Mr Rashid Adjei Laryea and Mr Enoch Wilson of the Accra and Kumasi branches, respectively grabbed the prize for winning the number one slot for the General Technicians and Parts Advisors’ categories—the two categories in the contest.

Apart from travelling to Japan in the world contest, they also received a GH? 4,500- cheque and gift vouchers.

The competition

The contest is an annual competition to develop the skill and proficiency standard of the company’s technicians and customer service personnel.

The company has been organising the competition since 2008 and the winners are taken to Japan to participate in the Global Toyota Champions Assembly.

Other winners

In the service category, while the second prize went to Mutaru Abdul-Rahman, Elorm Kwaku Edekor took the third spot. Emmanuel Danso and Edmund Appiah, placed second and third respectively for the general technician category.

At the awards ceremony, the Managing Director of Toyota Ghana, Mr Takuya Kajiura, said: “We believe that human resource is the most important asset of the company, and every effort to improve staff skills is important to us.”

“We pride ourselves on the quality of staff we have. We also share a similar view with Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) that irrespective of the staff skill level, there is the possibility of improvement,” he added.

He took the opportunity to announce the latest award in the company’s trophy cabinet, saying: “As a result of collective efforts by the staff and the spirit of continuous improvement, Toyota Ghana has received Outstanding Customer Service Award from TMC.”

 This is the fifth continuous time that Toyota Ghana has received the award. It is the only company in sub-Saharan Africa to pick the award five consecutive times.

Internship opportunity

With Toyota Ghana opening its doors to students and products of the National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI) for employment and internship, the Chief Director of the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations, Mr Sammy-Longman Attakuma, urged other companies in the auto sector to offer more students the opportunity for attachment programmes.

He said the NVTI had several programmes aimed at building the competencies and skills of young people, including apprenticeship, master craftsmanship, testing and career development.

In the speech read on his behalf by the Assistant Director of the ministry in charge of Policy and Evaluation, Mr Ernest Berko, the Chief Director said studies had shown that technological changes had increased skill demand and had both supported and required new work practices in order to increase productivity.

“This skills contest becomes imperative as we now live in a fast paced world where we need to improve our skills to meet emerging trends.

“It is worth noting that Toyota Ghana has not only provide the best vehicles robust enough to stand our terrain but has also gone a step further to satisfy its customers by training staff to provide quality service,” he stated.