Enterprise applications company IFS has become the latest company to join South Africa’s new Youth Employment Service (YES) initiative by sponsoring learnership programmes for 30 young, unemployed South Africans.

The programme aligns with government’s drive to reduce unemployment by creating workplace learning opportunities under the YES initiative, which is a collaboration between business, government and labour to create one-million work opportunities for unemployed youth over a three-year period.

“Youth unemployment in South Africa is a crisis that affects social cohesion in our country, undermines economic growth and deprives millions of people of the quality of life and dignity that they deserve,” says IFS South Africa country manager and MD Mohamed Cassoojee.

Launched in March by President Cyril Ramaphosa, the YES programme aims to create between 300 000 and 500 000 jobs a year for young people to tackle the crisis of having six-million unemployed youths in South Africa, 60% of whom reside in townships and rural areas.

IFS aims to provide the youth with opportunities to develop skills and qualifications that will enhance their employability.

“The learnership sponsorship programme is IFS’s way of helping to address South Africa’s high youth unemployment rate and the current underinvestment in the country’s future skills base,” he says.

IFS is sponsoring 15 disabled learners for a 12-month General Education and Training Certificate: Hygiene and Cleaning learnership, National Qualifications Framework (NQF) Level 1 to unlock opportunities for careers in sectors such as healthcare, cleaning, retail and hospitality.

The other 15 learners have been enrolled for a National Certificate: Business Administration Services learnership, NQF Level 3 to provide them with a solid foundation for a career in business.

Speaking to Engineering News, he says that this is just the starting point for the company, which is seeking ways of working with partners and creating more jobs.

“The plan is to move up the scale and create internships in the information and communication technology sector and other technical areas,” he says, adding that IFS aims to grow the industry ecosystem either by hiring youth at the company or partnering with other firms to create an ecosystem that is conducive to hiring youth.

Further, the group is working with a partner to develop a current concept of self-sustaining protein farms to feed citizens in rural areas, where technology, including the Internet of Things, can be used for monitoring and management.

“We are hoping to continue supporting these types of initiatives with the same YES vision of putting one-million youth into employment – this national collaboration has the potential to make a large and sustainable difference to our country in the years to come,” Cassoojee says.

The first 100 young people under the YES initiative were employed at Absa, Investec, Netcare, Sasol and Unilever.

Telecommunications group MTN became another of the forerunners for the programme, when it teamed up with the initiative earlier this year, committing to the creation of 1 000 jobs across its South African business and group head office within the first year of the initiative.

By July, there were 35 companies recorded on the database participating in the programme by either employing ‘YES youths’ or sponsoring a salary through a small, medium-sized or microenterprise (SMME).

Companies can become involved by placing youth within a company on the payroll; placing them in black-owned SMMEs close to where the youth live; developing youth-owned microenterprises that feed into the host company’s supply chain; placing youth into an external service provider for training and work experience; providing youth with skills development and training programmes; and supporting the establishment of YES hubs in critical areas.