Stats don’t lie. At least not the ones that reinforce the dire youth unemployment crisis in South Africa. If truth be told, one does not even need to look at stats to confirm that. Idle youth, unemployed youth and demotivated entrepreneurs in your community probably say it all. To call for a turnaround, the president has announced a flicker of hope at the 2020 State of the Nation Address with his 2020 SONA strategy for young entrepreneurs.
The intervention
It is against this backdrop that the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention will come as a much-needed refreshment. It will span for about half a decade and will be based on six fundamental pillars which convert into focus action points. Without getting caught up in big words and political sensationalism, here’s the crux of the approach to be taken.
Six-point 2020 SONA strategy for young entrepreneurs
- Create and lure youth into the economy
- Refine targeted preparation to prepare youth for economic participation in the working world
- Offer innovative support for youth entrepreneurship
- Expand efforts to create new jobs by working with TVET colleges and the private sector to offer more students practical workplace experience
- Offer more opportunities for teen entrepreneurs to earn an income
- Reallocating budget funds for employment initiatives
The crisis of youth unemployment is one that is tackled from the highest office in the land to that of Tito Mboweni, the minister of finance. Mboweni elaborated on fighting unemployment in his budget speech.
Don’t even begin to think it is a mission for prominent roles; far be it! Raising future leaders is the job of all: parents, youth, community members, corporates and High School Entrepreneurs Societies. 2020 is the year of 20-plenty for SA Teen Entrepreneur as we launched our programme into the Eastern Cape, and March sees us participating in the #3mimpact programme. Working together, we can change the trajectory of this nation into a great story of hope. All is not lost. There is hope in South Africa still.
