The untapped potential in South African youth is the biggest drive behind Accenture’s goal of developing skills within the Langa community.
South Africa (19 July 2022) – South African businesses are stepping up to support South Africa’s talented youth by investing in their desire to learn new skills. Accenture is one of those companies working to boost skills within communities where the potential for growth is greatest.
The company has been collaborating with organisations at a grassroots level to meet the youth where it matters most. Accenture believes that through skills development projects, more of the youth will have access to jobs that are available within the current market.
‘We are a country that has the potential to thrive.” – Vukani Mngxati, CEO
The most significant focus has been on developing youth that has potential as entrepreneurs or who run their own small/medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs).
Coding Skills for the Future
To help where it counts, Accenture partnered with Langa-based NGO Quirky30. The NGO focuses on teaching coding to township youth. Quirky30 was founded by Sihle Tshabalala.
Sihle was a very bright young man, and he was able to matriculate by the time he was 16 years old. After he left school though, he fell in with the wrong crowd and ended up in jail for gang-related activities. He was released from prison at the age of 30 and started Quirky30, to empower youth in his hometown of Langa.
Quirky30 offers a course that spans a full year of IT training, covering coding, web design and graphic design, and it is entirely free, offering first-world ICT skills to individuals who may otherwise also have turned to crime in order to survive. With a staggering 34,5% of South Africans being unemployed, of which 70% of those are aged 18-35, there’s a huge pool of untapped potential that desperately needs these kinds of skills.
Accenture sees this potential, and NPOs like Quirky30 are made possible by investment and mentorship, acknowledging that the youth are the future of South Africa and that they deserve every opportunity to improve their lives and contribute to society in a tangible way. Over 12000 students have completed the course, with 90% moving into gainful employment.
Employment Changes for Youth
The Skills to Succeed Academy helps students figure out where their talents lay and then helps them prepare for jobs that would develop those. Skills courses help to prepare the youth for job interviews in the real world by simulating what interviews would be like.
The interactive online modules help students gain more confidence in themselves, their abilities, and their voice, all with the aim of securing employment and ultimately tackling youth unemployment in South Africa.
Accenture recognises that by providing these skills, they are also creating a talent pipeline for themselves. They continue to partner with governments, non-profits, universities and colleges to educate, train and support the incoming workforce through internships, apprenticeships and first job opportunities, including roles at Accenture itself.
Developing Future Employers
Accenture also focuses on ‘Enterprise Supplier Development’. This helps small businesses in South Africa to increase profitability and revenue. They work with young, up-and-coming SMME owners, taking them through a 2-year programme.
Young business owners that are equipped with the skills needed to run a business are more prepared for the future in business.
One such SME is FuseIT, a software development company headed by a powerful woman, Edith Mapisa. She wanted to impact lives impact livelihoods, and with the guidance, investment and tapping into the collective of Accenture’s capabilities and infrastructure, has grown from a one-woman-show to an 18-strong force in the enterprise technology arena.
These initiatives are just a fraction of the combined, global-reaching efforts of Accenture, where they touch the lives of countless people across the planet. Through technology and human ingenuity, they are a force for change!
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