Japan and South Africa’s educational co-operation
apan imports over 90% of its natural resources, such as oil, natural gas and iron-ore, and 60% of its food. Trade with developing countries accounts for approximately 60% of imports and 40% of exports, making these nations indispensable partners for Japan.
Identified and fostered out of these partnerships is the need to develop African skills and the Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) is intrinsic to implementing Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Official Development Assistance (ODA) programmes, including the master’s degree and internship programme of the ABE Initiative.
In response to questions from the JICA’s chief representative, Hiroyuki Kinomoto, Komatsu Africa Holdings managing director, Mike Blom, explained his role as managing director and the southern African entity’s responsibility as the Komatsu distributor responsible for South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Madagascar and Mauritius and one of the entities involved in the internship programme.
“Our primary role is to grow the Komatsu business in our territory through machine sales and then provide full aftermarket support to our customers,” explained Blom.
“Working for a Japanese company has been an amazing experience and to have the responsibility to manage a Japanese company in South Africa has been fantastic. Komatsu has a deep-rooted DNA called “The Komatsu Way” that has been passed down through generations of Komatsu [employees] for almost 100 years, and it is a philosophy and a way of us doing business which I fully embrace.”
“Komatsu Africa Holdings has 99.5% local employees; however, our core corporate values are that of Komatsu, and “The Komatsu Way” is the value system we use to drive our people.
“In 1997, when Komatsu acquired the local company and established its own subsidiary, it was headed by a Japanese expat. Gradually the management and control was handed over to me as the first local managing director in 2008, and I have witnessed over the past 20 years Komatsu becoming a truly global company.”
“It is critical to have multinational companies operating in other countries, particularly in developing countries as the knowledge and skills that are injected into business over the long term are crucial for growth.
“I look back to 1997 when Komatsu first established its own company in South Africa. We have seen the growth of the company peak almost 11 times over 15 years and seen doubling of the direct employment of people, and contribution to the employment of several more people in associated businesses in southern Africa.
“I believe that as long as multinationals are using their resources to share knowledge, to develop people and businesses in other countries, their presence and contribution is essential.
“We have already had a significant number of our young artisans and other junior managers attend training in Japan and this has been a huge success. Not only are these employees gaining more skills, but for many of them it is their first and possibly only opportunity to visit a foreign, first-world country. The experience of seeing Japan, the culture and the work ethic has [had] a hugely positive impact on these young people.
Expat skills
“I embrace and encourage the injection of expat skills from the Japanese head office into our business to help transfer knowledge and know-how. Their contribution to our business can be measured by how many skilled local employees they leave behind when they return to the mother country.
“We were introduced to the ABE Initiative [African Business Education Initiative for the Youth] through Minister Shinichi Asazuma of the Japanese Embassy in South Africa in November 2013. I was extremely impressed with the initiative taken by the Japanese government, having recognised that the future growth of Africa would outstrip the availability of skilled businesspeople to lead business going forward.
“At the fifth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD V) held in Yokohama in 2013, Japan’s government stated its policy of promoting support for the ongoing dynamic growth of Africa with stronger public-private partnerships. This means that the future success of southern Africa and Africa as a continent will largely be dependent upon having skilled professional people to lead business and to take full advantage of the huge future opportunities that Africa has.
“I have been a very strong supporter of the ABE Initiative from the very first time I was introduced to it and recognised the contribution this initiative can make to business in our region. I truly hope the Japanese government through JICA feels justified by the success of the first 1 000 graduates, and extends this initiative for another five years or more.
“Africa must learn from Asia. Much of the success of these growing and strong economies has been driven by the strategic focus on education, from junior school education through to tertiary education. Education at all levels.”
Blom mentioned that the importance of human resource development is the most critical challenge facing the growth opportunities in Africa. If the ABE Initiative can inject 1 000 young, trained professionals into African economies, it will help the continent enormously.
He stressed the need, however, to ensure that these skills remain in Africa and are not targeted by other developed countries.
“Many first-world countries only look for the highly skilled people. On the one hand they talk about supporting Africa, and yet on the other headhunt and deplete our pool of skilled people,” he said. “I am pleased this has not been the case with Japan.”
Internship
“We were extremely privileged to have one of our employees, Corvin Brady, successfully join the ABE Initiative programme, as well as successfully completing his IMBA (one-year intensive MBA).
“We received wonderful support from our parent company which, once he had finished his IMBA at the International University of Japan, provided Brady with a sixmonth internship at our Komatsu Head Office.
“The ABE programme provided us with the opportunity to take a young African graduate and to develop his professional skills to a higher level. More importantly, the programme has provided Brady with additional knowledge and the experience of working in Japan with Komatsu. I feel he has had the opportunity to cultivate a strong network between Japan, Africa and people from other countries.
“T h e J a p a n e s e g o v e r n me n t , together with Komatsu, has invested in Brady’s future and I have no doubt that this will have a positive return for Africa. Our most important challenge is to ensure we retain him in the company, and more importantly, we retain him in our economy and do not lose him to another country,” concluded Blom.