Heineken Uganda is putting more emphasis on immersion training amongst its workforce as a way of motivating employees and improving on excellence training given the stiff competition in the market.
It is not uncommon for top performing employees in any company to be selected for training at company headquarters for a few days or weeks. However, Heineken is taking employee training to new levels as they are sending over 7 top performing commercial team members from the Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania markets respectively to Lagos, Nigeria for six months to participate in full immersion training in Africa’s most populous country.
The brewer’s main headquarter sits at Amsterdam in Netherlands but the training will take place in Nigeria as it is not only home to Heineken’s biggest operation in Africa but it is amongst the leading Operating Companies of Heineken worldwide. In particular, Nigeria is a source of various commercial best practices that are relevant to East African markets.
According to Heineken East Africa General Manager, Mr. Uche Unigwe, this type of immersion training is critical to embedding One Heineken operating framework in East Africa which enables Heineken to deliver a world-class experience to their loyal consumers consistently.
The immersion training will become a part of standard operating procedure for Heineken East Africa moving forward in which another set of employees will be selected every six months and sent to Lagos.
While in Lagos, the commercial teams will manage key accounts as well as trade activations throughout Nigeria where the local operations have pioneered perfect execution. Additionally, it will allow the East.
African commercial team to monitor external business practices and set organisational benchmarks against the best, within and beyond the Heineken organisation.
“Realistically we can only expect our people to deliver at a world class level if they have actually seen and worked in such an environment. By sending our team to Lagos for six months they will return to East Africa with a broader vision as to not only what is expected but also what is possible and this enhanced point of view will ultimately benefit our partners, outlets, and our consumers” added Mr. Uche Unigwe.
According to Nathan Akandwanaho from Heineken Uganda he had never imagined this high level of training when he joined Heineken 3 years ago. “I am very thankful and optimistic about this opportunity not only to enhance my personal sales skills but also to use what I learn in Nigeria to better serve my home market Uganda” said Nathan further stating, “I think one of the great aspects about working with Heineken is that the constant pursuit of excellence propels us to be better masters of our craft.”