The comment quickly trended on social media, with many critics challenging his position, prompting him to later issue a clarification explaining “why we need raise the bar.”

However, initiatives such as what redAcademy and Lewis Group are doing in South Africa suggest that the talent shortage is real, without dismissing the concerns raised by critics of Eniolorunda’s remarks at The Platform, like the need for companies to offer better pays, train and retrain people.

So, as South Africa continues to grapple with a shortage of skilled technology professionals, a long-running partnership between redAcademy and Lewis Group is demonstrating the power of sustained collaboration.

The relationship is now entering its fourth year and serves as a powerful example of how big industry players and training institutions like redAcademy can work together to build meaningful career pathways for young people.

To date, more than 90% of redAcademy’s total graduates have been employed in IT teams after graduation, 7 of which were employed and are still working at Lewis Group today.

The programme combines real-world software development training with on-the-job exposure to live projects across Lewis Group’s business.

The goal, says Jessica Hawkey, redAcademy’s MD is to ensure that graduates have tailored technical and professional skills they need so that they are work-ready for the specific role they are stepping into with their employer.

“We want to create a sustainable pipeline of work-ready talent for the tech sector by giving graduates hands-on experience so that they can enter the organisation that they have been trained for and add value from their very first day,” she said.

This type of programme is especially important given the fact that there appears to be a mismatch between the skills young people have and the kind of experience employers expect.

This is according to 2025 research from Collective X, which shows that a total of 118,000 digital roles remain unfilled and about 41,000 of these are for entry-level roles.

“This is the exact challenge we were facing at Lewis Group.”Many of our new hires come straight from university with academic backgrounds but limited practical experience, so it takes considerable time to help them become familiar with our processes,” says Arno Geldenhuys, head of Information Technology for Lewis Group. “The redAcademy business model appealed to me because it’s beneficial for us to be able to bring in new people who have more practical knowledge and experience working in a real business environment. And what we’ve seen over the years is that the kind of people that come through redAcademy are willing to work hard, are open to learning, and are really passionate about what they do.”

Lewis Group was actually redAcademy’s very first partner, explains Hawkey, adding that the relationship between the two brands has grown and developed over the years.

Initially, redAcademy was focused on role-ready talent within software engineering. But as the business needs changed, we have evolved to also include Quality Engineering and Data Science. Being able to expand the programme based on business demand aligns perfectly with what redAcademy is all about. It’s not just training for training’s sake. It’s about developing the skills the industry really needs.”

Since collaborating with redAcademy, the Lewis Group has experienced substantial growth in its development team.

“As you grow, your team needs to grow too. But we don’t have the luxury of having a big team that can provide continuous training. What we need is people who want to work and are ready to work from day one, and this is what we get from redAcademy,” concludes Geldenhuys. “

Reflecting on our initial beginnings several years ago, my expectation was that we would form a partnership for a defined period, expand our team through strategic hiring, and subsequently pursue new opportunities. But with the way the IT world is changing, especially with the rise of AI, being able to access new and relevant skills is an incredible business opportunity for both of us,” he added.

RedAcademy’s work with Lewis Group is a great example of a company actively investing in building local talent, says Hawkey.

“They’re not just talking about it. This isn’t lip service.  This is years of real investment into addressing the skills shortage in South Africa,” she adds. “The impact of this partnership extends beyond direct business and economic benefits; it is also transforming the lives of the people who go through the programme who leave redAcademy with skills, experience, and a sustainable and meaningful career path in front of them.”

redAcademy will work closely with Flash Group to help them develop the skills they need without putting any additional pressure on their existing teams.

Flash Group has a massive tech team but is always on the hunt for senior tech talent.

“When our recruitment team did an analysis of the skills we needed and the amount of talent out there, it was clear that there was a large pool of junior candidates, but there was a very real shortage of people with more experience,” says Melissa Stemmers, learning & development manager at Flash Group.

“We knew we needed people who could hit the ground running, but we just couldn’t find them,” she explains. Given the lack of experienced tech talent, brands like Flash Group are also competing with other businesses for skilled professionals, which can make the hiring process costly and time-consuming. So, Flash Group decided to take a different approach.

“We revisited this pool of junior talent and looked for a way to upskill them quickly so they can add value to the business from day one,” she says.

redAcademy’s Skills-Integration-as-a-Service (SIaaS) model was the right fit for Flash Group because it enables them to access a pool of junior talent with real-world experience without having to provide on-the-job training themselves.

redAcademy offers custom training that fully immerses junior tech talent in company culture. As part of the programme, candidates work on their clients’ live projects, delivering work and capacity ahead of schedule, thereby gaining real-world experience and adding value to the business from day one.

