SA’s Code 14 truck drivers and their employers now have access to invaluable training and skills

Thousands of South African Code 14 truck drivers now have access to invaluable skills development, advanced driving courses, and employability enhancement opportunities, thanks to a new driver development centre, Innovative Learning Solutions. 

Conservative estimates value South Africa’s logistics sector at around R480 billion, with road freight by far the biggest industry within the sector. At any given time, there are thousands of trucks of every shape and size on South Africa’s roads, transporting a full spectrum of essential goods required to keep store shelves stocked, lights on, and businesses running.

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According to Arnoux Maré, founder and CEO of Innovative Solutions Group and Innovative Staffing Solutions which employs and outsources more than 7 500 truck drivers, until recently, the full value of South Africa’s thousands of truck drivers has been largely overlooked, as have their skills and career development needs.

“Covid-19 changed all that, as a large part of the responsibility for keeping the country’s economy ticking over during the national lockdown fell squarely on the shoulders of these drivers, and consumers and businesses increasingly recognised that without skilled, committed truck drivers, much of the commerce in South Africa would probably grind to a halt,” explained Maré.

Maré emphasised that while recognition for a job well done was one thing, effective training and support was entirely another. And opportunities for truck drivers to access the skills development they need have been lacking in South Africa.

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“Innovative Learning Solutions (ILS) was established to give truck drivers and their employers easy and affordable access to the training, development, and the career support they deserve, and in the process, make these drivers, and our roads, safer while adding tangible value to the companies that employ them and, hopefully, fund their course attendance at ILS.

“Given the massive contribution that truck drivers make to businesses and to South Africa’s GDP, and the immense responsibilities that they have to carry, simply doing their job every day, it is essential that they receive the training, development, and support they deserve to equip them for excellence,” Maré concluded

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