Profile: Youth Employment Service (YES) – A true innovator in youth job creation

A true innovator in youth job creation

The DNA of non-profit Youth Employment Service (YES) is to work with corporate South Africa to get unemployed young people of South Africa into jobs.

YES is one of the highest impact, private-sector funded jobs programme in the country. It offers business an opportunity to improve their B-BBEE levels by registering with YES, while simultaneously investing in youth jobs and creating muchneeded youth participation in the economy.

YES has already proven itself to be one of the true innovators in South Africa, generating over R4 billion in youth salaries and over 70 000 quality work experiences in three years – and with no state funding. More than 1 800 businesses have already signed on to co-create a future that works.

New CEO has 25 years’ experience in social change and impact programmes

Newly appointed YES CEO, Ravi Naidoo’s tenure at YES started with the country facing some of the worst unemployment statistics it has ever seen. The Covid pandemic, the riots and social unrest in July, and massive social problems has seen the jobs market lose in excess of two million jobs since January 2020.

Naidoo joined YES with more than 25 years’ experience in creating and managing a range of social change and impact programmes. For much of this time, he has worked with trade unions, the public sector, and private sector fund management, finding ways to implement programmes in complex institutional environments. He is therefore ideally placed to lead YES in helping with South Africa’s youth unemployment issues.

“Time is not on South Africa’s side. The country – and its key social partners – must get to grips with the hard choices in the labour market. If massive interventions are not made, and soon, the vortex of rising unemployment and its accompanying social unrest will drag down the economy and, with it, the foundations of our young democracy,” he warns.

“Despite the gloomy outlook, there is also much hope. South African businesses are heeding the call to get involved in youth employment creation – YES’s 1 800 corporate partners already attest to that.”

Naidoo says more jobs created by the private sector will see an immense benefit as more young people in jobs means more potential paying customers to underpin longer-term market demand for their goods and services. Job creation will also mitigate against some of the enormous social problems we face in the country.

Naidoo was also recently appointed to the National Planning Commission by President Cyril Ramaphosa. The appointment is for five years and during this time, he will work on the long-term plans to advance growth and development in South Africa. "To achieve bigger national outcomes, different organisations, each with their own comparative advantages, must work together," believes Naidoo. This appointment will assist YES in collaborating more closely with other industries and organisations to help create a better future for all South Africans.

Driving force is the urgency of the unemployment crisis in SA

Naidoo says the driving force behind YES’s quest to get young people into work experiences is the urgency of the unemployment crisis South Africa faces. The latest unemployment stats released by Stats SA reflect two out of every three young people (under 35 years) in South Africa are unemployed, and this rises to three out of four of the under25s.

The YES model, which enables 12-month quality work experiences for youth, works on two fronts: direct employment for young people into sponsoring corporates, or secondly, through a host-partner model where corporates sponsor a young person to work in under-capitalised communities in high-impact sectors such as health, education and conservation.

This means that the private sector can work directly with NGOs to tackle this crisis and get youth working through this turnkey solution (implementation partner model). YES works with 33 high-quality implementation partners (IPs) across South Africa to place youth.

In the first year of working with YES, companies can receive their B-BBEE level up almost immediately, thanks to the Department of Trade and Industry’s (dtic’s) concession as part of their Covid-19 response.

Interventions like YES that incentivise businesses to sponsor work opportunities for youth, allow young people to break free of the experience trap where they can’t find work without experience and can’t get experience without a job. Having work experience on a CV and a reference letter, makes young people three times more employable and allows them to become beacons of hope in families and communities.

Additionally, corporate South Africa is seeing an increased importance being placed on environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategies and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by investors and consumers. Many are choosing where, and what to buy, based on an organisation’s transformation, socio-economic and environmental impact.

Naidoo calls on corporate South Africa to help young people unlock their full potential and change the trajectory for the country.

#SayYES to a future that works for all.

Sign up with YES www.yes4youth.co.za by filling in the form on our website and begin creating opportunities. ■