“This doesn’t mean that we don’t have any input on the training,” says Stemmers. “We get a say in the curriculum, what our candidates are working on, and we even do some mentoring from afar, but redAcademy handles everything else.”

The approach is closely aligned with Flash Group’s purpose to make people’s lives easier and expands on the fintech brand’s continued efforts to address the needs of the informal economy.

“Through this partnership, we are spreading our outreach efforts even further by really building talent from the ground up,” says Stemmers.

At redAcademy, it’s so important for us that our candidates aren’t just tech-ready, but also culturally aligned with the organisations they will be placed in, says Jessica Hawkey, MD of redAcademy.

According to her, redAcademy is currently in the Discovery Phase with Flash Group and is working on everything from recruiting candidates to customising the course curriculum ahead of the project’s official launch in January 2026.

“Flash Group wants to invest locally – in the local market and in local talent – which is exactly what we want to do as well,” concludes Hawkey. “This project is such a good fit for both of us because we’re closely aligned in our missions, which is not only to support the community with the solutions we offer, but also to recruit from that community and then offer young people the opportunity to build a real career path.”

This is impacting business operations significantly.

But a skills-integration-as-a-service (SIaaS) model developed by redAcademy is a proven solution.

This model is having such commercial and operational success that it is being expanded into other highly skilled tech roles.

The customer-driven growth into the most in-demand skills is proof that this model is helping solve the country’s IT talent needs.

Only half of IT graduates are considered fully prepared for immediate employment in their field, resulting in technology skills gaps that are directly affecting the operations of 65 percent of businesses in South Africa.

Skills-integration-as-a-service (SIaaS) pioneer redAcademy is tackling these gloomy stats head-on with a revolutionary model that creates a collaborative ecosystem of tech talent, corporate partners, and their experiential learning hub – a fully customised and managed end-to-end service.

With a 96 percent placement of graduates into employment as testament to the success of the model, says Jessica Hawkey, redAcademy MD,

“Listening to the market and responding to its needs is crucial to our approach. To create a collaborative ecosystem, we consistently deliver value to our business clients, our young tech talent and constantly evaluate the effectiveness of redAcademy to fill the IT talent pipeline by serving both our candidates and clients.”

As a direct response to market needs, redAcademy is adding project management, cybersecurity, and AI developer programmes to their existing software development, software tester, test automation, and data science practitioner programmes.

“Importantly,” says Hawkey, “our rapid response to training for skills that are actually needed by businesses today, is because we do not train at arm’s length. We are fully connected, working inside our client businesses.”

redAcademy selects young South Africans to train for QCTO and MICT SETA-accreditation, but this is only part of the innovative approach. During months one to six, candidates – called Sprinters – study the theory in their chosen fields. For the full programme, Sprinters are embedded in the live business environment, operating within client companies. Months seven to 12 immerse candidates in real world experience where they deliver leading enterprise technology solutions while redAcademy oversees and hosts the full program in the live client space, and manages candidates’ delivery.

“In practical terms,” says Hawkey, “we’re helping to transform the way youth enter careers and the way businesses secure future talent to fill some of the most in-demand IT roles.

“Companies are aware of all the ways IT skills gaps impact their businesses, and they really do want to be part of an increased flow of talent through the IT pipeline, but they’ve got to focus on their core business. redAcademy is able to offer a point of immersion through our proven SIaaS model that takes care of every aspect of the partnership from QCTO qualifications admin to every aspect of integration into the client’s ecosystem. But we don’t stop there; we are contracted to deliver results to our corporate clients through our talented Sprinters.”

“Recruiting for critical roles incurs significant cost for companies and miss hires are expensive not only in monetary terms, but in disruption to business operations. Sprinters’ delivery of work into the client’s business is evidenced while trained by redAcademy inside the live environment. Once they enter full-time employment, they contribute to the team from their first day. The amount of time, money, energy and benefit this brings to the business is immense.”

The synergistic nature of the redAcademy model is solving a critical pain point that threatens business transformation, according to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025.

Hawkey says, “At the end of the year, our Sprinters are interviewed by the clients they’ve worked for under redAcademy’s management and guidance – keep in mind that at this point, rather than a report card, they’ve been assessed according to a set of KPIs and each client’s workplace standards. During the interview process, Sprinters have the confidence to speak directly to the benefit that they’ve already given to that company, and they also understand why they want to be a part of that organisation, which is known to them just as the candidate is known to the organisation.”

In the current South African context where businesses and youth face enormous challenges, the potential of the immersive approach is immense.

