Skills Development and Unemployment

Investing in the development of skills, especially in our youth is not something that is only reserved for our government.

South Africa is a democracy because those who came before us realised that they needed to take matters into their hands and change the course of this country for the better. For most, democracy came at a very high price.

I ask you my dear reader, who are you waiting for to make this difference in the lives of our unemployed youth? These are THE future leaders of our beloved country and continent!

The Village Poet aptly put it in his song “now or never” – we need to get up and do things for ourselves!

I feel frustrated every time I see a brilliant young person who has decided on a better life, sit at home with their qualifications and they have no opportunities because they do not have practical skills. They are faced with the egg and chicken situation.

Yes, I know we have various SETAs whose mandate it is to help with skills development and transfer. My question remains, what are WE doing as citizens of the continent? Are degrees and diplomas the only way to go? What about changing the narrative and teach people to fish and not handing out fish. What about removing the begging bowl mentality?

As a group of companies we are doing something about unemployment, we are not looking left and right. Why? Because in our own small way we can make a difference. We are putting time into our mentorship program and helping out by providing career as well as practical advise. We provide career improvement training via @mashobaneadvisory as well as our @training and mentorship academy. These are provided by local and international experts at reasonable prices to give everyone access (these are taking off slowly, but surely).

We aim to create our own law services incubator where we will transfer specialised skills and get our youth ready to be employed by those companies who demand skills as an employment criteria. We will also be encouraging our incubates to venture into entrepreneurship. We will share the lessons learnt from failing forward. We will share honestly what the challenges are, these are mostly common to entrepreneurs in a country that says it promotes entrepreneurship, however it is the opposite lived experience, where the red tape is longer than the distance between earth and the moon. Where, to get funding we are expected to have an expertly drafted business plan as well as an A-grade credit record for our traditional banks. For most, pushing through comes at too high a cost and that’s when giving up becomes easier.

Therefore, stop looking left and right, or at the government, and look at yourself, in whatever small way, you can make a difference.

We are proud sponsors of the @Skillsdevelopmentsummit. We are punching above our weight and as scary as it is, we believe in what we stand for, that we are willing to do it afraid anyway!

If you would like to join us on this journey, DM me or email info@mashobaneadvisory.co.za. We look forward to hearing from you.

Let us all come up with solutions!

Namaste

#skillsdevelopment #mentorship #youthunemployment