President Ramaphosa to launch the Youth Employment Service initiative

President Cyril Ramaphosa will launch the Youth Employment Service (YES) tomorrow, Tuesday, 27 March 2018, at the Riverside Incubation Hub in Fourways, Johannesburg.
 
The YES initiative aims to see more than one million young South Africans being offered paid work experience over the next three years, as part of placing the needs of and opportunities for young people at the centre of inclusive economic growth.
 
The initiative takes the form of a partnership – led by President Cyril Ramaphosa – between government, business, labour and civil society.
 
The programme has three channels through which employment opportunities can occur:
 
• Corporate work experiences: businesses that participate in the programme create one-year paid positions for youth aged between 18 and 35, in addition to these organisations’ current employment numbers, YES is additive; 
• SMME host placements: businesses that do not have the capacity to place more people in their organisations, have the option of sponsoring the salary for a one-year placement in small and medium enterprises (in year one for 7 to 10 months); and 
• SMME development: young people are empowered to start and grow their own businesses, with support from YES in the form of training, seed funding and value-chain integration.
 
Research has shown that one year of work experience, coupled with a CV and reference letter, increases a young person’s chances of finding employment by three times.
 
At tomorrow’s launch, President Ramaphosa will meet the first 100 young people to participate in this programme.
 
Members of the media are invited as follows:
 
Date: Tuesday, 27 March 2018
Time: 08h00
Venue: Riverside Incubation Hub 12-8 Incubation Drive, Riverside View Ext 15, Fourways, Midrand, 2021
 
It is important to note that the launch event is not a recruitment event.  Candidates seeking opportunities or companies wishing to participate in the YES initiative are invited to visit www.yes4youth.co.za for details.
 
Members of the public can follow the launch event and obtain further information on Facebook.com/Yes4YouthZA ; Twitter.com/Yes4YouthZA ; Linkedin/Yes4YouthZA

 
Media enquiries: Khusela Diko – Spokesperson to the President on 072 854 5707
 
Issued by: The Presidency
Pretoria