By bringing together talented youth and the strategic needs of business using a pioneering skills-integration-as-a-service approach, a powerful ecosystem is created that not only fills the IT talent pipeline but ignites South Africa’s digital revolution.

redAcademy’s unique SIaaS model can be easily adopted by businesses. And because the academy’s background is rooted in business and software, they understand the need to fully manage customisation, team management and administration throughout the full lifecycle of the program.

Onboarding is a mere two to three hours and the rest – program customisation, setup, placement interviews, management, and QCTO administration is taken care of by redAcademy. All clients need to do is assess the immediate benefit to their businesses.

However, efforts to harness technology are often hindered by a critical shortage of skilled employees in these fields.

Instead of competing for a small existing pool of talent, it now makes more financial and business sense for organisations to train people to match their specific skills requirements, and better fit with their company culture.

As we look to the year ahead, bridging the gap between the scarcity of technology skills and unemployment is just one of the trends that are expected to gain momentum in the local Information Technology (IT) industry. Let’s explore this further.

1. Partnering to bridge the skills gap

South Africa finds itself in the unenviable position of being home to the highest unemployment rate in the world – a problem that is especially severe among the youth – while also having to navigate a serious skills shortage.

Business continuity and succession planning are crucial, as losing key employees without transferring their knowledge can result in significant intellectual property (IP) losses.

This jobs crisis is not just a social issue, but an inherent business risk. Taking an alternative approach to skills development will not only enable businesses to stay relevant and maintain their competitive advantage, but go a long way toward addressing the high unemployment.

While business leaders might plan for human capital in terms of productivity, more consideration needs to be given to how they will integrate these skills within their organisation.

With the proliferation of technology and advent of numerous fields of specialisation, many organisations are often not aware of the skills that are available to them, and more importantly where to place them within their business in order to gain the maximum benefit. They are yet to fully understand the technology value chain.

In response to this challenge, companies are increasingly working with talent partners, such as redAcademy, in order to not only source and train candidates, but ensure better alignment between the specific skills they require, the outcomes they desire, and the budget they have – an innovative model known as Skills Integration as a Service (SIaaS).

An experienced talent partner will be able to get under the hood of a business to better understand where certain specialist roles can fit within the organisation.

2. The rise of the specialist

The debate between generalists and specialists has been an age-old one across many industries, and the situation is no different in technology.

If one considers the example of a data analyst; while a generalist might be able to carry out this function, a specialist would have a far greater understanding of their field, be aware of trends and challenges, know the workflows, that would result in a faster response time.

They will also have enhanced their knowledge and experience over a period of time in a specific skillset, rather than learning a little bit about many different areas.

Adding to this, specialisation also enables continued and lifelong learning in a structured manner, as opposed to an unguided approach.

Ultimately, a specialist will understand the complexities of a task a lot quicker, ask better questions to get to the crux of a matter, and have greater knowledge around challenges, processes and previous trends.

As such, South African businesses are coming to terms that they need very different types of individuals that they have to train for very specific types of skills.

Having people with a variety of skills working on a problem also brings in differing viewpoints, which can help them innovate and stay ahead of the competition.

At redAcademy, a senior team comprising members with various backgrounds, assess client and business partner needs – asking the right questions from the onset, which covers all aspects of the organisation, so that the Academy can tailor and customise the curriculum to meet the client’s exact requirements and align with their processes.

3. A focus on diversity and inclusion

Local IT businesses are also looking to be a lot more intentional about enhancing workforce diversity and inclusion, especially around bringing in more women and youth into the sector.

If companies are serious about driving change and making a positive socio-economic impact, this must  be driven by business leadership and top management.

The stark reality is that South Africa’s traditional education system does not afford many youth the opportunity to attend a school where they are exposed to technology or conversations around career options in technology, impacting their ability to enter the jobs market.

The ‘standard interview’ techniques and methodology are also likely to not yield results. The interview should be made more relatable; an environment for young people to showcase their skillset, while marketing themselves and an opportunity for the applicant to learn about, and understand the business culture and role.

Beyond being female founded and led, the talent that redAcademy has been able to source, train, and place in jobs has proven that there are youth and women who are performing at the highest level. All they need is an environment that facilitates growth and lifelong learning.

Businesses in the local IT sector that fail to take the time to identify the potential in South Africa’s youth are missing out on hidden South African talent.

For those businesses that do not have the time, or resources in-house to drive this change, then a partnership with a training service provider is the best way forward.

Jessica Hawkey, MD of the innovative and experiential learning hub redAcademy, says the biggest obstacle to closing the skills gap and getting more young people into IT careers is the perception that onboarding them burdens businesses by negatively impacting productivity and draining resources.

