Japanese firm Kansai Plascon has launched a 10,000-painter training programme targeting the youth across Kenya. This is in a bid to fill the rising artisan skills gap.
The firm’s Managing Director Jamil Virjee said the move was aimed at improving the quality of paintwork done on local buildings as well as enable painters root out poor quality paints.
Plascon said the new strategy will also introduce certification for painters thereby helping professionalise the sector that for years has relied on unskilled labour.
“Apart from giving back to the industry, we are also contributing to the development of skills and knowledge. Paint retailers will be trained to help them serve their customers professionally when selling paint,” he said in a statement.
Mr Virjee said the course will encompass modular training on painting and decoration, entrepreneurship, health and safety as well as first aid, thereby enabling individual painters handle tasks professionally.
Plascon recently bought a 90 per cent stake in Kenya’s Sadolin Paints at a cost of Sh10 billion, giving it control over the group that has subsidiaries in Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda.