The Paramount Globe Issue 18 2019

PARAMOUNT
GLOBE
GROUP WIDE NEWS ISSUE 18 - MAY 2019
NIGERIAN AIR FORCE SELECTS MARAUDER
Paramount Group is continuing its strong growth in West Africa with the exciting news that the Nigerian Air Force has commissioned the Marauder into service as the West African nation is bolstering its e orts to e ectively tackle a wide range of threats posed by various terrorist and extremist groups. The Marauder will be used by the Nigerian Airforce to protect its Airforce bases in the north of the country against possible attacks from Boko Haram. A team from Paramount Land Systems has been on the ground for several weeks to provide driver and maintenance training.
Senior Vice President of Paramount Group,
Eric Ichikowitz, stated that, “We are privileged to work alongside the Nigerian Air Force, commending their continued commitment to enhancing their national defence and internal security capabilities and prowess.
“Increased security leads to increased economic growth and Paramount’s proven, portable manufacturing model can play an important role in the establishment of local manufacturing capabilities enabling the diversi cation of the nation’s economy and the potential to foster sustainable job creation. These are shared e orts that we believe to be vital to maintaining Nigeria’s continued trajectory.”
The 15-tonne Marauder is a uniquely designed armoured land system. It can be recon gured as either a
troop carrier or combat vehicle, maintaining excellent cross-country agility while reaching a top speed of
120 km/h over challenging terrains. Described by BBC’s Top Gear as “The World’s Most Unstoppable Vehicle” it features a double-skinned hull throughout its cabin and crew compartment to protect it against a wide range of kinetic attacks e.g. protecting the crew against AK-47 attacks.
The vehicle can also withstand a side blast
(IED or roadside bomb) equivalent to 50kgs of explosives which is critical for the assymetrical warfare experienced in Northern parts of the country.


K9 SOLUTIONS SUPPORT SEARCH AND
RESCUE EFFORTS AMID CYCLONE IDAI
AFTERMATH IN ZIMBABWE
Paramount K9 Solutions deployed specialist K9 Search and Rescue Units to disaster-stricken areas of Eastern Zimbabwe in support of rescue and recovery operations amidst the aftermath of Cyclone Idai.
Cyclone Idai, which the United Nations has described as “...one of the worst weather-related catastrophes in the history of Africa”, has claimed the lives of at least 200 people to date in Zimbabwe, with 180 still missing and feared buried in the rubble.
The storm’s death toll has tragically reached nearly 700 people in Sub Saharan Africa, a ecting more than two million across Zimbabwe, Mozambique
and Malawi.
In direct response, Paramount Group and its charitable foundation, The Ichikowitz Family Foundation commissioned and funded the deployment of two specialist Search and Rescue Units from the K9 Search and Rescue Association of Southern Africa to Chimanimani, located in one of the hardest-hit regions of Zimbabwe.
“We are very proud to play our role in bolstering the
e orts of the Zimbabwean Government”
The four handlers, who are volunteers from the K9
Search and Rescue Association of Southern Africa,
together with their two highly trained border-collies
searched for the deceased in extreme conditions, in tandem with Zimbabwe’s Civil Protection Units, the International Rescue Committee and the South African
Police Services.
Eric Ichikowitz, Director of the Ichikowitz Family Foundation, stated: “We are very proud to play our role in
bolstering the e orts of the Zimbabwean Government in providing the capabilities required to complete the grim task of recovering the bodies of those who perished in the disaster. The aftermath of Cyclone Idai presented all rescue and recovery teams with exceptional challenges due to the damage caused to roads and other infrastructure.
“Our teams found that most of the bodies were buried under thick layers of rock and mud. Recovering bodies under such circumstances would be near impossible without these specialist dogs and their handlers. We look forward to further contributing to disaster and humanitarian relief e orts in an innovative way and as best the K9 Search and Rescue Units can support. Nonetheless, our hearts remain with the people of Zimbabwe during this extremely di cult period”.
PARAMOUNT GLOBE


