TRIPLE E TRAINING HOLDINGS

LATEST NEWS

TRIPLE e TURNS TRIPLE FIVE

National ABET provider Triple e Training Holdings (Pty) Ltd turns fifteen this year and HR future acknowledges their contribution to the development of the country's human capital over the past one and a half decades.

AS ONE OF THE TOP FIVE ADULT BASIC EDUCATION AND TRAINING (ABET) LEARNERSHIP AND FET PROVIDERS IN SOUTH AFRICA - TRIPLE E TRAINING IS ENGAGED IN MEETING THE ABET NEEDS OF EMPLOYEES IN COMPANIES ACROSS A VAST NUMBER OF SECTORS, INCLUDING MINING, STEEL, CHEMICAL AND AGRICULTURAL COMPANIES, AND ON A NATIONAL BASIS.

The company was originally established back in 1991 as Innovative Training Consultants by Joe Clack, Sharon Blignaut and Lance Clack, as a small company who focused on the delivery of what was then known as literacy training. In January 1994, Triple e Training was established and they launched their first National Literacy project with Amalgamated Retail (Currently Reliant Retail) with more than 350 branches nationally.

"It's an honour to earn an income from something that changes people's lives." Lance Clack MD, Triple E Training

The company, which now incorporates Wrap Training, established by Paula Whitaker and Roseanne Swart, has since delivered Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) to more than 600 companies throughout South Africa. With 36 permanent staff and about 400 facilitators on a national basis, and depending on the number of projects that are running at any given time, the company also delivers to a large spectrum of industries, no matter what the size of the project or company.

Over the past years, Triple e Training has gained valuable experience in the launch of various projects, project planning, union negotiations, motivation sessions and shift planning. The company has also handled successful customizations, have been called in to fix 'broken projects" and also currently manages projects which range from single learner projects to complex national projects.

STRATEGY

According to Clack who is now MD of Triple E, says that our company does not go for a "quick buck" approach but instead we consider the residual worth of every customer as it successfully builds long term relationships based on policies that demonstrate respect for customers, learners, employees, suppliers and the communities in which the company does it's business.

The aim of the company is to equip learners for life within the social, economic and academic societies in which they function. Learners are encouraged to identify their own abilities and are awarded recognition for their knowledge and experience they already own and bring to the learning situation.

Apart from being committed to developing learners in client companies, the cornerstone of the company's approach is ideally the development of its very own employees (most of who have been with the company for five years or longer) as well as its contract workers.

FACILITATORS

A key factor in the company's success is the use of its outsourced facilitators from an extensive national database of qualified facilitators who have gone through a stringent assessment and selection process. Those who have made the grade sign agency agreements with the company and then tender for as and when projects become available in their areas. Different facilitator options are utilized, which includes class based facilitation, tutoring and a number of other flexible options. Facilitators, who are contracted on the basis of performance contracts, are competent to cope with combined levels, which increases cost effectiveness.

NUTS AND BOLTS

Proven tried and tested administrative systems have been put in place to support each project - Account managers then serve as individual contact for each client company. Some account managers are capable of handling up to 40 accounts at one given time. We have four account managers based in Gauteng, three in Port Elizabeth, two in Cape Town and one in East London. The account managers effectively run the contracts - through approving facilitators to maintaining valuable relationships with all our customers. No matter what the query might be, said Clack, whether it is about invoicing through programming, the client essentially only deals with the account managers.

Regional managers are based in Cape Town and Port Elizabeth, with project managers in East London and Durban, whilst all our marketing for our Durban office is handled from the Gauteng offices.

The Company also maintains ongoing relations with significant role players such as the Department of Labour and the Department of Education.

LEARNER MATERIAL

All the material used by the company has been written in accordance with the latest SAQA registered ABET unit standards and other criteria. It has been designed by South Africans for South Africans and is customized in accordance with learners' needs. Learners are supplied with a comprehensive all-in-one workbook which enables them to achieve measurable outcomes.

The material builds learners' skills to cope with assessment criteria and is designed to ensure eventual progression of learners to higher education, and training opportunities. This, together with the overall comprehensive approach of our company, has successfully resulted in sustained national pass rates in excess of 99%.

HELPING THE COMMUNITY

Clack says that the company has traditionally sourced data captures from the community, but recently took this one step further when they realized that there was even greater potential by involving disabled people in this activity too. This exercise has led us to approaching the West Rand Association for the Physically Disabled and to involve the association's members. Our company has installed computers along with relevant connectivity and is in the process of training physically disabled people to capture data for them. Clack points out that this has been a wonderful opportunity to include and empower these people too and to also give them the opportunity to gain valuable exposure to computers and the Internet, in so doing, to give them an opportunity to earn some income for adding their contributable values in society.

EMPOWERMENT

Empowerment has been an important and integral part of our company's vision - In this instance two people namely - Tamara Nqgase and Samson Baloyi, have moved their way up through the ranks of the company - we have been very impressed with their unwavering commitment and their vast potential. They originally started with our company at a fairly low level (rank) but quickly proved that they had the desire to continually improve themselves, their work experiences and their skills. Negotiations are currently underway to sell a portion of the company to them.

With regard to BBBEE status, our company has set a target of 65 for this year - we have already achieved a phenomenal score of 66,36 - essentially placing us at a level four contributor to BEE.

Triple e Training has been built as a result of a great passion and desire to see other people in all walks of life that have previously been denied the opportunities to acquire basic literacy as well as other skills acquire - HR Future wishes them well in the years that lie ahead!

Triple e's ABET training essentially aims to provide a concrete stepping stone for learners to higher education and training, as well as to business opportunities.