The Maldives meets Durban

At our Ignition Core training held recently in Durban, we had the wonderful opportunity to include engineers from STELCO, who came all the way from The Maldives to be trained in person. Our trainers regularly travel between Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town to host training sessions, but having people join from outside of South Africa was a first for us.?

A little bit about STELCO.

Also known as State Electric Company Ltd, STELCO is a utility company based in the Maldives. It is responsible for the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity across the Maldives. STELCO operates power plants, transmission lines, and distribution networks to ensure a reliable supply of electricity to the islands in the Maldives. Their primary goal is to provide affordable and sustainable electricity to the residents and businesses in the Maldives.

How is our training anyway?

We asked the guys from Male’ what their thoughts on Durban were since it was their first time in South Africa. Unsurprisingly they said it was colder than expected (for context, the training was in June, in the middle of winter). They also mentioned that the food was great and that in general, they had an amazing time as the people were so friendly and treated them well. This comes as no surprise as it’s well known that South Africans are a decidedly welcoming bunch.?

Their thoughts on the training itself mirrored their positive experience of the trip. What they enjoyed most of all was that the training was interactive; they had the opportunity to build things and troubleshoot. These are experiences that they would be making at work, so they felt that this teaching method was both interesting but also prepared them much better than traditional classroom training would have.?

The training group consisted of a few locals from other companies additionally to the guys from Male’ and for some, it was their very first time dealing with Ignition. Even then, they commented that the way it was taught was straightforward, and made it easy to understand. The group unanimously agreed that Trainer Laura does an excellent job.?

“Interdependence is and ought to be as much the ideal of man as self-sufficiency. Man is a social being.” - Mahatma Gandhi

Something that Element8 highly values is human interaction. Our relationships to our partners and end users are important to us, so whenever the opportunity presents itself, we like to meet in person and build a strong connection. This is one of the reasons why our training is only offered on-site; because we want to encourage human interaction. Besides having the opportunity to get to know some of the Element8 team in person, the engineers can also learn from each other and make new connections and friends. This is how a strong community is born.

If you’re interested in taking your career to the next level and earning your Ignition, Canary or Flow certification, check out our training calendar for the next training course in your area. If you have any questions regarding training, give us a shout and we’ll assist you in any way we can.