PARAMOUNT GLOBE
MINISTER OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT LEARNS ABOUT ROBOTICS
Minister of Social Development, Susan Shabangu visited PAT and expressed a keen interest in the Parabotics Competition. PAT’s GM for Airborne Systems Shamendran Pillay elaborated on PAT’s leadership role in the competition and its partnership with AAD’s Youth Development Programme and how this initiative is aligned with the skills development objectives of the country.
OUR MAN IN SPACE
The South African Government has launched a number of initiatives aimed at strengthening
South Africa’s role in Space on the African continent. Out of these initiatives, the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) was born in December 2010 to promote and strengthen the local space industry to the bene t of all South Africans.SANSA provides a wide range of data products and services, including Earth Observation Imagery, International Satellite Tracking, as well as Space Science and Engineering products.
Paramount Group has participated in the development of SANSA through Willie van Biljon (pictured left), who has recently been re-elected as Board Member of SANSA for a second term.
Paramount is alert to the current wave of innovative space developments and the direct impact that this will introduce into our future business solutions.
PARAMOUNT IN THE MEDIA
CLICK ON ICON TO VIEW FULL ARTICLE


PARAMOUNT GLOBE
PAT, HEXAGON PARTNER TO REVITALISE AFRICAN GEOSPATIAL, SECURITY & INFRASTRUCTURAL CAPACITY
Paramount Advanced Technologies has established strategic partnerships with Hexagon’s Geospatial and Safety & Infrastructure divisions. The partnerships will provide enhanced African rural safety and security solutions, including smart transportation, displacement monitoring, mining security and infrastructure monitoring, facilities and inventory management, public records management, command and control and tactical emergency services.
Paramount Advanced Technologies CEO Ralph Mills, stated: “Paramount Advanced Technologies’ cutting edge research and development (R&D) and systems integration expertise which has delivered solutions e ectively across the African continent, coupled with the technological innovation and overarching support that Hexagon brings from decades of system deployments globally makes for an impactful partnership to the betterment of the continent’s infrastructure and security capabilities, an alliance which we are privileged to announce”.
Paramount Advanced Technologies’ Integrated and Smart Systems (ISS) is responsible for business across a myriad of commercial sectors, leveraging the power of situational awareness and connectivity to support complex and critical operational requirements. The ISS Business Unit was established with a mandate to apply technology derived from best-of-breed industry partnerships to provide proactive solutions to the
challenges inherent in multiple domains, with a focus on rural safety and security, smart and safe cities, smart agriculture, disaster management, infrastructure protection and smart mining.
“We live in exciting times, where the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution upon us is driven by disruptive technologies such as IoT, augmented reality, blockchain, drones and robotics, amongst others. Technological changes are rapid while the availability of unstructured data is proli c,” Mills added. “The challenge before us is to make sense of that data, leveraging real-time information and intelligence to solve real-world problems, ensuring that organizations are best aligned to harness the advantages of this era by being digitally enabled, so as to avoid the risk of being left behind.”
PARABOTICS YOUTH DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME
PAT has unveiled the robot that young people will have to build as part of the PARABOTICS competition. The PARABOTICS Youth Development Programme aims to encourage disadvantaged youth to follow Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) related careers. The programme gives teenagers, who would not otherwise get the opportunity, the chance to build their own robots and learn how to program.
The PARABOTICS Youth Development Programme was announced at the 20th annual Africa Aerospace and Defence (AAD) EXPO in September 2018 at Waterkloof Airbase and the robotics training programme will be launched in September 2019. The PARABOTICS Youth Development Programme is a collaboration between Paramount Group, and the Technology Localisation Implementation Unit (TLIU). Paramount Group and its partners aim to inspire learners with this exciting initiative and create the next generation of engineers who will one day grow the technology, engineering and manufacturing sectors in
South Africa. The programme itself is designed to accommodate all skill levels from junior high upwards, from beginner to advanced. The Programme will take place every year in September and will expand into national competitions creating awareness for robotics.


