|
|
Namibia: Skills Shortage Bites Big Companies
 |
 |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
New Era (Windhoek)
25 July 2008
Posted to the web 25 July 2008
Desie Heita
Windhoek
Skills shortage is becoming a serious problem in Namibia, with dual-listed groups such as Nictus Group, saying they find it difficult to appoint qualified women and black people at management levels.
"It is difficult to get people with the right expertise and relevant background. They are just not available. This applies to women and to black people alike," said Group Managing Director, Nico Tromp.
A peak in the latest annual report of Nictus Group reveals sort-of a 'male only club' at both board level and executive committee and - it should be mentioned - no single black person either.
This is not a deliberate move but a matter of skill, says Tromp of Nictus Group that has existed in Namibia for more than four decades. Nictus is listed on both Johannesburg Securities and Namibian Stock exchange.
"The lack of skilled people in Namibia is visible. It is difficult, for instance, to find capable accountants," said Tromp.
In the previous financial year, the group had a lady at executive management level. When she left replacing her became difficult.
Wilmar Fourie, the Group Financial Manager, said the skills shortage is not only restricted to the executive level.
"It applies to all levels of the group from the top all the way down. We are struggling to find the correct people," said Fourie.
The group's mentoring programme, aimed at training and grooming young people for managerial level, is also under threat as people are snatched up by competition the moment they mature.
|
"Then we have to start over again, from scratch," said Fourie. At one time, says Tromp, one business unit had to increase its wage bill by almost 40 percent to keep the young people from leaving the group.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2008 New Era. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
