Two senior Namibian employees of Ankit Gems Namibia (Pty) Ltd recently underwent a three-month long intensive training programme at the company’s factories in India. The two individuals, Sem and Tabea, were selected from among the 40 employees of the company’s Namibia plant and brought to India to familiarise them with the entire manufacturing process and enhance their skills in cutting and polishing. The aim was to develop them as senior managers who will lead the workforce at the company’s manufacturing operations in Namibia.

A few years ago Ankit Gems set up a unit for cutting and polishing diamonds in Namibia in partnership with Crystal Diamond Namibia (Pty) Ltd. The unit has grown from its initial strength of eight workers and today has 40 employees. Initially a team of Indian experts spent time in Namibia helping to train the local workforce. The company, now known as Ankit Gems Namibia (Pty) Ltd, is seeking to further enhance its operations and develop the skills of the most competent and committed workers who could then provide leadership to other new local recruits. Sem and Tabea’s India stint was the first step in this process. Besides the basics, the two also learnt the art of using computers for planning and processing the stones at each step.

The duo was extremely happy with their experience in India. Says Sem, “The knowledge which we have obtained here will help me to teach my fellow Namibians back home quality control and increase their productivity.” Adds Tabea, “We will implement the training we have received step by step and together we can make real experts in Namibia.”

Pravin Shah, Director in charge of Manufacturing at Ankit Gems, says, “We were happy to have Sem and Tabea in India. There are many things we could make them understand better here and they will help us implement these in our Namibian factory.”

Chairman of Ankit Gems, Arun Shah, says, “We believe that to achieve long term sustainable growth and to promote an industry in any country it is essential to transfer skills at all levels of the work force; to utilize and induct local talent as managers, who in turn will act as leaders to others. In this way employment opportunities will increase and greater spending will boost the Namibian economy.”