REPORT OF THE TEN COUNTRY AFRICAN LECTURE TOUR
FROM MIKE VALLEZ™
Message from Eng. Michael Vallez
Founder and Executive Director, GFP International
Founder and CEO, African Skills and Development Ltd
On July 28, I finished my tour of eleven countries and visits to some of you who have become engaged in the African Welding School Program. It was a very successful trip, and I appreciate all the hospitality shown to me during my travels. I wish I had more time in your country to visit everyone. It should be easier now that I have relocated to Nairobi, Kenya.
Every day, week, month, we get closer to the formal launch of the program. We continue to build our organizations and detailed plans for such things as the Train the Trainers Program, student scholarships, and other initiatives. Special groups are being formed, drawing together some of the top talent in Africa and beyond. We continue to prepare more newsletters and market awareness campaigns.
We are expanding the Blue-Ribbon Committee with top African representatives of industry, academia and civil society. If you would like to nominate anyone for this committee, please let us know. Our current committee page currently shows 19 members, but we are always welcoming more members who are willing to “put their shoulder to the wheel”.
https://www.gfp-intl.org/blue-ribbon-committee-members/
Over thirty schools have now submitted letters of interest, and most have submitted grant applications for modern welding centers of excellence. Brian Masicha, our Assistant Program Director located in Kenya, is working hard with some remaining schools who are still working on their grant applications and other documentation. He can be reached by email at bmasicha@gfp-intl.org.
To address the critical need for manufacturing skills and technologies in Africa, we are working on developing a concept for a Center for Manufacturing Skills and Technologies for one of the universities we are working with. This could become a model for other institutions.
We do have one request……… patience. It has taken us three years to get to this point in our development, team building and organization. Our big challenge will now be fundraising. We believe that the groundwork we have been doing with our newsletter to 4,000 key people has raised awareness about the work we are all doing together. As a sign of my personal confidence and commitment, I have relocated to Nairobi Kenya to provide leadership to the planned $100 Million African Welding School and Training Program.
Below finds an updated history of our work and the recent lecture tour captured in photos.
Best regards,
Eng. Michael Vallez
If you have not read our strategic execution plan or watched our full lecture yet, here are the links:
Execution Plan (copy and paste in your URL bar)
chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.gfp-intl.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/2025-02-20-Execution-Plan-for-African-Welding-School-and-Training-Program-with-attachments.pdf
Full Lecture
The Ten Country Lecture Tour - 2025
Capping off my eleven country, eight-week development and lecture tour, I had a wonderful meeting with the Mozambique Minister of Education on July 24th, Ms. Samaria Tovela, and her team. Like all African countries I’ve visited, Mozambique leaders are eager and ready to push the agenda for raising industrial skills to world class levels. I feel so blessed to have been called to this work where I can meet such delightful people and dedicated leaders.
After meeting with Mozambique’s Minister of Education, we were afforded a visit to the Matola Institute of Technology Welding School that was created with funding from the Republic of South Korea. We applaud the generosity and good intentions of Korea. However, despite the high quality of the equipment and infrastructure the school still does not meet the needs of industrial industries. The curriculum only gives welders 10 hours of skill practice per week, for a total of 110 hours of skill practice, while experience tells us that it takes 4O0 hours of skill practice to prepare students to pass international skill testing standards for welder certification. This 400 hours costs money to purchase the consumable materials to gain 400 hours of skill practice. This is a common problem we have found in all African welding schools, meaning that the students at this school are not ready to gain employment on the many industrial welding projects that need these skilled welders. The answer is to provide scholarships to students to cover the added material costs, and modify the curriculum accordingly.
If you have not read our strategic execution plan or watched our full lecture yet, here are the links:
Execution Plan (copy and paste in your URL bar)
chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.gfp-intl.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/2025-02-20-Execution-Plan-for-African-Welding-School-and-Training-Program-with-attachments.pdf
Full Lecture