Some 381 students learned skills such as automobile repairs in 2015 at the Toyota Kenya Academy, an institute opened in 2014 by a subsidiary. An enrollment increase to at least 750 is planned starting this year, Toyota Tsusho President Jun Karube and other executives said in an interview. The officials are visiting here for the Tokyo International Conference on African Development, due to be held on Saturday and Sunday.

 

The job training center also teaches prospective engineers for the areas of construction and farm machinery through a partnership with the governmental Japan International Cooperation Agency.

 

Toyota Tsusho, the trading company of the Toyota Motor group, boasts one of the largest African operations among Japanese peers, with 15,000 employees including 46 expats from Japan. It acquired CFAO, a French trading house with strength in Africa, in 2012.

 

"The population is certain to grow, and this will lead to national power," Karube said. "What's important with operations in Africa is a medium- to long-term perspective."

Source : asia.nikkei.com