Shaping youth potential: Building South Africa’s next generation of tech specialists

Through digital skills training, mentorship and workplace opportunities, Naspers Labs is helping young South Africans move from learning to earning, and proving that youth unemployment is not only a challenge, but a source of untapped potential.

South Africa’s youth unemployment challenge is often framed as a problem to be solved. Naspers Labs is working to shift that view by helping young people build the digital skills, confidence and workplace readiness needed to move from learning to earning.

For Tando Dubeni, programmes manager at Naspers Labs, the starting point is to look beyond the label of “unemployed” and recognise the potential young people already hold.

“Rather start seeing them as potential and value-adding individuals that we can actually onboard and create bigger value with them,” she says.

That belief sits at the centre of Naspers Labs’ work with training partners, who equip unemployed youth with digital skills, mentorship and access to opportunities that can lead to future-proof careers. The initiative has helped train about 7 000 young South Africans with digital skills and contributed to more than 6 000 entry-level jobs.

One of those young South Africans is Palesa Molautsi, who completed a programme through CapaCiTi (UVU Africa) and now works as a communications intern at Naspers in Johannesburg.

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“When Naspers Labs talks about learning to earning, that statement is very accurate,” says Molautsi. “If I look back to how I was when I first entered CapaCiTi to where I am right now, it shows the amount of investment Naspers Labs puts in. So, their story is real, in respect of the fact that they deal with the whole person.”

Her experience reflects the programme’s aim of supporting young people beyond technical training. CAPACITI, one of Naspers Labs’ implementation partners, trains and empowers unemployed youth through technology-sector programmes such as Software Development, AI, Data Analysis, DevOps, and Cybersecurity, preparing them for the workplace.

Reneilwe Kekana’s journey shows how that support can open new paths. She started as a system developer and is now a programme specialist, helping support the programmes she once participated in.

“I never thought I’d ever be on the other side of it. Now I get to support the programmes that I was once part of,” Kekana says.

When she started training, Kekana says it was all about learning. She began in a new stream, working in cyber, before moving into monitoring and evaluation as an intern – “something totally different”.

Now, she sees the value in helping other young people discover the same opportunities.

“I think of another Reneilwe sitting in Limpopo and knowing nothing about this programme. So now that I’m a part of it, I can tell other people about it. So that’s the most incredible thing ever, especially for young people,” Kekana says.

Together, these stories point to the broader shift Naspers Labs wants to encourage: seeing young people not as a statistic, but as contributors who can help build value in the country’s digital economy.

Dubeni says: “It’s not young people out there. It’s an opportunity. We’ve got hands, brains, creatives, and people who can actually create something of value in our country and really make it incredible.”

Find out more and apply at naspers.com/naspers-labs

This post is sponsored by Naspers Labs and produced by Media24 Advertising and Content Marketing for News24