Say YES to a future that works
Youth Employment Service (YES) is one of the first social compacts between government, business and labour created to give one million youth one million opportunities to succeed while securing South Africa’s economic prosperity.
YES Investec Showmax trailer
Over 50% of young people in South Africa are unemployed. The Great Reset series premieres on Showmax on 28 January 2021 - watch the documentaries to learn more about how giving youth a chance can unlock their potential.
The Great Reset Showmax series trailer
Showmax will showcase the experiences of five of the partner companies who have been the force behind thousands of youth work opportunities across the country, working through the YES initiative
Showmax will showcase the experiences of five of the partner companies who have been the force behind thousands of youth work opportunities across the country, working through the YES initiative
What is YES?
The Youth Employment Service (YES) is an initiative that calls on business to help the government create critical work experience for young people across the country. Launched in 2018 by President Cyril Ramaphosa, YES – together with over 1 200 partner companies – has already created nearly 50 000 work experiences for previously unemployed youth who would otherwise have had limited opportunities for employment. In this time, these partnerships have injected about R2.5 billion into the economy through salaries that have been transferred into youth worker wallets.
Business is the most powerful driver of transformation and growth. South Africa needs business now more than ever to get the country back onto solid ground and rebuild the economy. To encourage business participation, MultiChoice Group’s Pan-African streaming video service, Showmax, will showcase the experiences of five of the partner companies who have been the force behind thousands of youth work opportunities across the country, working through the YES initiative. These documentaries will share the impact these early adopter companies had on young lives and South African society.
I’m proud of what we have achieved so far through YES and via our partners, the Sabi Sands Pfuanani Trust, Care for Wild and Good Work Foundation, but this is a crisis we can only solve through collaboration. I’m therefore calling on other corporates and businesses to join us in broadening this initiative and giving deserving young people that all important first chance.
How companies can get involved
There are six ways that companies can support YES.
Learn more about YES
Watch videos, get valuable work readiness advice and learn more about YES.
How youth can sign up
Apply as a YES youth candidate online and access work readiness resources.
We are scaling up the Youth Employment Service and working with TVET colleges and the private sector to ensure that more learners receive practical experience in the workplace to complete their training.
Six ways companies can get involved
As a company, you can sign up to:
- Place youth inside your company on your payroll
- Place youth in black-owned SMME’s close to where the youth live
- Develop youth-owned micro-enterprises that feed into your supply chain
- Place youth into an external service provider for training and work experience
- Provide youth with skills development and training programmes
- Support the establishment of YES Hubs in critical areas
At YES, we believe in the untapped power and potential of South Africa’s youth. They have so much to contribute, given the opportunity. Through innovation, collaboration and technological best practice, we seek to create jobs at scale for unemployed young South Africans as part of a greater reset of our economy, and to drive the lasting economic and societal change that we all want and need to see.