Regular visitors to VISTA’s Facebook page will already know Boualem Ghaleb. As the VISTA leader for Algeria, he has been one of the more enthusiastic users of the social networking site, frequently promoting his teams and offering encouragement to fellow competitors.
“It’s the first time we have participated in such a large and important competition,” says Ghaleb, clearly excited about the prospect of engaging with Volvo’s international community. “VISTA will have a significant impact on people’s technical skills, as well as improve the knowledge of our aftermarket staff.”
Algeria has entered four teams into VISTA 2011: Challengers (Algiers), Dyna-Team (Algiers), Turbovan (Annaba) and Team Working (from Annaba and Sétif). Each team consists of four people, all of whom will be participating on VISTA for the first time, as Algeria’s first ever representatives.
“For them what will be important is the chance to meet other people, visit other countries, and test their level of skill,” says Ghaleb. Personnel will not only benefit individually, but collectively too, with Algeria’s dealerships sure to reap the advantages. “The first thing I expect is for us to actually play as a team – learning how to share information and how to work within a group. All in all, I expect a mass improvement in technical skills and competencies.”
With Round One already started, and finishing this Sunday, Boualem Ghaleb has noticed the positive influence VISTA has had on each of the teams. “By actually doing the tests they are excited and motivated to search for information, and exchange ideas between each other,” he says. “They are excited because they want to see if other teams working for Volvo in other countries are at the same level and work with the same methods.”
Can we expect to see an Algerian team at the World Final in Gothenburg next summer? “Everyone has a chance of reaching the final, they just need to have the will and the passion do take that chance,” says Ghaleb. “Winning VISTA is extremely difficult, but if we work hard and take our preparations seriously, we will only increase our chances.”
