NDE, DBX Embark on Skills Upgrade, Business Training for Abia Citizens

The National Directorate of Employment (NDE) in Abia State, has said it is collaborating with DBX Integrated Business Limited to upgrade the skills of citizens of the state in trades such as hospitality, fashion industry and digital technology.
State Coordinator of NDE in Abia State, Mrs. Tessy Wachuku, said the goal of the training was to equip participants who are already practicing their various trades with the current methods in line with prevailing economic realities.
“National Directorate of Employment, (NDE), Abia State wishes to collaborate with the DBX to train 30 artisans by offering our expertise in equipping them with specified modern techniques in line with their trades and marketing skills as well as provide necessary guide to them.
“We pride ourselves in providing jobs to all categories of people irrespective of class or status,” she said.
Wachuku noted that NDE Abia has experienced trainers in over 80 skills in Agriculture, Special Public Works, Constructions, Entrepreneurship, Vocational trades, and so on, who are accredited to handle training of trades men and women across the state.
Speaking on the collaboration, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of DBX Integrated Business Limited, Mr. Uchenna Kalu, said the alliance with NDE on the training is borne out of the need to arrest an ugly trend in which tradespeople abandon their training and go back to poverty.
He noted that this was as a result of the artisans being outdated and lacking in basic business skills to generate adequate income to sustain themselves and grow their businesses.
“Findings have shown that upward mobility, growth and profitability for skilled tradespeople remain low, with many of them easily slipping back to poverty and even abandoning the skills they have trained for years to acquire,” he said.
He reiterated the need for constant upgrade of vocational skills especially as the local and world’s economy keep changing.
 “While learning a trade is one good way to beat unemployment and poverty, not upgrading those skills as market dynamics change can keep a skilled person behind.
“Again, many tradespeople know the technical side of the business but have no clue about the business and financial end of it.

“This gap, we have discovered, keeps the business stunted and the owner frustrated,” he noted.

To address the challenge and enable tradespeople overcome stagnation and grow their businesses, the organisers said they would be offering an upgraded training programme to a set of practicing tradespeople in Hospitality (Chefs, Bakers/Pastry Chefs, Event Managers/Planners, Interior Decorators, others), Fashion Industry (Tailors, Leather Goods and Accessories, Jewelry Designers/makers) and Information and Communication Technology (ICT – Graphic Designers, Web Developers, Software Engineers, Computer Technicians).

The training tagged ‘Trade Upgrade Educational Project’, was aimed at bridging the identified gap by bringing the participants up to speed on the latest developments in their respective fields as well as equipping them with the requisite business and financial skills that will enable them grow their businesses and participate in the wider economy.