Addressing the everincreasing skills gap in the African logistics landscape is going to require a change in tactic when it comes to training and skills development. Industry role-players are in agreement that more practical training is required and that far more needs to be done to prepare young logisticians for the reality of working in the African environment. Said one stakeholder “The gap is so big that it is impossible to fill; I don’t feel that the Sector Education Training Authority (Seta) is doing enough. A person cannot walk in from the street and do clearing and forwarding sales – it just won’t work.” Another commentator said more often than not graduates who enter the workplace have unrealistic expectations and want to walk into a position as a general manager. Learning the ropes is essential, says Lars Greiner of Greiner Mendi Associates, as practice does make perfect. “The problems we face in terms of skills are quite complex. Questions have been raised around the standard of training in Southern Africa and how this compares to international standards,” he says. “The other issue is practical experience. In Africa, where logistics very rarely runs smoothly, textbook knowledge is never going to be sufficient and one needs people to learn from the bottom and work their way to management level gaining valuable practical problemsolving knowledge.” Furthermore there is very little, if any, real monitoring of companies to ensure they are competent and qualified to handle work. “And this spans the industry,” says Greiner. “There are no real requirements and standards in place to guide logistics operators and at the same time there is very little monitoring to ensure that the companies operating on the continent are suitably qualified for the work they are taking on.” According to ongoing research by the University of Johannesburg, as well as the annual State of Logistics Survey undertaken by the CSIR and the University of Stellenbosch, the supply chain skills gap is constantly increasing. Especially tactical and strategic level positions are near-impossible to fill. Ultimately this impairs the country’s logistical performance impacting on competitiveness in the global market. Greiner believes one way of addressing it is to look at training in the country. “We need to place more emphasis on practical training and we need to look at the level of our training in comparison to the rest of the world. We also need to ensure we have experts in the field of the international trade itself in our training environments, as very often it is in understanding the trade itself, where the logistics provider falls short, he said." INSERT & CAPTION Questions have been raised around the standard of training in Southern Africa. – Lars Greiner
