Towards its goals of inclusion and providing optimum conditions for growth of talent, ACTOM is proud to be able to provide employees with career advancement opportunities and those who previously did not have access to such opportunities are now provided for.
The Group operates three apprenticeship training centres for all divisions and business units. Faisal Hoosen, Divisional CEO of the Medium Voltage and Protection division fondly recalls his journey with ACTOM, which began with his P1 and P2 engineering practical modules.
“I had just finished studying Mechanical Engineering at the University of Johannesburg and I was looking for the practical experience essential to the completion of my course. It is an interesting story, but I guess you could say that I knocked on the right door at the right time and I joined, what was ALSTOM at the time, in June 1999.”
Faisal completed his engineering diploma and started with the company as a Production Engineer responsible for Low Voltage Switchgear. He was hungry to learn, in what proved to be highly customized and configured products, and quickly supplemented his mechanical design experience with the electrical engineering requirements of the business. He then became Technical Manager overlooking industrial, electrical and mechanical engineers before taking up the role of Product Manager for Low Voltage Switchgear and Metering when his long-time mentor Paul Lepora moved to the Electrical Machines business. After a short period outside the Group, in which he became very involved in the incubation and development of new businesses, he returned as the General Manager of the Protection & Control business in 2015, a position which he has held until his current promotion in August 2020.
“I literally started at Knights on the factory floor and in field installations which helped me understand the intricacies of the job and gave me a unique perspective on the incredible value our skilled workforce makes to our business. Many opportunities within the Group have kept me here and I feel I owe it to our upcoming talent to make some new journeys possible. Over the years I have been fortunate enough to also mentor others and I hope that even if people move on from ACTOM, we continue to live up to our responsibility of adding to the pool of skilled people in this country.” said Faisal.
ACTOM actively encourages mentorship programmes to further enhance skills throughout the Group and this, together with focused succession planning has resulted in valuable skills transfer and successful business continuity.
Gladstone Mbili, General Manager of John Thompson’s Utility Boilers and Environmental Solutions joined John Thompson in September 2018 in a business development and stakeholder management role. This was vastly different to his previous positions that were very much engineering focused. He gained his extensive experience with Eskom, Sasol and General Electric with jobs ranging from Laboratory Technician to Head of Engineering for Sub-Saharan Africa.
“After a technical career that spanned just more than 20 years, I was ready for a change and I wanted to learn more about the business side of business. I was introduced to tenders, contracts, pricing and the delicate task of community stakeholder engagement, all of which fascinated and challenged me – exactly what I was looking for,” said Gladstone.
Six months after starting with John Thompson, Gladstone was appointed as the General Manager designate and had the opportunity of working with Tobie Jansen for a year.
“I was so grateful for the opportunity to work with Tobie. I felt supported by all levels of staff right from day one. We employ such experienced people within the Group and to be able to tap into that knowledge and to build on their relationships with customers and their connections with industry influencers is invaluable,” added Gladstone.
In April 2020 Gladstone officially took over as General Manager of John Thompson’s Utility Boilers and Environmental Solutions business unit, a smooth transition that he attributes to the hands-on mentorship he received.
“As a Group we understand our responsibility as an employer, and we are committed to the sustainable transfer of skills as well as relevant and empowering education and training.
By providing opportunities for people to empower themselves we hope that they will empower others within the communities in which they live and, in this way, ultimately address the legacy issues in our country,” said Mervyn Naidoo, ACTOM CEO.
As part of this empowering policy, it is important to regularly review progress with regards to the implementation of employment equity within the group. An analysis of statistics for the past 10 years indicates notable results:
l A 3% increase in the total number of African, Coloured and Indian people employed
l An increase of 18% in the number of African, Coloured and Indian people appointed to senior and top management positions
l The appointment of 120 disabled persons within our business of which 87% of these people are African, Coloured or Indian
l 46% of ACTOM’s employees are female
“These comparisons show further advances in employment equity and we will continue to assess the equity mix and align to regulatory requirements aimed at achieving a true representation of the demographics of South Africa,” said Mervyn Naidoo.
ACTOM retained its B-BBEE Level 1 accreditation having been evaluated by SANAS accredited Honeycomb BEE Ratings, using the Amended Codes of Good Practice, Gazette number 36928, on Broad Based Black EconomicEmpowerment for large enterprises at the end of November 2020. ACTOM achieved the following:
l B-BBEE Contribution: Level 1
l Procurement Recognition Level: 135%
l Empowering Supplier
l 52.91% Black Owned and 31.97% Black Women Owned.
@FaisalHoosen @GladstoneMbili