By offering training to become a welding technician, industrial fitter, motor mechanic or machinist, the Freudenberg Group is giving some 130 young people the prospect of a job and a future following the devastating tsunami on December 26, 2004.

Freudenberg has built a training centre in Nagapattinam in the south Indian province of Tamil Nadu, the region worst affected by the disaster. As a gesture of help and solidarity for the victims, the family company launched this long-term aid project, its largest outside Germany, in addition to immediate post-disaster financial assistance.

The company decided to build a training centre after having considered different options of long-term help. “Young people hold the key to the future. That is why we are offering them the opportunity to learn a trade. A skilled qualification opens the door to a stable source of income and higher quality of life for them and their families,” Dr. Jörg Matthias Grossmann, Freudenberg Regional Representative for India and Chief Financial Officer of Freudenberg Chemical Specialities KG explains. He adds: “The training centre is Freudenberg’s contribution to building up the region economically and making it more prosperous.”

Training is carried out according to a stringently structured programme consisting of theory and practice. Depending on the profession chosen, training takes one or two years. The Freudenberg Training Centre has already received official recognition by the State of Tamil Nadu.

After one year of building, the centre opened its doors to the first batch of 78 students on July 21, 2008. The official inauguration took place on March 26, 2009. Guests included high profile representatives from politics, administration and the media as well as members of the Freudenberg project team.

Source: http://www.freudenberg.in/freudenberg-training-centre