By Nyari Samushonga, CEO of WeThinkCode_

So goes the well-known African proverb, “If you want to go fast go alone, if you want to go far, go together”. For years the race to solve youth unemployment can be characterised as one that has been rushed with little preparation for the journey and a vague idea of where the finish line is. Lots of money is directed into this noble effort, and many well-intentioned stakeholders spearhead the endeavour but somehow we’ve missed the mark, in terms of producing sustainable and meaningful results.

A solution to curbing rampant youth unemployment exists. It exists in understanding the current infrastructures within public and private sectors and bringing them together in a manner that does not ask for new programmes or ecosystems to be built and does not ask for more money to be spent. Instead, it lies in connecting the dots that have always been there and making better use of existing resources for mutual benefit.

Billions of Rands are being put into building skills, and yet we struggle with a skills shortage in South Africa while about 60% of youth are unemployed. This is a symptom of a larger problem which is that we are not producing industry-relevant skills. This is despite continuous investment in skills development from both the public and private sectors. Efforts are being made to a futile end. This is a problem experienced in various industries, but in technology in particular, the risk of going down this path is especially risky. 

Technology is shaping the economy and driving the future of the workplace. Because of this, economic opportunities for software developers will continue to rise. Yet, there are thousands of jobs in technology that remain vacant in South Africa due to shortages in skilled developers, and competition from global companies for these scarce skills. Recent estimates put the figure of potential earnings lost from tech jobs outsourced to other countries at about R800 million per month. A huge quantitative loss to South Africa’s economy and an even bigger qualitative loss in terms of jobs for unemployed youth that have the potential to become software developers. If you consider that an entry-level developer earns in the ballpark of R240,000 a year and that within four years that annual figure can rise to R800,000, it becomes clear that we are leaving money on the table. By not interrogating shortfalls within the current training models and investing in outcome-based training systems, we risk falling behind as a player in the global digital economy.  

Other countries, such as Poland and India have created offshore skills models. In India’s case, this is worth in excess of R200 billion per annum. South African companies - out of sheer desperation caused by a lack of skills at home - are spending inordinate sums of money offshore on skills that we should be producing here. It is quite conceivable that we could reverse the capital flow and start meaningfully competing with the likes of India and Poland.

Recently, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced an additional R800 million investment into the national skills fund focused on digital skills, in a bid to end unemployment. If we look at this money, and other existing money in the ecosystem, we can agree that the intention is to invest in skills development to the end of generating jobs, economic growth and social impact. However, to achieve this, we must do things differently to deliver tangible skills development outcomes.

By continuing to invest in systems that are not delivering jobs we risk having the same unemployment issues decades down the line. The public and private sectors should be actively looking for pockets of skill-building success and converging financial capacity to deliver on the mandate of skills development that leads to jobs. The private sector would benefit from an enlarged, work-ready local skills force, and the public sector would benefit from reduced unemployment, increased tax revenue and optimised budget spending. As simple as the concept is, it requires very senior people in both sectors to make firm decisions around skills development budgets and outcomes.

The models exist, we’ve seen the impact of accounting and legal industries banning together to create skills pools that benefit all players in the market.

The infrastructure needed to scale impact exists. Working only with one TVET college, WeThinkCode_ has widened its geographic reach and increased its capacity to train more youth. Expanding the partnership to other TVET colleges means scaling nationally to deliver exponential outcomes not deemed possible before.

The funding needed to scale exists. South Africa has one of the largest education budgets in the world, outspending some global economic leaders.

We have the potential but to realise it and rid our country of perpetual unemployment requires a concerted effort from all stakeholders to invest in skills development models that deliver outcomes beyond the training itself.