This understanding was reinforced by a recent survey conducted by redAcademy, that included some of the most recognisable brands in the country, spanning retail, financial services and more, where the number one concern remains the time, effort and loss of productivity associated with onboarding entry-level software developers.

“We knew from the outset that if we are to make any meaningful impact on the skills shortage we needed to find a solution to this problem. Since day one, and backed up by our recent survey, it became clear that graduates with classic qualifications require significant investment to get them up to par with ways of working and to be a cultural fit with the organisation they are entering. Businesses are concerned that this is not a quick process and that it eats into the capacity of senior resources who are not as productive as a result. This is why businesses are opting to hire more seasoned developers, even at a higher cost,” explains Hawkey.

Hawkey says that in order to address this, redAcademy has approached integrating skilled entry-level software developers into businesses as a managed service.

“SIaaS is designed to remove the number one obstacle to placing skilled young people in businesses. And so, as a managed service, redAcademy handles every step of the integration, significantly reducing the time and effort businesses need to invest themselves. We achieve this by customising year-long training inside the client’s live working environment. Six months of this is dedicated to their real-world software delivery. All of this is overseen within the redAcademy team,” she said.

The result is that businesses can focus on delivering value to their customers, while redAcademy’s senior software development professionals come in and manage the entire integration process, explains Hawkey.

“This changes everything because now, instead of having to invest time and money just to get a young person to be able to start adding value, the skilled developer starts day one of his or her employment fully immersed in the business culture and live projects, already integrated with the existing teams.”

Hawkey says that the managed service model, at scale,will make a dent in the IT skills shortage. “As a country we spend inordinate amounts of money outsourcing every year. Imagine that money was turned inwards – the impact on the local economy would be profound. In addition to this, circulating the same mid-level or senior developers increases costs and with heightened competition for talent, businesses invest in onboarding new staff only to lose the talent to another business with more budget. This is unsustainable as the skills gap is just getting bigger and unemployment is just getting worse. There isn’t an endless runway and as a country we need to do something before we get to the cliff.

“Make no mistake, the government and many other stakeholders understand the magnitude of the problem, with a host of important interventions. Now, businesses can enjoy SIaaS through their skills development spend as it is an accredited programme, meaning this comes at no additional cost to the IT department who gain access to custom-trained and experienced talent,” explains Hawkey.

“Adding SIaaS into the country’s toolkit provides a compelling business case to make a difference because companies can secure their future IT talent needs while simultaneously contributing positively to the country.”

The cruel irony is that the skills shortage, especially in software development as a highly skilled career, means companies are struggling to find highly skilled workers.

One of the negative outcomes of this is that companies are forced to cannibalise each other’s skills which in turn makes the small pool of skills more, and sometimes, too expensive.

It is estimated that four out of every 100 school leavers will graduate with a university degree, meaning that businesses hoping to find developers from within that 4% are likely to continue struggling the way they are now.

Universities are just not producing enough software developers quick enough, paving the way for alternative interventions.

There’s no denying that demand-led training, where training programmes are designed and delivered based on specific industry demands, is the fastest route to changing the status quo.

Most interventions incorporate some kind of integrated work experience in their training modules, and these vary from remote integration to the learner needing to find an internship.

We’ve found that a highly focused, proactive and reactive training with a finger on the pulse of real-time development needs, where learners are placed in live work environments, produces superb, work-ready software developers.

These young software developers that have an accelerated path into employment improve their own lives, their families’ lives and add value to their communities and the companies that employ them.

There is a compounded knock-on effect when a single young person starts in an in-demand career such as software development.

The key to running successful interventions, beyond integrating top trainers and active developers who become mentors, lies in the recruitment and interview process.

Certainly, from our perspective a great deal of effort is spent on finding candidates with a determined attitude and hunger to learn.

This means that when we invest in them strongly, the reward is genuine intergenerational impact and increasing diversity in the software development industry. It’s about providing businesses with options to complement the current constrained skills pipeline.

Zaphea Greenslade is a 19-year-old graduate from redAcademy. She doesn’t need to wait years still to start a career because she has already been successfully integrated into employment as a junior software developer.

Zaphea says she approached redAcademy as she was weary of being an unemployed young person – even with a university degree. Being able to take care of herself was important, saying: “redAcademy pays you a monthly stipend. I was able to help out around the house, pay my own travel, and even pay my student loan. I think that in itself also helps equip you with money-management skills.”

Asked about how her time at the academy helped her, she said: “The skills I’ve gained at the academy have prepared me for the real world. I’ve become familiar with a collaborative working environment, the concept of company cultures and values, various ways of management, and also how businesses operate in general.”

