VW develops black dealer principals

VOLKSWAGEN SA has done its bit for transformation with the graduation of five candidates from its pilot dealer principal apprentice programme.

The programme was started four years ago with the aim of developing a talent pool of black dealer principals. The candidates completed a 30-month long programme that covered subjects such as retail business, finance, leadership and general management.

"The benchmarking and research that we conducted helped us to put together a comprehensive programme that resembled a mini- MBA," dealer development manager Haley Botha said. "We decided from the outset that our programme should provide much broader training than our current dealer principals received."

Three of the five candidates have already been promoted to dealer principal positions. This takes the number of black dealer principals in the VWSA dealer network to 17, and they are spread across 165 dealerships. One of the candidates, Marcia Mayaba – a dealer principal at VW Lindsay Saker Alberton – received a dealer of the year award in 2013.

Xolani Mkhwanazi and Ashley Gengiah are dealer principals at VW McCarthy Constantia and Audi Vereeniging respectively. – Herald Reporter