SPECIAL FEATURE
Collaborating to put young people to work Youth unemployment remains a stubborn national problem but creative solutions are increasingly coming to the fore. By John Young learnerships, internships, short-course skills programmes and apprenticeships. SETAs are well placed to act as the linking factor between tertiary institutions and private companies or to ensure collaboration between NGOs and industry. Every industry is covered by the SETA network and companies must contribute a skills levy to the appropriate SETA. This occurs within a National Skills Development Strategy. Role of skills Whether the goal is to prepare to work for someone else (get a job) or to encourage entrepreneurship (start a business), the need for skills remains essential. Depending on the priority, the skills training programme would be biased in favour of workspecific skills (welding, computer skills, handling equipment) or business-related capabilities (keeping track of cashflow, marketing). The South African Council for Graduates Cooperative (SACGRA) sets out to support both approaches, striving to develop both “competent graduates that can become successful entrepreneurs or competitive employees” and like many such hubs, SACGRA offers advice, mentorships and links to markets and opportunity. What makes SACGRA stand out is its focus on co-operatives. Co-operatives are a successful model already widely adopted across South Africa for savings clubs known as “stokvels”. Old Mutual estimates that more then 800 000 such stokvels represent a value of R45-billion. SACGRA aims to professionalise co-operatives and prepare them to participate in two private-sector initiatives that have become a big part of the South African economic landscape, namely Supplier Development Programmes and Enterprise Development Programmes. In terms of these programmes, large companies are obliged to or choose to help build up and train
In launching MTN Xlerator in 2023, CEO Charles Molapisi explained how the scaledup Enterprise and Supplier Development programme is intended to boost supply chains, drive economic growth and create jobs.
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t is in everyone’s interests that the rate of youth unemployment in South Africa comes down. StatsSA has published figures suggesting that as many as 60% of the 15-24 age group are unemployed. The rate for the 25-34 cohort is above 40%. The single, simplest solution would be for the national economy to grow faster, but because making that happen is actually extremely complex, other solutions have to be found. And this is where collaboration between business and industry, the education sector and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) becomes vital. Since 1998, South Africa has had Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs). These vocational-skills-training organisations were established by an act of parliament and there are currently 21 of them. SETAs create and manage
SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS 2024
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