RIBS and Mercedes join forces

Mercedes-Benz South Africa has signed a contract with the Rhodes Investec Business School (RIBS) to train their new and experienced middle to senior managers.

The Mercedes-Benz head office in Germany created a training model for managerial training that is accepted and used by them around the world. This model includes partnering with a local business school to provide facilitators to assist with the delivery of the courses. As a result, the East London assembly plant and Mercedes-Benz head office in Pretoria will train their managers through RIBS.

Strategically RIBS has always recognised that as a business school located in the Eastern Cape, they wanted to make a contribution to the local automotive industry. Previously, they have won an Automotive Industry Development Corporation (AIDC) tender to deliver a Certificate in Management for the assemblers and their suppliers.

More recently RIBS has extended their programmes into motor retail, working closely with the likes of Barloworld Motor Retail, the Volkswagen SA Sales and Marketing Academy, and MERSETA.

The long-standing relationship between RIBS and Mercedes-Benz started almost a decade ago when RIBS signed an agreement with Mercedes-Benz to provide their executives with management training and education, in the form of the MBA degree and other executive courses.

The contract signed this year with Mercedes-Benz South Africa, and the German-based Daimler Corporate Academy, is a two-year contract whereby RIBS will provide their staff with three programmes, namely the ‘Daimler Seminar for Managers’, ‘Leading People and Teams’, as well as ‘Leadership in Practice’.

The Leadership Programmes are tailored to meet the specific leadership development requirements of their executives.

Pic: Registrar, Dr Stephen Fourie signing a contract. Back from l-r: Prof Arthur Webb, Dr Noel Pearse and Prof Owen Skae, Director of RIBS.