By Peter Ochieng
Isuzu East Africa driver academy and Bamburi Cement’s Women on Wheels Program on Friday held the fourth graduation which saw over 26 drivers get certified.
Isuzu drivers academy launched in 2021 is charged with imparting skills to logistics drivers on defensive driving, understanding traffic rules and act, becoming smart drivers in handling the equipment and driving economically, understanding commercial vehicle financing and insurance, and the use of Google Maps.
The move, according to a joint press release by Isuzu East Africa and Bamburi Cement is geared towards enhancing driving skills, increasing employability, and strengthening road safety on Kenyan roads, while helping their customers run their businesses sustainably.
So far, 205 drivers have been trained.
Speaking during the graduation ceremony, Isuzu EA’s Managing Director Rita Kavashe said the training at the academy was part of the company’s enhanced services to their customers in transport solutions.
“As a trusted logistics partner, Isuzu is committed to excellence, and safety is our number one priority in helping our customers grow their businesses sustainably. The Isuzu Drivers Academy goes the extra mile to ensure that our customers not only get the right vehicles to meet their transport needs but also qualified and trained drivers,” she said.
As such, Bamburi Cement has partnered with Isuzu Drivers Academy to increase women opportunities in transport by offering training and employment. Four women graduated from the cohort.
Bamburi Cement’s Sustainability and Geocycle Director Jane Wangari, noted that the collaboration is helping the cement company towards balancing its male-dominated driver workforce, meeting road safety and sustainability targets.
“We target to add at least 50 women to our transport value chain each year, to offset the 95% of the male drivers in 500-600 third-party truck drivers transporting our products or raw materials daily. Our data shows that women trained from this program, on average, are safer on the roads, use less fuel and reduce truck maintenance costs,” said Wangari.
The training seeks to reduce collisions on roads at a time when a significant number of people, are injured in road accidents.
Data from the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) has shown that at least 22,885 people were involved in road accidents in 2023, whereby 4,324 died while the rest were left mostly with life-changing injuries.
Over 300 people have died in accidents so far this year.