It’s a YES all round for Ramaphosa’s plan
THE CEO Initiative has joined a chorus of organisations welcoming the launch of the Youth Employment Service (YES), a government-led programme aimed at offering a million unemployed youth a work experience opportunity.
President Cyril Ramaphosa said that YES would improve young people’s prospects of finding employment and would help build a more inclusive and sustainable economy.
The YES programme, an initiative between business, government, labour, civil society and young people, was launched at the Riverside Incubation Hub in Fourways, Johannesburg, yesterday.
Under the programme, businesses will create oneyear paid positions for youth aged between 18 and 35, with a minimum paid stipend of R3 500 a month.
Those businesses which do not have the capacity to place more people in their organisations have the option of sponsoring the salary for a one-year placement in small and medium enterprises, or to help young people start and grow their own businesses through seed funding.
Ramaphosa said that YES was a timely, worthy and ambitious response to youth unemployment in the country. He said the issue was perhaps the greatest and most pressing social and economic challenge facing South Africa today.
Jabu Mabuza, co-convenor of the CEO Initiative, said the YES initiative was a practical partnership that used the funding, skills and organisation of businesses, the incentives and regulatory power of the government, the co-operation of labour and the participation of communities.
Colin Coleman, managing director of Goldman Sachs in South Africa, and Stephen Koseff, chief executive of the Investec Group, co-convenors of the YES work stream on behalf of the CEO Initiative, also lauded the YES initiative.
“We are delighted that this service has finally come to fruition.
“Businesses have already been positively receptive to the programme, but we appeal to the entire private sector – particularly smalland medium-sized enterprises in all areas of the country – to participate.”
The South African Youth Council also welcomed the launch of the YES Initiative, saying that it will go a long way in making a much-needed dent in the youth unemployment plight. – African News Agency (ANA)