Manufacturer partners institute to enhance workforce growth

To boost the growth of the skilled workforce, Daikin Middle East and Africa (MEA), manufacturer of air conditioning, heating, ventilation and refrigeration solutions, in partnership with a vocational, technical and entrepreneurship training institute, Field of Skills and Dream (FSD) has announced the opening of its second training centre in Nigeria.

Located in Lagos, FSD will facilitate the training of new technicians including theoretical and practical exercises across topics such as system installation, troubleshooting, maintenance and energy efficiency.

Vice President, Daikin MEA, Tuna Gulenc, at the unveiling of the training centre, expressed the firm’s commitment to serving the local market. As a part of Daikin’s localisation strategy, he said, the training centre aims to build a community of skilled workforce and equip them with necessary education required to excel in their career and contribute to Africa’s climate efforts by promoting sustainable cooling solutions.

Noting that Africa is a key market for Daikin and with Nigeria going through a rapid transformation, he said with the increase in climate change, the demand for air conditioners is on the rise even in Nigeria.

Emphasising that the demand comes at the price of its impact on the environment, hence, the realisation of promoting sustainable cooling practices could be met faster by educating the local market and its users.

He said the development centre in partnership with FSD in Nigeria would be an extension of the firm’s expertise and know-how to further build skills and knowledge in the market and promote best practices of sustainable cooling – an active contribution to the socio-economic development of Nigeria.

He said his organisation was proud to collaborate with FSD, which comes with a proven track record of training technicians and positively contributing to the betterment of Nigerian society for development and growth.

Director at Field of Skills and Dream, Omowale Ogunrinde, said: “The intervention of Daikin to upgrade FSD’s TVET skills development workshop for HVAC technicians could not have come at a better time than now, when we were expanding our training facilities to enable us to empower more young Nigerians with skills to access new jobs and start small businesses of their own.

“FSD has always said that there are jobs but no skilled people because we have a 100 per cent employment rate for our trainees. With the provision of modern and state-of-the-art HVAC training equipment by Daikin and up skilling the trainers at FSD, our goal of producing more technicians equipped with the requisite skills to deploy professional services in global cooling technology would be met across Nigeria.

“Daikin is striving hard for the people of Africa to provide access to better air quality and energy efficiency, while simultaneously strengthening service and aftermarket support. With a strong localisation strategy, Daikin’s focus is on sustainability, energy efficiency, Indoor Air Quality (IAQ), driving more awareness towards a healthy living environment.”