FEATURE
a Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) award.
In Scotland, we don’t currently have a suitable level five award for young adults or people just coming into the trade, so what we’ve tried to do in creating an SQA award is focus on the elements that are valuable for the industry.
This is about the mechanisms which support running the business, how these elements interact, and identifying where the faults and opportunities for improvement can be found. We’re talking retailing and operational skills.
Examples include: How to identify a customer’s needs. Knowing where
with inexpensive and higher price point products. They can confidently spot a dangerous situation, be that with parts, on a frame, or in working situations.
Can you give us some insight into the training you’re developing and delivering? I’ll start by saying I’m Velotech and Cytech trained, and in November, I spent two weeks at the UCI doing their level three mechanics course. You’re always learning. That’s the workshop skills side of things. Now, the training that I’m developing and delivering has been created to address a different need and leads to
your skill ends and where your responsibilities lie for handing that over. Documentation. Booking a customer in - delivering a replicable, consistent in quality, experience. Processes can make for more confident staff, a happier customer, and generate more revenue when they work well. For someone like me, who’s trying to run a bike shop and develop reliable staff, you need to know that staff understand these processes. So that’s what we’ve aimed at. All these sorts of maybe less exciting, but 100% essential, things that I think sometimes we miss. For younger people, or someone new to the bike trade, who maybe doesn’t realise that this is also a service industry, we can make a difference for them and the business they go to work in. In the longer term, the aim is to bring back a Scottish apprenticeship. Here we look to bridge the gap between apprentice training and industry qualifications - Velotech and Cytech, which I believe are geared towards those who have experience working in the cycle industry.
A significant focus for me is partnering and working with third-sector organisations and groups, providing economically disadvantaged young people with an opportunity - for us, this is more of a community-based thing, providing training, enabling onward employment in a bike shop where they can add real value. The SQA qualification will complement Velotech and
Cytech, as it makes a career path from beginner to master, and will allow us, in the community setting, to reduce cost, providing valuable qualifications and an affordable rate.
Speaking of costs, how are you funding the training you’re developing and delivering? So this is the kind of bittersweet part. I’m actively looking for new funding as the current project funding for my staff finishes on March 31st. Then it’ll just be back to me and the partnership model I’ve got with the community group.
48 | April 2025
www.bikebiz.com
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