Can we solve the youth unemployment crisis?

“For many years, South Africa has been plagued by youth un- and underemployment. According to the World Bank, the Covid-19 pandemic worsened unemployment among young people. Among 15 to 24-year-olds, 63% are unemployed and looking for work, whereas among 25 to 34-year-olds this rate reaches 41%. The problem is enormous.

Young people make up more than a third of the South African population. Far too many of these individuals come from environments in which there is multi-generational unemployment and, as a result, they live on the fringes of the economy. This is unsustainable and contributes significantly to the deterioration of the social fabric in affected communities.

In an attempt to resolve their situations, millions of young people around the country set out on the road to find a quality job every single day.

But without the right support, the right information and the right training, the reality is that most of these individuals will never gain meaningful employment, let alone reach their full potential.

So what can we, as communities and businesses, do to alleviate their plight?”.

Download our Strategy Document HERE

Enter Marketplace Academy

“Marketplace Academy (MPA), a registered non-profit organisation (NPO) founded by the WNL Network NPC, exists to provide solutions that resolve youth unemployment in the communities we serve in order to better the lives of young people and their communities.

By playing a leadership role in transforming communities into economic hubs through the development of requisite skills, we aim to get people, most specifically the youth, employed so that they become innovative and active socially responsible citizens. This equates to transformation with far greater impact.

Our multi-pronged approach focuses on providing support to:

Audience Intervention
Schools Introducing a three-stream curriculum focusing on academics, technical and occupational skills
Phasing out maths literacy in favour of mathematics
Providing extensive career guidance to learner
Learners Preparing learners for employment
Enhancing learners’ employability through a specialised occupation-based learning programme
Grade 9 Personal Mastery Programme
Training youth coaches
Learner support in Mathematics
Educators Empowering Maths educators through training and development (in collaboration with the Gauteng Department of Education), the South African Maths Foundation and Govan Mbeki Maths Development Centre)
Unemployed youth Helping the youth achieve a matric equivalent (NQF4)
Preparing the youth for employment & self employment
Working with the schools in the community
SMMEs Formalising and growing community businesses

Uplifting a community, changing the world

To ensure that our work creates real and tangible impact for both the community and the South African economy,we live our purpose by providing solutions to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):

SDG

Marketplace Academy’s solution

By empowering the youth and educating them into disciplines where job opportunities are available
i. By creating SSMEs and assisting youth with skills to earn their own income
ii. By enhancing and growing the current community SSMEs and assisting with supply chain
iii. By assisting the communities to have equal rights to economic resources such as basic services

Promoting & setting riculture projects within communities

MPA empowers women and girls in the community to take up their rightful places is society through identified projects

Working with Gr 10 to 12 learners in the communities to improve their marks in mathematics and English, MPA:

Assists with resources using unemployed youth, through the Presidential Youth programme.
Introduces industry standard technical and occupational programmes (NQF level 2 – 4), which allows direct access into accredited occupational programmes and learnerships.

Carry out career awareness and open days with the relevant Higher Education Institutions Assists with bursary fund applications and funding.

MPA empowers women and girls in the community to take up their rightful places is society through identified projects.
MPA promotes sustained, inclusive and economic growth, employment and decent work by: Providing proper education and career awareness Assisting the youth with CV creation and job interviews.
Linking work seekers to businesses in the area and understanding the needs of the businesses Starting up new SSMEs and working with existing SSMEs to grow their businesses and markets in the community.
Providing health the setting up of the mobile clinic.

Training gas installers and providing gas to the local community.

Working in communities, we empower the youth to become part of the mainstream economy.

Working together with identified partners for the GOOD of the people and communities

Where do we operate?

As Marketplace Academy, we are currently piloting our multi-pronged solution in Reiger Park, a coloured township situated in Boksburg in Gauteng’s Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality.

Here, we focus on Secondary Schools within the community that offer technical subjects and are strategically positioned to respond to the critical skills shortage and job creation needs identified as key to social and economic development.

Through our interventions, learners entering the FET phase (Grades 10 – 12) are offered technical subjects with the goal of going through a specialised occupation-based learning programme aimed at building skills that have economic value, create employability and foster entrepreneurship.

These skills are necessary for entering the marketplace.

Why partner with us?

Partner with us to become active members of our country’s youth un- and under-employment solution. In doing so, you’ll:

  • Benefit by improving your BBBEE points Receive a section 18(a) donation tax deduction. Have direct line of sight into where and how your money is spent. Get a competitive advantage by having the ability to access a young, multi-skilled workforce. Be a partner for social good and the betterment of the South African economy. The late Nelson Mandela believed that the most powerful weapon we have against poverty is education.
  • As Marketplace Academy, we are committed to working with all willing entities (be they companies, schools, TVET colleges, SETAs and more) to drive solutions to create sustainable solutions for our country’s youth unemployment crisis.

For more information or to set up a discussion with our project team, contact Chantyl Mulder, Marketplace Academy CEO, at chantylm@marketplaceacademy.co.za or on (+27)11 913 4567. We look forward to discussing how you can be a part of our solutions.