PARAMOUNT GLOBE
PARAMOUNT PEOPLE PORTAL LAUNCHED
The Paramount People Portal was launched with great success on the 20th of March 2019. The portal is a Paramount rst in our plan to promote a culture of continued learning, collaboration and engagement. It is cutting edge in terms of the digitalisation of the employee experience. The portal has great newsfeed functionality, similar to LinkedIn, where employees can
Photos were taken of each employee to personalise his/her pro le picture for the Paramount People Portal. The day was celebrated with gourmet burgers prepared by Paramount’s newly established Salt & Peppa
restaurant. Thank you to everyone who took part in this amazing and exciting day!
share interesting articles or videos. Other functionalities include employee wellness page with articles and videos linked to the monthly theme, document repository and an integrated learning management platform.
The system is ever evolving and soon will include 360 degree assessment functionality and so much more.
THE WELLBEING OF OUR PEOPLE COMES FIRST
Research has shown that a healthy body, mind and soul increases morale, engagement, productivity and performance. It is for this reason that we took great care in tailor-making a holistic wellness solution that focuses on the employee as a whole.
The wellness solution includes:
1. Employee Assistance Program “EAP”. This program is powered by ICAS and is available 24/7/365 in all 11 languages. Professionals are ready to assist with any legal, nancial, trauma, relationship, stress, anxiety and many other matters.
2. Discovery Annual Wellness Day
3. Monthly Wellness Newsletters
4. Wellness Talks, such as Enhancing relationships, Financial Planning, Stress Management and
Addiction Awareness.
5. Annual Discovery Overview Sessions
6. Random Alcohol and Drug Testing
7. Pre-employment and exit medicals, where applicable.
8. Compulsory annual Executive Medicals
The wellness talks are targeted at the themes identi ed during call to ICAS and HR and overall trends in society, as any organisation is a microcosm of the world we live in.
www.facebook.com.paramountgroup1 @paramountgroup1


PARAMOUNT GLOBE
THE PARAMOUNT ACADEMY OPENS ITS VIRTUAL DOORS
At Paramount we encourage employees to always nd new ways of using their passion and this philosophy is the foundation of the Paramount Academy. The Paramount Academy’s learning curriculum currently consists of 46 courses, these courses are divided into four streams, namely, generic training, such as for example, emotional intelligence and ethics training, domain speci c training, leadership and other unspeci ed training, such as mindfulness.
The strategy of the Paramount Academy is to accredit the Academy and all courses o ered in order for employees to obtain credits aligned to the National Quali cations Framework’s “NQF” unit standards. This process has commenced and should be concluded in the next 12 months. What makes the training unique is that it is not an o -the- self- course, but it is “ t for purpose” and speci cally designed for Paramount.
The Paramount Academy subscribes to a blended learning methodology, where di erent learning methods and mediums are utilised, such as podcasts, classroom learning, webinars, thought leader talks, articles, AVs, books and blogs to cater for all learning styles, optimise the learning experience and in turn, knowledge retention and skills application.
The blended learning methodology will be facilitated by the implementation of a learning management platform (e-learning) that we anticipate to “go live” in the rst quarter of next year.
Learning and development interventions are linked to the employee’s personal development plan to ensure that it is targeted to their speci c development needs, but some training is generic and compulsory, regardless of the personal development plan i.e. Ethics Training.


PARAMOUNT GLOBE
SABC SHOWCASES PARAMOUNT’S EXCITING CAREERS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
Ispani TV, SABC’s educational programme that focuses on showcasing inspiring technical careers to South Africa’s youth featured one of Paramount’s new recruits, Tracy Nephawe, a technician employed by Paramount Advanced Technologies (PAT). The storyline unfolds where Tracy is lmed in her community and later in the workplace. She is o ered an opportunity to achieve her career aspirations when PAT agrees to fund the sought after Aircraft Maintenance Engineer certi cation, dependent on her ability to perform certain tasks under the guidance of her mentor.
After excelling in the required technical tasks,
Tracy is o ered the training. The TV show was a useful platform to showcase FLASH and gain exposure to the exciting technical world that exists within Paramount Group. The programme also emphasised that young women can enter the realm of technical careers and make a huge success of it!
RECOGNISING EMPLOYEES FOR MAKING THE IMPOSSIBLE POSSIBLE
The Art of the Possible has been our Chairman’s mantra since the inception of Paramount, it is what makes us unique. In the spirit of recognising and rewarding our employees for making the impossible possible, the Chairman has opened the doors to his Moledi Gorge Boutique Safari Lodge as a reward to the “Art of the Possible” Award Winners.
Paramount’s Leadership team awards seven employees each month based on a pre-de ned criteria, the award winners receive a weekend for two at Moledi Gorge worth R10 000.
SALT AND PEPPA OPENS ITS CULINARY DOORS
At
the beginning of April, Paramount’s Midrand Campus opened its doors to a new canteen ‘Salt and Peppa’.
The new team led by Je and Bruce has infused the canteen with a new look, a creative menu boasting mouthwatering dishes and a warm and friendly service.
Please feel free to call the Salt & Peppa kitchen if you would like to place orders for convenience on 011 0866849. If you would like to book a table for lunch please email Je and Bruce directly on [email protected]