Phophi Muravha, 20, who also joined redAcademy after attaining matric, is also employed as a junior software developer.

She says she:

“did not want to go to an institution that was only going to provide me with theoretical knowledge. I wanted to be in an environment that was going to require me to complete practical tasks as I am a practical learner. I also loved the fact that it was based in an office environment”.

Like Zaphea, Phophi was all too aware of the country’s unemployment realities. While she had the option to apply for a university degree she says:

“going to an educational institution did not guarantee me a job after I was done, and with the country’s youth unemployment rate being so high, I did not want to take that risk with my future.”

Erin van Graan, currently studying at redAcademy didn’t have the opportunity to go to university, and at school preferred languages and history. “My education had no influence on the decision I made to pursue a learnership in software development,” she says.

It’s important to invest in learners as people, the way a company would invest in the career development of its employees. Doing so makes demand-led training so effective.

In Erin’s words:

“The level of investment in my professional and personal development is excellent. I learned about things I never knew could be true, or things I always wondered how it could happen,” she said. Intervention needs impact.

On the other hand, an environment built on equipping people with practical work skills can have a generational impact. Shayden Maseko, 32, was a rigger and crane operator.

He missed out on a computer science degree at university and within a decade reached the ceiling in his chosen career. Being married with a child, he had a vision of providing more.

“By participating in this learnership, I’ve got a foot in the door in the software development field. It will allow me to have a career in this field of work,” he says. “You shouldn’t be afraid to change careers if you feel at any point what you are doing is not for you, with great risk comes great reward.”

Companies have a great opportunity to tap into work ready skills from demand-led training academies in addition to the existing university pipeline.

This is incredibly exciting as it not only works towards addressing the skills gap, it also greatly impacts the lives of young people hungry to start their careers in technology.

This gap is because there isn’t a real push towards aligning training programmes with the skills that companies require for specific roles.

Training candidates – or Sprinters as we call them – through a demand-led approach makes a valuable impact to both their lives as well as to the organisation, as immersive training means that they are familiar with a company’s technology stack and their office culture, making them immediately employable.

South Africa needs an agile, skilled, and adaptable workforce, as this is a critical objective for the private sector. This is especially true in an environment in which South Africa is facing growing economic challenges and rampant youth unemployment.

Jessica Hawkey, MD of redAcademy, details how to implement demand-led skills training in an IT department within a company, as well as its benefits.

Traditional training

Samelane points out traditional teaching measures still dominate how things are done. Yet, there is a distinctive shift towards immersive experiential learning, which prepares students for real-life challenges.

Such immersive training also caters for those students who learn better in real-life, or a live environment. It allows for better understanding of the subject matter, increased engagement, and motivation as well as better retention of the information, which is especially important in a fast-paced technology driven world.

As companies’ requirements change, so too does the way tech skills are taught. Not only is there a need to amend course curriculum to adjust for a specific necessity, but we must also move towards a more experiential training environment – giving students a hands-on experience in a live environment. This is a shift towards doing rather than hearing how things should be done.

What is it?

A 2022 report from the Department of Higher Education and Training, Skills Supply and Demand in South Africa, found that South Africa, overall, has a large imbalance between the demand for skills, and the supply.

This paper states that several workers are either underqualified or overqualified for their current jobs, and there are mismatches between a worker’s qualifications and the level of prowess required for their jobs.

Demand-led skills development is a key solution when it comes to ensuring that those who desperately need jobs can find them, while matching candidates with companies that seek specific skills in software development.

Taking this a step further is work-integrated learning, which makes it possible for companies that provide skills development in a live environment, like us, to present candidates to the company that already have the relevant experience – a process closer to an internal promotion.

Why it works

Demand-led skills training in a live environment benefits not only work seekers, but also companies because it resolves a specific skills gap, and puts the commercial objective front and centre for training.

It allows, in our experience, the employers the ability to focus on more strategic elements of the business and identify further areas in which they need to develop a pipeline of talent.

We have already seen evidence that immersive training also enables the development of softer skills, enabling those entering the workforce to engage with their peers and other colleagues in a way that fits in with the company’s culture. It also means that they will learn confidence to put their ideas forward, which adds a diversity of voices to the company, enabling them growth and creative ways to problem-solving.

Company benefits

Demand-led training not only aligns with company priorities in terms of business strategy and creating a pipeline of talent to help fulfil those plans in the IT department, but also saves money because it cuts down on the cost of hiring.

Hiring a new staff member can cost anywhere between three to four times what the employee’s annual salary would be, according to the Society for Human Resource Management.

The bulk of the expense comes from the amount of time department leaders spend assisting HR in the hiring process.

