Graduates get railway management training

Albert Nkwasa, a graduate of Civil Engineering from Makerere University did not have to go through the hustles of job-hunting. All the 24-year-old former student of Ntare School did was to enroll in the Management Training Development Programme (MTDP) of Rift Valley Railways (RVR) in 2014. Upon finishing the training, Nkwasa was given a five-year contract as a middle level manager at RVR.
Nkwasa is one of the 19 graduates of the second phase of the MTDP. He joined the programme in 2014 when RVR approached interested Makerere University engineering students for recruitment. Inspired by the seemingly new industry and the fact that it is not taught in schools, Nkwasa and five of his colleagues joined others in Nairobi, Kenya.
“I took up the free opportunity to learn something new. With the training, I have gained skills in problem solving as well as logical thinking,” he said.
In Nairobi, the team underwent a three-month rotation of the railway routes which helped them understand railway business operations.
Launched in 2013, the programme aimed at building the confidence and competence of selected managers through facilitated developmental mentoring and in-depth exposure to the business competencies.
It is an intensive training programme that helps management trainees understand and appreciate the process of the natural hierarchy of work in the railway organisation and whose focus is to develop leadership and managerial competencies. The development of these competencies is the primary focus of the programme and is grounded on the RVR organization values coupled with preferred behavioral work standards necessary to deliver exceptional performance and business results through people.
The first programme yielded 20 management trainees.
According to Mr Apollo Nangumya, the RVR human resource manager, the programme also aims at bridging the existing skills gap in the railway sector being that it is a unique industry with no particular recruitment system of workers.
“While other employers are looking for experience, we are putting it out there on the market,” he told Jobs and Career.
The recruitment process for the third group of trainees is ongoing both in Uganda and Kenya. The human resource team has been conducting a recruitment drive in major universities in East Africa. An aptitude and psychometric test is conducted and those who pass move an assessment centre for a one day assessment then the final stage is an interview with Rift Valley Railways’ top management in Nairobi.
According to Mr Nangumya, interested students simply have to liaise with their internship coordinators, do an aptitude and psychometrics test after which they undergo assessment by consultants in Nairobi.

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