This represents a great opportunity for business owners nationally to bring in skills needed into their businesses, in a subsidised manner, which can help them achieve greater sustainability and growth.
The CDI Youth LaunchPad programme places unemployed matriculants and graduates in SMMEs; it supports work readiness, on-the-job and skills development training; as well as supports business owners to develop the systems and HR capacity to manage staff.
The CDI first ran the Youth LaunchPad in 2019/20, which created 149 work opportunities for youth in 92 businesses.
The CDI is scaling the programme up in 2022 through funding received through the National Pathway Management Network (NPMN) Innovation Fund, a component of the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention’s (PYEI) National Pathway Management Network (NPMN), a “network of networks” aimed at facilitating the successful transition of young people into and through the labour market. CDI applied for funding from the NPMN Innovation Fund in November last year and has been awarded a contract to implement.
Erica Elk, Group CEO, CDI, says, “We understand that small business owners can benefit from the additional capacity to support their business goals, but it can be a daunting step to take to employ new staff. The CDI Youth LaunchPad helps businesses manage some of the initial financial risk while providing the business with the support to get their human resource management systems in place and provides valuable work experience to local youth.
In 100% of the cases in our pilot project, the participating youth were able to launch themselves on their career trajectory – whether they were absorbed into the SMME, found another job they were better suited to, started their own business or decided to go study. In turn, the majority of businesses found themselves in a stronger position to increase their business capacity and manage staff. A win-win all around!"
Business owners can recruit interns for any area of need in their business – including in critical areas to assist their growth such as office/business administration, production, and marketing/sales, amongst others.
The deadline for applications is Monday, 30 May 2022.
Applications are open at: https://www.thecdi.org.za/YouthLaunchpad.