Immersive training cuts down on this spend because the process is more akin to promoting from within the company rather than hiring from outside and having to assess skills and cultural fit. It reduces pressure on HR to recruit, reduces pressure on hiring managers to oversee, and reduces time to productivity of team members.

There are additional savings to be had, such as quicker onboarding of new talent, as well as them immediately being able to contribute to the current team.

The needle is finally shifting away from supporting training for training’s sake to the actual impact made, a shift that will be made through partnerships across all stakeholders including trusted partners who have been making an impact when it comes to livelihoods changed forever and not just the number of people trained.

This will stand South Africa in good stead as we seek to move with technological trends while also creating jobs and benefiting the economy.

While there is no doubt that young people need more job opportunities, the challenge, from a business perspective, is finding sufficiently skilled people to come into a business and make an almost immediate contribution to the company.

PARTNERSHIP – How redAcademy and redPanda Software Created Sustainable Pipeline of Tech Talent for Lewis Group

Through providing experiential software development experience combined with theory, organisations can hire skilled staff, and be certain that they have a sustainable succession plan.

At the same time, having diverse voices around the table is key for any organisation’s growth because it brings with it different ways of seeing opportunities, threats, weaknesses, and strengths.

In South Africa, we are blessed with a multitude of different people from across the spectrum of society, providing alternative perspectives on key business aspects.

We have all seen South Africans stand together in times not only of gees and celebration, but also when it comes to adversity.

Springbok jerseys were the order of the day whenever we played in the recent Rugby World Cup, and the country cheered almost as never before when we brought the trophy home for the fourth time since the dawn of democracy.

There is no reason why this ‘can do’ attitude cannot be brought into the boardroom and in every other aspect of a business, helping bring more young people into the work environment.

As Harambee rightfully points out, inclusive hiring of those who wish to make an impact on the company is a good business strategy, and just makes business sense, as it tends to result in less absenteeism, increased staff retention, and improve a company’s reputation – both of which aid in increased productivity and revenue.

A much-needed approach

Inclusive hiring at all levels of an organisation also benefits the broader economy by helping tackle South Africa’s socio-economic woes.

The economy is only expected, as per National Treasury, to grow 0.8% this year, while 7.9 million South Africans are unemployed, and another 13.3 million have given up looking for jobs.

When it comes to the younger age groups, those who either didn’t finish school, or only have a matric, have higher levels of unemployment than the average level in South Africa.

The unemployment situation will intensify if something is not done urgently to provide skills to future leaders and give them the opportunity to uplift themselves and their families.

By 2030, young Africans will make up 42% of those across the globe, according to the World Economic Forum.

After leaving school, 3.5 million youth are not in any system of further education, employment, or training – excluded for one reason or another from the institutions that are meant to help them move into the formal economy, as well as benefiting their families and the broader community.

Bringing eager youth into a live training environment, where they earn their once-off tuition fee back over the course of the year as their stipend, is a solid solution for unemployment that all companies can embrace.

At the same time, it brings valuable diversity into an organisation, through which companies can grow and prosper because they include all South Africans.

Such a programme, as has been our experience, aligns new hires with organisational culture and expectations.

An emphasis on soft skills, professional development, and technical training ensures that candidates are better equipped to integrate seamlessly into work cultures and fulfil their roles effectively.

Youngsters can help companies improve time to productivity as, with prior training, they require less time to adapt to work environments, understand processes, and contribute effectively.

This translates into faster project ramp-up times and quicker delivery of results.

Embracing inclusivity, including candidates from diverse income backgrounds, and fostering a workforce with a blend of practical skills and technical knowledge not only promotes innovation and creative problem-solving but also has a positive economic impact by uplifting communities, reducing disparities, and providing opportunities for individuals from various backgrounds to thrive in the workplace.

Even as South Africa grapples with one of the highest youth unemployment rates globally – with 8.9 million unemployed young people according to Statistics South Africa – traditional approaches to tackling the issue have been met with limited success.

A major challenge is that most skills development programmes focus only on training and leave the rest to young people.

An alternative model is needed to tackle youth unemployment: one that not only imparts skills that are in demand but provides real workplace experience and employment upon completion.

Young people in South Africa face immense challenges, starting right when they are still in school, and must figure out what path to take next to earn a living and be able to support their families.

A lack of career guidance and exposure to the right social networks, however, tends to result in youth enrolling in courses that do not match with their skills and interests or current industry requirements, reducing their chances of success and employability.

An academic qualification alone is of little help, with data from Stats SA showing that one in four young people in South Africa come from an environment where no one in their family is formally employed, leaving them with little support or guidance to navigate the world of work.

