AUTHOR: Hanleigh
PUBLICATION: SME Tech guru
BMW Group South Africa announces its collaboration with the national Youth Employment Services (YES) programme, responding to the youth unemployment crisis in South Africa.
The youth employment service is a private sector-led national movement of over 2,200 businesses, tackling the country’s biggest crisis by creating or sponsoring jobs for unemployed youth. These 12-month work experiences help equip youth to become future leaders, professionals and entrepreneurs.
It is estimated that more than seven million young people under the age of 35 in South Africa are unemployed or are discouraged from seeking work. The YES programme is a collaborative effort to address the scourge of youth unemployment in South Africa, providing high potential (18–34 years of age) from the most disadvantage backgrounds into quality work experiences. A national programme, it benefits both the companies that subscribe to it, as well as the country’s economic base by creating social impact through youth job creation.
BMW Group South Africa on Friday, 9 December 2022 became a YES agreement signatory by signing the CEO pledge. BMW Group South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa CEO, Peter van Binsbergen, and BMW Group Financial Services South Africa CEO, Stefan Schuett, committed to a total of 510 YES programme jobs across the nine provinces. The YES Youth will be placed within the BMW Group retailer network, in SMMEs, and in the ICT, education, and health sectors.