The Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber joins the rest of South Africa in commemorating National Youth Day, to recognise the contribution that young people have made to freedom in South Africa.
This year, both the National Youth Day and Youth Month are being celebrated under the theme: “Accelerating youth economic emancipation for a sustainable future”. To help combat youth unemployment and foster economic growth, the Chamber has partnered with KPI Solutions to implement the Youth Employment Service (YES) programme in Nelson Mandela Bay.
“Youth unemployment levels are unacceptably high and is a critical challenge in South Africa, including metros like Nelson Mandela Bay. Recognising the urgency to empower the youth and bridge the employment gap, the Chamber has pursued a targeted approach through the YES programme to facilitate a hands-on learning and skills development by placing them in diverse industries to gain invaluable work experience and exposure to different career paths,” says Denise van Huyssteen, Chamber chief executive officer.
Through the YES programme, the parties have facilitated the placement of unemployed youth in various Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) that participate on the various Chamber Entrepreneurship service interventions, underscoring the transformative power of providing opportunities for the youth while capacitating MSMEs in a win-win strategy.
Between 2022 and 2024, we successfully placed 62 interns with 27 MSMEs across the Metro. The Chamber’s objective is to capacitate MSMEs while tackling the challenge of increasing unemployment in Nelson Mandela Bay which is currently at 32.4% in the first quarter of 2024, according to the Latest Quarterly Labour Force Results.
The Chamber’s research indicates that MSMEs are still not playing their envisaged role of creating adequate employment opportunities and remain stagnant as they are faced with various challenges relating to operational inefficiencies, as well as access to training, funding and resources. It further reveals that 40% of the MSMEs have a sole employee – the business owner, while the largest proportion (69%) employ between 1-5 employees.
The Chamber is further working with the Nelson Mandela University’s Student Entrepreneurship unit and Rosebank College to harness and support efforts designed to increase student entrepreneurial intentions, and supporting existing studentprenuers. The Chamber does this by matching students with MSMEs for shadowing, while availing MSMEs registered with the Entrepreneurship Desk for targeted sessions.
Van Huyssteen says spearheading efforts dedicated to attracting and retaining investment, next month the Chamber will be launching a Trade and Investment Desk, with the core objectives and focus areas encompassing investment destination marketing under the theme of Bay of Opportunity; economic research and data availability, inward and outbound buyer delegations, international trade exhibitions, and Business-to-Business linkages. These efforts are driven to have a direct and indirect impact on local employment creation opportunities.
As part of efforts to retain and create manufacturing industry opportunities, the Chamber recently launched its Local Economy Reinvention Think Tank, which will run targeted workstreams to take viable ideas into viability studies, and ultimately the most feasible will be implemented.
Van Huyssteen highlights that “Key to this endeavour is the commitment of organised business to collaborate with key stakeholders in identifying opportunities aimed at retaining and creating investment and jobs in the Metro.”
These efforts, along with their Chamber interventions, are aimed at repositioning the local economy, fostering a competitive environment, and ultimately ensuring a sustainable future for the youth and the broader community of Nelson Mandela Bay.
Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber
www.nmbbusinesschamber.co.za