Then, based on research conducted by Youth Capital, an advocacy campaign centering youth voices and experiences in solutions to tackle the youth unemployment crisis, there is the high cost of job seeking with youth having to spend between R500 and R1 000 per month, just to look for work.

This is a high cost for someone who is unemployed, and often they are forced to choose between putting food on the table and going out to look for work. It comes as no surprise, then, that the majority of youth have been looking for work for more than one year – according to the same Youth Capital research report, titled “Beyond the cost: What does it really cost young people to look for work?”.

Then, there is the family pressure: because they have studied, there is an expectation that they should now be earning and contributing, which places an additional burden on them and potentially impacts their mental health.

It has become painfully apparent that the traditional ways of skills development and training have failed to make a substantial impact in tackling youth unemployment in the country, and that alternatives are required.

There is a need to move away from training for training’s sake, and toward scalable, sustainable solutions that equip young people with relevant skills that are in demand by the market, thereby providing real career pathways.

Private sector partnerships the way forward

One such example of an alternative approach to youth skills development is redAcademy, a Cape Town-based organisation that partners with the private sector and operates inside clients’ live IT environments.

Through its rigorous and refined recruitment methodology young people are upskilled to match the exact requirements of corporate partners.

Candidates here enter into a one-year programme where the first six months are weighted toward theoretical and practical components, and the second six months are weighted towards actual, real-world development of solutions for private sector partners.

In this way, Sprinters, as the candidates are known, get workplace exposure as well as experience software development in the real world.

Not only does such an approach take the cost out of job seeking for South Africa’s youth, but they are also exposed to a network that links them with opportunity when they are done with their year-long course. In this case, Sprinters have permanent employment from the very first day after completing the course, due to the work experience gained from the programme.

“redAcademy understands that young people come from difficult backgrounds, as well as the societal issues they face, and has created an environment that is supportive and works to ensure that they are setting up these young people for long-term success. This includes partnering with the private sector right from the start in order to train young people based on what is needed by industry,” says Kristal Duncan-Williams, Project Lead at Youth Capital.

Upskilling also has to go beyond academic training; businesses often don’t hire young people because of the growing gap between the world of study and work, and they are hesitant to invest their time and resources into training to bridge this gap in order  to get new employees up to speed. Apart from a six-month involvement with private sector partners that gives them experience in the world of work, redAcademy also focuses on areas such as soft skills, which cannot be learnt from a textbook, but can only really be learnt through modelling and practice.

Many businesses are so busy with the day to day work that training first-time hires is just too much to ask, but the reality is that the addition of skilled youth can help them grow. However, most are unaware of what initiatives are out there to provide them with the skilled young people that they need. Involving business owners upfront in initiatives like redAcademy can help them find the right employees to grow their business and benefit from having access to work-ready youth; while young people get the opportunity to start a career in a growing field.

“Nine million young South Africans are currently unemployed. South African businesses have to think about how they can address this challenge; if this high level of unemployment persists, where will they get employees from in the future? Who will be their future customers if no one has money to spend? redAcademy works for young people who have a natural talent and affinity for the technology field. While not all young people want to work in this field, it does create more pathways to leverage their talent and meet the skills needs of local businesses, and this model is the answer,” says Duncan-Williams.

“I have interviewed upward of 400 juniors in my career. When I interview a junior, it is all about attitude and aptitude rather than technical knowledge, which can be taught. The benefit of working with an organisation such as redAcademy to source young IT talent is that unlike a university degree, redPanda Software can influence the course curriculum. As redPanda Software is the software development partner for South Africa’s leading furniture retailer, the Lewis Group, this is invaluable, as we can refine what our requirements are for the end goal. In addition, these highly-motivated candidates – called Sprinters – are more likely to take full advantage of what is their first formal job opportunity. Quality talent makes a difference to a business, and this is a great way for organisations like the  Lewis Group to secure that talent from  redAcademyand contribute to social responsibility in a sustainable way,”

Identifying the Challenge

redPanda Software is an enterprise retail software developer and technology partner, providing highly customised software solutions to leading retailers around the world.

Through the development of long-term partnerships based on trust, transparency and specialist experience, the company delivers enduring, quality software and solutions that enables forward-thinking retailers to achieve their growth objectives. 

The company’s unique partnership approach begins internally, with bold investment into internal talent development that propels a sustainable growth cycle. This growth cycle enables the company to provide advanced technical expertise to future-focused retailers, and to partner with best-of-breed solutions providers in key areas such as Point of Sale solutions (PoS), last-mile delivery and digital transformation journeys. 

