Sport betting company, HollywoodBets, has partnered, for the third year in a row, with the Youth Employment Service (YES) to offer quality work experiences for young South Africans.
HollywoodBets’s relationship with YES – the largest private-sector funded jobs impact programme in the country – has so far seen 140 young people changing their lives forever.
This third intake of unemployed youth by HollywoodBets is their biggest so far, with 74 young people being given a helping hand in determining their financial futures, and 83% of the intake being young women.
HollywoodBets forms part of the service industry sector in South Africa. This sector contributes 65% of GDP, offers 63% of all employment opportunities in the country, and has been the main source of growth for the economy since the 1990s, according to research by Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies (TIPS).
Using the YES internal model (placing unemployed youth within their business), HollywoodBets has provided critical, future-facing roles within the gaming, global business services (GBS) and digital industries. Their youth employment footprint spans across Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo where youth are employed as customer service consultants, FICA agents, mobile clerks, sales agents, and digital customer service consultants.
By facilitating youth employment in collaboration with YES, businesses like HollywoodBets make a significant contribution towards combatting high youth unemployment, upskilling workers and ultimately boosting the South African economy, particularly in the Global Business Service (GBS) industry, which has been recognised by government and business as a priority growth sector due to its rapid growth and job creation ability.
“We are giving unemployed youth a dignified first chance to access employment and become a beacon of hope for their families, households and communities.” said Babongile Mkhize, group transformation manager at HollywoodBets
Businesses participating in the YES internal placement initiative sponsor unemployed youth for 12 months in a job; aiming to give them the opportunity to gain their first quality work experience (QWE), transform their lives, uplift their communities, and the economy of the entire country.
Even though the latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey Q2:2022 by Stats SA showed a small decrease in the official unemployment rate, the expanded youth unemployment rate stands at 56.8%. This means that 7.3 million young people between the ages of 15-34 are unemployed.
“Hiring youth internally through YES is a great way to test if young people fit within an organisation. The 12-month contract these young people are offered, enables businesses to find the real gems who can add value to their companies. The GBS and gaming industries have been highlighted as sunrise industries, which will help bolster the economy and create thousands of jobs. We are so excited that our YES Youth are at the forefront of these future-facing opportunities through our partnership with HollywoodBets,” say acting COO, Leanne Emery Hunter.
“It is an honour for HollywoodBets to partner again with YES this year, to make a difference in the lives of these young leaders. Education, training and development continues to be a major focus for us, as we look to open many doors and opportunities for the youth, that will also have a long-lasting impact on our communities and businesses,” said Mkhize.