Formed in 1992 and registered in 1995, the Johannesburg based South African Roadies Association (SARA) is a unique and dynamic non-profit training organization dedicated to the advancement and development of skills and knowledge amongst the youth in the technical and production sectors in South Africa and further afield. The association has spent the past 16 years enabling young skills and capacities in the lighting, sound, staging, power, rigging and AV sectors through both the SAQA accredited Skills Education and Training Authority (SETA) training courses it has run, as well as through its Entry Level On-The-Job Training Program. The program has been (and still remains) the main way that new blood has found its way into the professional ranks in the technical and production industry in South Africa, and beyond.

Technical and production skills and training initiatives conducted by the South African Roadies Association in South Africa and abroad have confirmed a high level of job creation being initiated amongst the ranks of trained personnel. Simply put a newly trained sound technician and/or engineer will have little difficulty in extrapolating the skill to service other requirements of a customer and hire ten others to deliver the job .

Since its inception, SARA has developed and forged long term international relationships resulting in hundreds of South African youth travelling overseas to gain valuable training, skills development and experience in the UK, Norway,Denmark, USA, Germany for on-the-job training, exhibitions & conferences and education. This approach has allowed SARA to develop from within its ranks, the capacity to train, moderate and assess technical and production skills across all the sectors. Throughout the South African industry, not only are many SARA trained personnel to be found in full time employment, but also significant number (some 30%) of those trained have gone on to start their own enterprises, creating jobs for themselves and others.