From left to right is Mr Bill Nash (Southern Business School/UPS) with AMH Graduandi Ms Debra Fowler, Ms Simone van Niekerk, Ms Vivien McAvoy, Mr Gerhard van Heerden, Ms Teresa da Costa, Mr Sandro Raomanini, Mr Aarif Limalia and Mr Schalk Lubbe.
(Image supplied by AMH)
Our Students’ Success Stories … Amalgamated Motor Holdings!
By Manual de Canha – Chief Executive (AMH)
Amalgamated Motor Holdings (AMH) is an organisation that invests in the training of its staff and to this end we utilise literally thousands of man hours in technical and other training programmes annually. We did however realise that we had a need for additional broad based management development and thus turned to Southern Business School, a fully registered and accredited Private Higher Education Institution based in Johannesburg for assistance.
Our need for “broad based” management development (as opposed to training) flowed from two different and distinct desires. Firstly we realised that for AMH and its brands to be sustainable into the future, we would need top class general management and a strong pool of talent “waiting in the wings” to take on future challenges. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, we felt that it was our duty to offer development opportunities to our staff, and in so doing offer them a better and brighter future in our ever more competitive world.
And so it was some six years ago that a customised and subsidised three-year Bachelor of Business Administration programme designed to empower and educate our staff and management was launched. The Management Development Programme (MDP) covers a range of commercially oriented business subjects from Management and Marketing to Finance and Project Management. Made up of a total of 16 subjects the programme awards successful delegates with a fully registered and accredited Bachelor of Business Administration degree (BBA) at the end of three years of study.
Delegates attended two full days of interactive classes per month and in addition work on practical “Burning Issues” projects in syndicates. “Burning Issues” are challenges recognised as critical for the organisation’s sustainability. At the end of each year, syndicates have the opportunity to present their findings and recommendations to a panel made up of Directors and Southern Business School personnel.
We are proud of what we offer our staff! The MDP programme is open to all staff and management irrespective of position, colour, race or creed and fully subsidised by AMH. In fact, the only cost carried by a successful delegate is that of his/her textbooks – even refreshments and catering is sponsored!
We have had two sets of graduates from the programme and will, by the time you read this, have graduated our third set of alumni from the AMH Management Development Programme with 39 BBA degrees!
I do believe that the future of our country and indeed our business lies in improved education. In closing, I am reminded of a quote attributed to John Maxwell “I do today what others do not do, so that I can be tomorrow what others cannot be”. Each year across AMH we invite our staff to “do today what others do not do, so that they can be tomorrow what others cannot be”.
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