Youth advised to ‘start where you are with what you have’

THE unemployed youth and budding entrepreneurs should start where they were and with what they have and assess where they need to get to, the “Capacitating our youth to participate meaningfully in the economy” webinar heard yesterday.

The founder and managing director of AfriMaisha, Maria Isa, said there was consensus among the webinar’s panellists that the youth who were not participating in the economy tended to be frustrated with what they lacked.

“If they do not have what it takes, they should equip themselves with whatever it takes,” said Isa.

The panelists included co-founder of HireMe Jacques Barnard, National Development Agency chief executive Thamo Mzobe, Organispace senior architectural technologist Taku Rushwaya and board member of Youth in Property Association Sipho Mbadaliga.

The webinar heard that small and medium enterprises should not be scared of finding out how they could share their knowledge and skills and create businesses with it. Aspirant entrepreneurs were also encouraged to network and connect with the right people and institutions by creating conversations and relationships.

The panel said because the markets were concentrated, exacerbated by the global pandemic, making jobs limited, it was necessary for the youth who were not participating in the economy to try to create their own economy.

Another challenge that the uneconomically active youth faced was related to the skills mismatch.

Mzobe said South Africa needed to re-look at education. Organic education skills and knowledge could be used to create employment.