‘Entrepreneurship the way forward’
INDUSTRY and business leaders have called on graduates to be innovative and more entrepreneurial with their qualifications in order to secure employment.
Many graduates who find themselves unemployed in rural areas are also victims of how unqualified people get appointed to positions that require tertiary training because of “jobs for pals”, according to one leading Nelson Mandela Bay business academic.
Economists contend the youth have to come to terms with the fact that they must create their own career path.
Data from StatsSA shows that the unemployment rate is at 26.4%.
While students with qualifications that are regarded as scarce skills – such as engineering, business, accounting and science – can find employment once they graduate, students in other disciplines need to pursue their studies more rigorously and be innovative in how they use their qualifications, say experts.
Chris Adendorff, a professor in future studies at the NMMU Business School, says there will always be work if people educate themselves adequately.
He warned against assuming that some graduates may not find employment once they finish studying.
Although this may be an issue to a certain degree, he said: “The chances for employment are higher with education but the main problem is jobs for buddies, especially in rural areas.” Adendorff says there are cases in Mthatha where teachers have no qualifications or educational background.
“That is where the big problem lies because instead of one person for a specific job you have two or three people trying to do the same job,” he said. Weza Moss, chairman of Anathi Property Developers, said young people needed to go back to the basics to reap the fruits of their hard work at school and university once they enter the job market.
Moss has a career spanning close to 20 years in the corporate and business landscape.
“We need to ask ourselves: how can the youth master the basics and ensure that they take everything they do seriously.
“They need to understand that everything is not just about money.”
He said that due to the difficult socio-economic conditions experienced by many young people, some had compromised themselves and lost a sense of who they are as Africans.
“Our youth do not have role models and there are virtually no mentors to help them make the right career choices and educate
them on how to succeed.
“If our young people cannot make progressive decisions about themselves, how will they make decisions for others?” Moss said.
Yershen Pillay, executive chairman of the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA), said the agency had had to make a transition from its principal purpose of loan enterprise finance to education, skills development and grant finance.
“Not all young people wake up in the morning and decide to open businesses. Education and skills sustain a livelihood whether it is in employment or in entrepreneurship.”
Pillay said the problem with the agency’s initial loan finance was that the Industrial Development Corporation and the Small Enterprise Finance Agency were already offering loans.
“The difference with this transition is that the mandate of the NYDA now includes pupils, school dropouts, bursaries and skills development programmes which are community orientated,” he said.
Some graduates struggling to find work in their fields of study vented their frustrations yesterday.
NMMU BSc human movement science graduate Shani Adams said she started working as a secretary just to have something to do because there were limited opportunities.
Adams has been working as a secretary since 2007 and has not been able to find a job in her field of study.
Others have spoken out at the lack of training opportunities available for humanities graduates.
Research from Stellenbosch University also suggests that graduates with diplomas are less likely to find employment than those who have bachelors’ degrees.
Worship Freemantle, who has a BSc degree in biokinetics from NMMU and is an intern in the field at the University of the Free State, said he had to wait a year before finding a job after graduating.
He said if one was not connected, some graduates would be at the margins of lucrative employment.
He expressed his frustration, highlighting that it was also difficult to look for a job because of the socioeconomic conditions that some graduates have to bear.
Many graduates are from poor communities and they have to take care of their families as soon as they start earning a stipend.
In addition, it takes money to find employment because there are transport costs and admin costs associated with job hunting, Freemantle says.