/translated from the original text in DK, source and link below
The Danish-Polish Eryk Group utilises the business promotion campaign to Poland to secure a deal that ensures vocational training for African youth in collaboration with Skive College.
Jens-Christian Møller practically rolls out the red carpet when Denmark’s business promotion campaign to Poland takes place at the end of January. And, in fact, that red carpet can be extended all the way to Africa because the business promotion campaign strengthened by H.M. The King od Denmark, Frederik X, serves as a catalyst for a special mission for Eryk Group’s CEO and co-founder.
For over 20 years, Jens-Christian Møller, alongside with his wife and daughter, has built up Eryk Group based in the port city of Szczecin. The company has subsidiaries in Poland, Denmark, and Nigeria, employing over 300 workers, the majority being engineers, programmers, and service technicians, who travel worldwide for the installation and commissioning of production equipment for various customers.
The growth has heightened the need to recruit competent employees, leading him to offer apprenticeships to young people from Nigeria as electricians.
This effort becomes more formalised during the business promotion capaign, when Eryk Group’s CEO signs a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the vocational education programs at Skive College and the local Maritime University of Szczecin for an English-language education program in electrical works. Eryk will provide the apprentices with practical training while the two educational institutions handle the theoretical aspects.
“This is an international education open to all nationalities. Eryk, since 2017, has been collaborating with technical schools in Nigeria to offer technical education and job opportunities to many young people in Africa. With this MoU, we can raise our ambitions and provide a better foundation for the entire educational process,” says Jens-Christian Møller.
African technical schools are already struggling to meet the demands for education in a rapidly growing and young population.
“The number of students in technical schools in Nigeria is growing by 10 percent annually. This leads to fluctuating quality in education when there might be 75 students in a classroom designed for 20, without enough teaching staff. Offering an educational program in Skive would be a significant advantage,” explains Jens-Christian Møller.
In January this year, Eryk has hired 9 apprentices from Nigeria, with the goal of reaching 50 students in 2024. This underscores the need to enhance the quality of education.
“In addition to ensuring more employees, it is also to contribute to improving the lives of young Africans. The best development we can offer a country is to employ its unemployed citizens. It provides an opportunity to send money home to their families, which our employees also do,” says Jens-Christian Møller.
DI is closely following the partnership between Eryk Group and Skive College. Marie Gad, Head of Global Development and Sustainability, points out that the African continent has the world’s youngest population, with many young people who are both willing and able to work, but are hindered by a significant lack of high-quality technical and vocational education.
“Both companies and young people across the African continent are calling for more and better vocational education. Many are looking at the Danish model because we have found a good method here to ensure that skilled workers entering the job market have the competencies that companies demand,” says Marie Gad.
It was precisely the lack of Danish employees who were ready for a life as a travelling technician that made Eryk establish itself in Poland 20 years ago. Back then, there were greater opportunities in Poland, but today it has also become more challenging as Poland’s progress has increased the competition for workforce, similar to the situation in Denmark.
The need has intensified as the company has become much larger than Jens-Christian Møller anticipated 20 years ago.
“At that time, my wife and I thought that if we could reached 50 employees, it would have been really good. Now we are over 300, so it’s a completely different level. Therefore, the need for more employees is also completely different,” he explains.
Source: Dansk Industri
Link to original version in DK: https://www.danskindustri.dk/di-business/arkiv/nyheder/2024/1/erhvervsfremstod-fra-danmark-til-polen-til-afrika/#:~:text=Dansk%2Dpolske%20Eryk%20Group%20bruger,stablen%20i%20slutningen%20af%20januar.
