1. 2 WORDS IN ACTION | OCTOBER 2015
On the Move
AIDC celebrates first Incubation
Centre graduation
Transforming, localising and
modernising the local industrial
economy is said to be at
the fore-front of the City of
Tswane’s Automotive Industry
Development Centre (AIDC).
I
n partnership with the Ford Motor
Company of Southern Africa
(FMCSA), the AIDC recently held
an inaugural ceremony to celebrate
the graduation of the first incubatee
(student of the Incubation Centre)
in its Automotive Incubation Centre
Programme. Held at FMCSA’s
Silverton assembly plant, the
ceremony was used to also reflect
on the progress and goals of the
Incubation Centre through its first five
years.
According to AIDC’s marketing
production manager Mr Kosheek
Maharaj, the Incubation Centre
Programme, a joint conception of
FMCSA and AIDC, was established
as a training and development plan
to improve the skills and knowledge
of workers in the Incubation Centre.
The aim is to turn them into global
competitors.
Five companies were thus created
and allocated to aspiring black broad-
based economic empowerment
(B-BBEE) entrepreneurs who would
then supply to FMCSA’s production line, hence
also improving the production volume of FMCSA.
Each programme is set to run for five to seven
years, during which the B-BBEE entrepreneurs are
based at the Ford Silverton Incubation Centre and
provided with support services such as human
resources, financial and mentoring services.
Having commenced in 2011, the programme,
according to AIDC’s Executive Director of Industry
Development Mr Dineshan Moodley, has since
managed to encourage the development of new
businesses within the local setting. It has also
managed to provide clients with educational
assistance and form a collaboration between
government and the private sector.
Mr Caiphus Mokotedi, who owns
the sequencing and logistic services
company Zig Enterprise, became
the first graduate of the programme.
According Moodley, Mokeotedi
met the minimum criteria required
to graduate in the programme and
has now been released to operate
independently.
In his speech at the ceremony,
Moodley further noted that the
Incubation Centre is the first of its kind
in the world. “This a live production
incubator and there has never been
anything like it,” he said. According
to him, there are only a handful of
black-owned businesses within the
automotive industry. Through the
Incubation Centre, the AIDC aims to
encourage black entrepreneurs by
specifically reducing entry barriers.
Also speaking at the ceremony,
president and CEO of Ford Motor
Company Sub Saharan Africa Region
Mr Jeff Nemeth reiterated that the
Incubation Centre is the first and only
one of its kind even within the Ford
automotive company. According to
him, the centre is a perfect example of
government working together with the
private sector to grow the economy.
Nemeth further explained that the
Incubation Centre is “a perfectly
defined B-BBEE initiative”, as it
develops entirely black-owned entities
and helps to develop small businesses. According
to him, Mokotedi’s graduation is a proof of the
programme’s success.
During his key note address, Tswane MEC for
Economic, Environment, Agriculture and Rural
Development Mr Lebogang Maile expressed
government’s commitment to continue working
with the private sector to grow and transform the
country’s economy.
“The Incubation Centre is the perfect
example of a public-private partnership and
I hope the relationship would grow bigger
and stronger,” he said.
➲ President and CEO of Ford Sub Saharan Africa Region
Mr Jeff Nemeth, Gauteng’s MEC for Economic, Environment,
Agriculture and Rural Development Mr Lebogang Maile,
Incubatee Graduate Mr Caiphus Mokotedi and Chairperson
of the City of Tswane’s Economic Development and City
Planning Oversight Committee Cllr Aaron Maluleka
➲ AIDC’s Executive Director of Industry Development
Mr Dineshan Moodley, President and CEO of Ford Sub
Saharan Africa Region Mr Jeff Nemeth, Gauteng’s
MEC for Economic, Environment, Agriculture and Rural
Development Mr Lebogang Maile and Chairperson of the
City of Tswane’s Economic Development and City Planning
Oversight Committee Cllr Aaron Maluleka
➲ Incubatee Graduate
Mr Caiphus Mokotedi