April 2012.  Make contact with Mr Pat Lawrence (...

Industry often expresses concern about the serious gap between FET College education output and the skills need of industry.  As technology advances the gap will continue to increase and speculations about it will continue. Little has been done to address the problem thus far.

Two unique pilot projects where industry and government seek to make a difference, are addressing the alleged disconnect head on.

Peter Hurst and his team at AddedAsset have been driving our Trade and Export Development programme.  As part of this programme they have been running "export readiness diagnostics" with a number of members.  These are there followed up with a feedback session with the companies. We've been getting good feedback on the value that this process has been adding to the companies that have participated so far - congratulations to Peter and the team!  A quick note from Wolfgang at...

Welcome to the first edition of our new format Newsletter - I hope you will enjoy it.  It will come weekly and will include a roundup of the key news and events in the sector and at SAOGA.  We have also designed it to be used as a handy entry to information on our website as we recognise that many of our stakeholders find it easier to work from mail in their inbox than go to our website.

The development of entrepreneurs and small business remains a major contributor to job creation in South Africa.  Foreign direct investment is critical to the economy and also for local employment opportunities.  However, some quick wins for GDP growth, job retention and job creation can come from a far greater focus on export development.

Youth unemployment a threat to sustained economic growth

March is a busy month at SAOGA: finishing off the business planning process, getting ready for the annual audit, collating information for the reports we submit to funders and so on - the administrative stuff I'm sure we all grudgingly do in the process of keeping our organisations afloat to do the real work they are purposed to do.  Fortunately March also had a few significant events of consequence to the industry.