GMYC

Y-Age youth entrepreneurship project a failure

Phetane Rapetswane |

Job seekers wait for work. File photo.
Image by: REUTERS

R30 million was spent on setting up the Y-Age Project, an initiative to encourage entrepreneurship and boost employment, but the fruits of the initiative have yet to be seen.

The Y-Age Project launched last  year  in March aimed to recruit 100 000 young people in Gauteng to be trained, mentored, funded and assisted to run their own businesses.

Entrepreneurs would then return to their various businesses where they would each endeavour to employ 3 to 5 people.

Eventually, the growth of each business would translate into the goal, according to the Y-Age website, of creating 1 million jobs.

In an address to the Gauteng Provincial Legislature, during the State of the Province debate, DA MPL Dr Gavin Lewis said “There are no jobs emerging out of the Y- Age Project although we’re are told a few hundred may be rescued from the ashes.”

Lewis said even if the programme were a success, the mistake made by the Gauteng Department of Economic Development (GDED) was assuming everyone is able to take risks and become an entrepreneur. “People want jobs”

He added most successful entrepreneurs first get work experience before venturing into starting their own business.

Lewis said, “There are jobs out there, but the jobs and skills don’t match… there is a need to bridge the gap, instead of funding FET colleges, youths should have internships at established small to medium companies and get training and receive skills necessary to succeed in the economy.”

According to rankings by Indexmundi website, and the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), South Africa’s youth unemployment rate is now at 48.2 percent.

Managing Director of the think tank Youthlab, Zama Ndlovu, was critical of the Y-Age Programme, but none the less expressed disappointment at the collapse of a programme aimed at alleviating the youth unemployment.

She said “It’s always sad to see a government initiative fail, for whatever reason, especially if it was not focused on being relevant to its constituency. There was an incredible amount of PR for the project, but there was no definite clarity on what candidates were getting other than the broad "skills training and mentorship."

Spokesperson for the GDED Phindile Kunune said in a statement, “We are currently engaged in a process of rebranding Y-Age, which will now be administered directly by one of our entities – the Gauteng Enterprise Propeller (GEP).”

The GEP will use the database of the 100 000 existing and aspirant entrepreneurs as a source for other internal programmes.

The Y-Age-Project was not available for comment. The number on their website does not work anymore. The SMS number provided for Y-Age is also defunct, but it still deducts R1.50 when an SMS is sent to it.