Hisense SA nurtures local talent pool

CAPE TOWN — "Since I joined Hisense, my life has changed. We've grown, I've grown with Hisense."

For Hugh Stephens, those words capture more than a career spanning over a decade at Hisense South Africa (Hisense SA) Industrial Park. They tell the story of how a new job opportunity grew into a journey of personal and professional development.

In 2013, the factory where Stephens worked pulled out of the town, leaving him an uncertain future. Around the same time, Chinese home appliance giant Hisense established its industrial park in Atlantis, a town about 50 kilometers north of Cape Town.

"I decided that I had to check Hisense out," Stephens told Xinhua News Agency. He stayed.

More than a decade later, the local man who joined Hisense as a "normal worker" has become a mainboard repair technician at the TV factory in the park, taking on new responsibilities and developing skills along the way.

His story begins with a job, but it is also a story of growth — his own, and that of a Chinese company growing alongside its local workforce.

"When I got here, I started at the front of the (production) line," Stephens recalled. "I learned from the Hisense engineers, from the Chinese engineers. They taught us everything I know."

"Now I'm working as a (mainboard) repairman and it's very good for me, because I've grown with the company," he said.

The change he described is not limited to his career. Stephens said he has also seen improvements in his life outside the workplace, from expanding his home to enjoying better living conditions and a better lifestyle.

Like Stephens, Marlon Jacobs joined Hisense SA Industrial Park when it was established in 2013, starting out as a general worker with no experience in refrigeration. Today, he is an assembly and quality technician at the refrigerator factory in the park.

"Everything in my life has improved since 2013, and I'm standing here as an example of that in itself," Jacobs told Xinhua.

"Thirteen years ago, I was unemployed. I did not have a job, and not having a job means you're not able to support your family the way you want to," he said. "Today I'm standing here, a better person being able to supply for and support my family, so that means a great deal. I really appreciate what Hisense did for me and for the whole of Atlantis."

Like many of his colleagues, Jacobs has also bought a car as his income has grown, and now drives to work every day. The growing number of employees' cars has even filled the company's parking area, with some workers having to park in an open space outside.

His career has also been a journey of learning. Starting from welding, Jacobs went on to learn machine and product repairs, becoming the factory's first welding repair person before moving into a team leader role managing two teams of more than 100 people and eventually becoming a technician.

"I'm a refrigerator technician because of the skills that I've learned through the Chinese," he said, referring to the knowledge he gained while working closely with his Chinese colleagues.