Two high quality, customised skills development programmes have been launched after UP and Toyota SA partnered to realise the shared dream of developing a special programme for the taxi industry. The Ses’fikile Programme on Management Principles and Practices is aimed at the executives in the respective taxi associations, and the Ses’fikile Office Management programme targets the office managers working at the taxi associations.

The two programmes were developed after identifying a need for taxi associations to be empowered with basic business and management skills in order to better contribute to their environments. The programmes will train 120 delegates across the country over the next three years, with training venues in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape and Free State.

Topics such as economic literacy, business management, people management, financial management and some leadership development are covered in the Ses’fikile Management Principles and Practices programme. The Ses’fikile Office Management programme develops professional communication skills, presentation skills, computer literacy and financial management, as well as project and event management. Both programmes focus on allowing delegates to apply practical self-management skills (and the management of others) as they participate in a never-before-seen leadership development experience.

The programmes are presented through Enterprises University of Pretoria (Pty) Ltd. Delegates who successfully complete a course and comply with the related assessment criteria will be awarded certificates by the University of Pretoria in recognition of their professional skills development goals.

Considering the importance of the role of the taxi industry in the national and global economic space, these programmes could not have come at a more opportune time.