The empowerment programme has seen 159 young people given work experience as interns and baristas in six provinces – Gauteng, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape, Mpumalanga and Free State. More than 80% of the youth are women and the average age of the intake is 25 years old.

South Africa’s hospitality sector is a massive employer and contributes around R392bn to the country’s GDP, but the Covid-19 restrictions severely impacted this sector, with restaurants closing down and thousands of people losing their jobs.

However, with the Covid-19 pandemic easing, the outlook is much rosier. Stats SA reported this week that foreign tourism is growing again, and the Bureau for Economic Research (BER) reported that activity in the hospitality industry expanded strongly for the third quarter in a row. The Famous Brands-Yes partnership aims to get unemployed young people active within this sector.

Critical, transferable skills development

Using the Yes internal model, Famous Brands has provided critical, relevant roles within the hospitality industry, specifically within a successful franchise model. Youth are employed in restaurants, learning transferable skills as baristas and waiters, and some have been placed at their head offices, working for different departments as administrative assistants.

The skills these young people are learning at the Famous Brand franchises are skills that can take them anywhere – baristas are sought after all over the world, while waitering skills equip these young people with problem-solving and decision-making skills. By using the Yes internal placement model, companies are also creating a talent pipeline within their organisation.

Stemming tide of youth unemployment

Derrian Nadauld, chief operating officer (COO) of Famous Brands said, “As we know, unemployment and specifically youth unemployment, is the single biggest challenge facing our country and society. We are delighted to be able to contribute in a small way to providing opportunities for some young people to obtain skills and work experience that, should significantly improve their future prospects of meaningful employment in the future by having employable and marketable skills.

Courtesy of Bizcommunity – read full article here.