VWSA’s Abdul Aziz Goosein one of the Group’s “Best Apprentices”

Volkswagen Group South Africa’s very own Body Shop Maintenance Engineer, Abdul Aziz Goosein, was recently named as one of the Volkswagen Groups “Best Apprentice Award” recipients at an awards ceremony in Stuttgart, Germany.  The award is bestowed upon the top young achievers from all over the world.
This year, the award for outstanding professional competence was conferred on 27 apprentices from twelve countries. The awards were presented by the Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG, Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn, the Member of the Board of Management responsible for Human Resources, Dr. Horst Neumann and the President of the Volkswagen Global Group Works Council, Bernd Osterloh.
Prof. Winterkorn said “In order to become the world’s best automaker and set the pace in the industry, Volkswagen needs every single employee – particularly tomorrow’s top performers. The Volkswagen Group brands will shine even brighter in future with committed and motivated young employees like those we are honoring today.”
Dr. Neumann echoed his sentiments, saying “For Volkswagen’s continued success we must master profound changes in fields such as lightweight construction, vehicle electronics and electric traction. That can only be achieved with much dedication and the highest specialist competence. These apprentices set the benchmark in this context. At the same time, the introduction of transnational training standards is paying off.”
This year, the Volkswagen Group is training 12 145 apprentices worldwide. Osterloh said “We are very proud of our apprentices and their achievements. The young colleagues we are honoring today make us very optimistic about the further development of our Company. The Works Council will continue to advocate investing in training all over the world, thereby safeguarding employment perspectives for young men and women.”
Apart from attending the “Best Apprentice Award” ceremony, the young people are also participating in a program spanning several days and have already visited the Baden-Württemberg capital city of Stuttgart, and the Porsche plant, museum and training centre for automotive mechatronics fitters. A driver safety training session is also part of the program.