Ken joined the Extollo team (from South Africa!) in 2022. He serves as the Welding Trainer and Metal Fabrication Lead. Ken is collaborating with his father, Mike, a veteran of the auto care industry with decades of experience, to develop a comprehensive Auto Care Curriculum. Mike's background as a Training Instructor with BMW South Africa brings invaluable expertise to the project.
The following is Ken sharing his story:
Learning Auto Care and Maintenance
I started racing go-karts in Dubai at the age of 11, this was a passion I shared with my dad for the next 8 years. (I can't write this without mentioning my mom as well as she was my number one supporter, always at the track screaming and shouting and cheering me on, she never missed a race). My dad used to race as well when he was a teenager, and this was something that gave us hundreds of hours together bonding at the track, and at home, working on the go-karts.
While the other competitors would send their engines out for tuning and rebuilding, me and my dad would strip and rebuild and tune ours in the kitchen at home, together. This is where I learned which way to turn a wrench, and the basic principles of how petrol engines work. I rebuilt my first carburetor completely on my own at the age of 12, when my dad tasked me with the project of stripping and rebuilding the race kart we had just built for my first season in the national championship. As we didn't have the funds to buy new kit, this was a true nuts and bolts restoration of a very outdated race kart. I learned more than I can explain in this, and it really fueled my love for all things mechanical and my passion for working on things, finding out how they run, what makes them tick, and how to diagnose problems by taking them on systematically. I will always treasure these years.
As a father-son team, operating out of the back of a panel van, we went on to win three national championships in three categories over the years, even progressing from the karting, to single seater racing cars.
Transitioning to Welding
That actually brings us neatly to the welding part of my life. Being a practical person, not one to sit behind a desk or keep my nose buried in studies, I went on to work in the race preparation side of things when the money to race ran dry. I built race engines, prepped cars and karts, and did some driving instruction. In doing all this I was exposed to TIG welding while repairing some parts. I fell in love with welding immediately. Something about being able to take something as hard and steel, and shape it, grind it, and join it together was immensely satisfying to me. I also loved the smell of it, it reminded me of toffee.
It was actually my mom who one day suggested I take a look at the website for the Southern African Institute of Welding. She knew me well and knew I would enjoy working in such a practical field. She was right! I moved back to South Africa, and dived head first into the IIW Welder Diploma, where I started from scratch, and studied the theory and practical side of welding, working through all the positions, processes, and many materials. Participating in competitions, winning the young welder of the year competition for Aluminum TIG welding, and eventually being employed by the same welding institute as an instructor, where I worked on two "train the trainer" projects, for the Nigerian Institute of Welding and the power generation company in South Africa (ESKOM).
I loved the field, I loved the craft, I loved the people I got to work with. One day I overheard to guys talking at the institute, about being Welding Engineers. I was bitten by a new bug. I decided that's what I wanted to be. Having not gone the university route after school though, I knew the only way to do this would be to work my way up. So I embarked on a new mission. I studied welding inspection. and moved to Nigeria to work in the Oil and Gas industry. I started as a welding technician, and worked my way up the company, studying all the way, to become the head of the welding engineering department, working on major projects with Shell, Total, ExxonMobil, and Chevron. I learnt more than I can possibly tell you in that experience. About life, about welding engineering, about the oil industry, about working with and managing large teams of people (We had over 800 welders, welding foremen, supervisors and boilermakers at that company).
However, being the person I am, along the way, I developed a keen interest in Quality Management systems, and wanted to learn more. So I took a job in Saudi Arabia as a Quality Manager at another Oil and Gas company, where I studied ISO 9001 quality management systems, and took the company through their ISO, ASME and AWS certification processes, before leaving to join the family business in Zambia.
Starting a Non-Profit/Remote Living
I had done my time in the oil industry. I had reached all the goals I had set for myself. My Mom and Dad had bought a safari lodge in Zambia, and asked me if I wanted to join them there, run the business with them, and
eventually take it over so they could retire. How could I say no? A once in a lifetime opportunity to move to what I consider to be one of the most beautiful places on the planet, be surrounded by nature, and have the opportunity to help my parents, and carry on the legacy of the company they had been building for 6 years by that time. I moved over, and took to the bush like a duck to water. Being so remote, we had to do everything ourselves. So there started a new learning curve. Large property maintenance, everything from plumbing to electrical, from rebuilding game viewing vehicles, to garden and pool maintenance, as well as running a business. I was in my element again, learning, growing, and embracing the bush life.
I also started to develop a new passion. As odd as it may seem, I saw that there was a problem where we lived. Snakes, and human snake conflict. There were many dangerously venomous snakes in the area, and they caused a lot of injuries and deaths. On the flip side of this, out of fear, this meant that a lot of snakes were being killed as well. I didn't like either side of this fence. I took a deep dive into studying again. I did courses on snake handling, snake bite treatment and first aid, and I immersed myself in the scene completely. Eventually starting an NGO (Helping Hands in Snake Safety). We were focused on training snake handlers around the country, as this reduces the risks of human snake conflict, by offering a safe and human way to intervene. We also did a lot of snakebite first aid training, and worked with doctors and hospitals on snakebite treatment. Over the years we developed a list of snake handlers across the country, we trained staff at multiple hospitals, and we attended to many snakebites. This NGO is still operating today.
I am no longer in Zambia, as once Covid hit, we in the tourism industry, were impacted quite hard and had almost no business for three years. We eventually cut our losses and returned to South Africa. That's when I found the job advert from Extollo, and began this new journey, working with an amazing team of people and using my skills and experiences to help the people of Haiti.
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