Home / ASSEMBLY PLANTS / Volkswagen Moves to Empower Black-Owned Suppliers, Launches Ntinga Project
From left: Takalani Tambani, Chief Director of the DTI’s black industrialists programme; Nonkqubela Maliza, VWSA Corporate and Government Affairs Director and Thomas Schaefer, VWSA Chairman/Managing Director, at the launch of the Ntinga Project in Uitenhage on Thursday (Photo: QuickPic)

Volkswagen Moves to Empower Black-Owned Suppliers, Launches Ntinga Project

Volkswagen Group South Africa (VWSA) Thursday moved ahead in its bid to empower black-owned suppliers and extend its assistance to strategically align them in the country’s automotive sector by launching the Ntinga Project. The project, launched in Uitenhage, followed the successful VWSA Black-Owned Supplier’s Day held in 2016.

Ntinga is an isiXhosa word meaning to soar and by offering business mentorship and training to up-and-coming suppliers, Volkswagen hopes they will rise to great heights in the automotive sector and beyond.

Already,10 finalists have been chosen for the project and they will be mentored and coached over the next month by existing VWSA Suppliers. The end goal of this coaching is for the suppliers to successfully present their business plan to a panel of judges on November 29 where five winners will be chosen. These five winners will then embark on an 18-month intensive business-based mentoring and coaching programme.  

“As Volkswagen, we are committed to developing and supporting black-owned suppliers and I am happy to announce that should these five suppliers complete the 18-month programme successfully, they will be offered contracts with VWSA,” said Thomas Schaefer, VWSA Chairman and Managing Director.

The mentoring and coaching given during the 18-month programme will be conducted by the VWSA Learning Academy, VWSA B-BBEE Trust, ASCCI and other VWSA divisions to make sure that the five suppliers receive a wide range of skills that will make them successful at the end of the 18 months.

“It is imperative that we as VWSA actively bring black-owned suppliers into an arena where they are able to successfully compete and operate as automotive industry suppliers,” Schaefer said.

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