In honor of Youth Month, Harambee hosts a media tour at their center in Johannesburg, South Africa. A tour that was led by their Chief Communications Officer, Zengeziwe Msimang. This event offered a detailed glimpse into how the SA Youth platform effectively bridges the gap between employers and young jobseekers throughout South Africa.
Leveraging technology as a catalyst
“We delve into the efforts underway to empower youth with work opportunities and foster financial inclusion, leveraging technology as a catalyst.” says the organisation in their statement
According to Harambee, recent QLFS- Quarterly Labour Force Survey reports reveal a concerning uptick in youth unemployment, climbing 1.3 percentage points to reach 45.5%. Widely recognized as a pressing issue, the crisis of youth unemployment persists as one of South Africa’s foremost challenges. Scaling up opportunities for young people is imperative to alter the trajectory, not only of youth employment but also of the nation’s future.
Positive impact on young South Africans
The organisation delved into Insights of sayouth.mobi, featuring testimonials from leading employers within their network on how it’s positively impacting the lives of young South Africans. The attendees were amongst the first to learn about the platform’s cutting-edge enhancements tailored to streamline entry-level hiring for employers.
The tour included:
• A guided tour of the SA Youth call center, which aids over 92,000 young jobseekers monthly.
• A visit to their DigiLink training center, underscoring our commitment to bolstering digital skills.
Keynote speakers at the event was Thabelo Raphala, Managing Director of MyDough, Tiresh Bedesi IT Operations Manager BMW SA. The two were joined by Ureshni Morrison in a panel discussion. The panel discussion focused on working relationships between Harambee, My Dough and BMW SA.
“BMW continues to take in candidates from Harambee. We started this from 2021. We teach the leadership in different disciplines. We stared we ten and have grown every year since.” says Bedesi
Director for MyDough, Raphala, insisted on pre consultation with Entrepreneurs and helping them to formalise their businesses.
“Entrepreneurs, in whatever field or industry, need to formalise and professionalize their businesses. However, we need to also check their background in order to understand what the underlying issues are in order to assist them properly. This is a process though not an overnight task. It will take months and years.” she said
Representing Harambee was Zengeziwe Msimang: Chief Communications Officer, Ureshni Morrison: Chief Operations Officer, Nandipha Isaacs: Programme Manager, Anele Ngwenya: Head of Stakeholder Engagement, Lead: Strategic Communications and Planning, Sandile Ngakane: Marketing, Jonathan Najoe: Communications.
Digi link
Asked on the level of preparedness in terms of what the Tech industry needed from candidates trained to deliver in relation to the new reality of Ai? Tshepo Makhanye who heads the Digi link department says, “We have been in the business for over ten years and have always delivered in terms of what the business sector requires as trained and youth professional candidates.”
Digi link focuses on training University graduates in the IT fields of Software, Data Analysis, Testing and Infrastructure Development.