As the demand for software development talent continues to rise, redPanda Software faced a significant challenge: the need to establish a sustainable pipeline of skilled software developers to build client solutions. This included skilled resources to work on the Lewis Group account, within redPanda Software.

In a unique approach to address the issue, Lewis Group entered into a partnership with redAcademy that would see talented young South Africans being trained in a manner that would also see them contributing to the development of IT solutions for Lewis.

Partnership with redAcademy

When adopting traditional recruitment methods, it is not uncommon to find candidates who possess two or three of the technical skills that an organisation needs, but there is still a gap and they need to be taught new skills that are particular to the business they are joining. Through redAcademy, redPanda Software is able to secure the exact blend of technical skills that it requires.

redAcademy is an innovative skills and experiential learning hub that specialises in teaching coding and technology skills. Unlike the traditional academic approach, candidates (or Sprinters as they are called) in redAcademy can fast-track their IT careers in a live environment, taught by dedicated software lecturers and guided by senior real-world developers, to develop working solutions for real customers, such as the Lewis Group, using the most relevant coding languages.

This was an ideal partnership; being a proudly South African company, the Lewis Group is also committed to supporting and uplifting young people who may not have the opportunity to study in formal tertiary education. Beyond that, it sees the strategic value for the country in fast-tracking young people onto the career ladder.

Before a single candidate was trained, redPanda Software worked with redAcademy in order to develop the course outline, as well as provide guidance around course material and what the candidates would learn about. This included in-depth train-the-trainer sessions so that redAcademy lecturers could familiarise themselves with redPanda Software’s technology stack and best practices, though the need for this is likely to diminish as the partnership matures.

The course material was further refined along the way, with redPanda Software architects working with redAcademy lecturers to modify the course as required so that successful Sprinters were fully aligned with the redPanda Software’s requirements. Of course, self-development is a journey and learning doesn’t stop once someone finishes their studies, but redAcademy has set a solid foundation for this growth.

Work-ready Sprinters

Sprinters take part in a one-year long programme where the first six months is weighted towards theory, learning career dynamics, learning business structure, and more, while the second six months is a sprint that’s weighted towards actual, real-world development of solutions for an array of the biggest retail customers in the country. 

Because the course is custom-developed, and there is close cooperation between redPanda Software and redAcademy, the second six months of practical experience and development of real world solutions is completed inside redAcademy with oversight from redPanda Software, with clients directly funding the solution creation.

In-depth interviews with team members are then conducted to assess their skills, to determine if there is a good cultural fit and if they already have exposure to the domain knowledge needed.

Those meeting the criteria are recruited as permanent staff by redPanda Software, which saves time and resources as compared to a traditional hire, as the organisation doesn’t have to wait for a few months to know what they are getting.

This innovative approach means that instead of just doing abstract exercises once the Sprinters arrive at redPanda Software, this six-month workplace exposure to live projects for Lewis Group adds significant value to the Sprinters.

They get to see the practical use of their skills, and also add value to redPanda Software as the company can actually use the software that has been developed. Those who successfully complete the year-long programme were then taken on by redPanda Software as company employees.

Adding value to clients

Similarly to any potential employee, Sprinters are also interviewed before they join as permanent employees in order to identify which fields they want to move toward; while they might technically all start out as junior developers – which is the high-level goal of the partnership with redAcademy – there are a variety of roles available within the software development environment. 

Because of the close relationship between redPanda Software and the lecturers at redAcademy, the organisation gets a better understanding on where best to place the Sprinters once they are brought on-board permanently. For example, we have had a candidate successfully placed directly into a database administrator role, while some candidates placed within the business analysis team have also received much positive feedback.

All the Sprinters taken on have been placed in the team servicing the Lewis Group, Southern Africa’s single largest furniture brand, and have already added tremendous value to redPanda Software with their coding and automated testing roles allowing more experienced members to focus on priority issues.

Ultimately, the intention for the future is that the course, the material and the engagement with redAcademy and Sprinters will mature as the two organisations optimise their working relationship.

This includes expanding the course offering to enable future candidates to work on different technology stacks that are used for other redPanda Software clients, thereby ensuring that the company has a healthy influx of motivated, talented and well-suited individuals.

“By investing in programs like redAcademy’s Career Sprint, we have not only provided these young individuals with valuable knowledge, skills and real-world experience from working on our tech solutions, but we have made a meaningful difference in their lives,” adds Arno Geldenhuys, Head of Information Technology for Lewis Stores (Pty) Ltd.

According to Waleed Achmat, HR Director for Lewis, this initiative supports the Lewis vision of developing and upskilling youth to become future leaders for the country.