Avocado Vision Lotto training carries on… at

Lotto training carries on…

Published by Carin March 15th, 2007 in General, Avo in the media

The article “In the Meantime, the Lotto training continues” in The Star Workplace today, is about how Ngikwazi has carried on with their training for the new lottery terminal operators, in order to be ready for the April deadline.

Andre is quoted as saying “Our deadlines haven’t changed, our training hasn’t changed - we are absolutely committed to being ready for April 1″.

It explains that, once trained, lottery terminal operators will receive a certificate and will have the option to continue with further studies on the next NQF level. Also, as this is the first time that many people have had this kind of training opportunity, the attendance has been quite high with a good bout of enthusiasm following!.

It also mentions the workforce of 150 field workers that are going from store to store to make sure that things run smoothly when the terminals are all switched on, on March 19th during a trial run.

Again, to quote Andre “We can’t speculate on the outcome of the Uthingo-Gidani dispute, but those who have received training have undoubtedly gained something - new skills that they can use to improve their working lives”.

5 Responses to “Lotto training carries on…”

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1 Candice Mar 23rd, 2007 at 12:17 pm

i’m sorry, but i am confused with a few things you have said in this article. You say everyone who was trainied has gained so much. What exactly have they been trained as? And how can they take it further?? Become technicians instead of just they person who puts the ticket into the machine??
Please.
And also you say they have never before received this opportunity/training, do you mean to say that no one was trained the first time round when lotto first launched in this country? An as i believe, Andre had a big part of that, so then why didn’t Andre properly train them the first time around?
Did the people in the stores just guess how to work the machines that were provided to them by Uthingo?
2 Wizard Mar 25th, 2007 at 2:59 am

I, like Candice am confused about a few things. Firstly a lot of Uthingo staff ran to you for work. who trained them on the machines previously? Uthingo of course. The good, loyal and skilled staff stayed with Uthingo. Now with the licence issue some of your staff our enquiring with Uthingo for vacancies saying they made the wrong move. Wot does that lead u to believe? Trust me you DO NOT have the best staff they are all still at Uthingo.
3 yojules Mar 26th, 2007 at 8:48 am

Hi there, Wizard and Candice. SO cool of you to pop past our site and give us your thoughts about the content.

We’re really proud of the training work we’re doing for Gidani at the moment. Our vision was to not only build world class operator training content (and feedback from our delegates in the field seems to testify to that), but also go beyond the obvious brief and upskill retailer workers in customer service and cross-selling skills. Many retailer workers chose to attend our training more than once just because they had never been exposed to that level of learning before.

These skills take them way beyond just the processing of a ticket, but also adding value to the individual and the retailer owner: better sales and customer service skills means a better customer experience all round. And a better customer experience means increased footfall and better turnover for the retailer.

The real benefit to the training we’re offering is that it is SETA-aligned, and retailers will be able to get themselves an accreditation: that makes their skills portable. That means not just the terminal operating skills, but the sales and customer service skills too. They will be able to accredit themselves, receive a certificate, and then, should they apply for another job at another retailer, their accreditation makes them more marketable: that’s how they take it further. Many of the terminal operators have never had a portable accreditation before: it’s an important step forward in the uplifting of South Africans, and I’m really proud that we can support Gidani in this.

We are also delighted with the staff who have joined us. I’m sure the issue with the license award is making many people feel insecure. None of us will really know what the outcome will be until this whole regrettable thing is over. But Ngikwazi will move forward with strength, energy and integrity, no matter what the outcome: we have a commitment to do great things in building this country, and look forward to whatever challenges and opportunities come our way.
4 yingyang Mar 26th, 2007 at 11:22 pm

yojules i am surprised at your feedback to candice and wizard. The retailers that currently have UTHINGO machines also have UTHINGO training certificates, so whats the big deal in getting another certificate from you guys. From what ive heard from shopkeepers is that the training is “pathetic”! I was chatting to my local cafe owner and they said the best part of the training was the lunch! Said the trainers couldnt answer all questions and were rude and arrogant. Said it was a waste of time as the trainers actually needed training themselves. So where do they come from? Surely if you spending all this money training these shopowners then make sure your trainers understand the way machine works and how to train. Bearing in mind that most of these shops were signed up by UTHINGO and fully trained back then by competent staff from UTHINGO and have refresher courses continuously.
5 yojules Mar 27th, 2007 at 11:02 am

Hi Yingyang

I think it is so important in this country that we do our best to build our fellow South Africans in a contructive way, rather than break them down with unkind words.

In no way is anyone trying to cast a shadow on the wonderful work Uthingo has done over the past 7 years. Building a lottery in this country from scratch is a task that all involved should be really proud of. It has already contributed to making the lives of thousands of South Africans more bearable in some ways.

I think the issues around the current legal proceedings are causing people in the marketplace to feel conflicted and confused. We need to be so careful about devaluing the work done out there. At present, nobody is completely sure about who will actually operate the lottery come April 1, and so both teams are clearly needing to be in a position to do that, pending an announcement from the minister.

If either team undermines the marketplace through negative conversations, I believe the marketplace itself will be damaged: and if the marketplace loses confidence in the lottery in any way, many South Africans who rely on the lottery for survival will be the real victims.

I think that both the Uthingo and Gidani teams need to apply themselves to doing the best job they can for the next few days: the outcome of the legal proceedings will be decided in court and in the minister’s office, not in the stores.

I hope that all the people in our team are doing the very best they can out there. We remain committed to building a Lottery for Gidani that all South Africans can be proud of, and will stay on that course unless our clients tell us otherwise.

Good luck to us all out there, Uthingo and Gidani alike - South Africa needs us all to be the best we can be.

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