Seven YES Top 35 Under 35 award winners highlight young South Africans’ change-maker potential

22 Oct 2024

The Youth Employment Service is giving young people a hand up in a country where joblessness is at unprecedented levels and many people are growing increasingly despondent.

Initiatives like the Youth Employment Service (YES) show how the nation’s excluded young people can become change-makers once they are allowed to break through the door to job opportunities.

This is what was celebrated at the inaugural YES Top 35 Under 35 Awards on 10 October 2024. Although the ceremony honoured the top 35 winners with a certificate signed by President Cyril Ramaphosa, seven game-changers were awarded for making strides in their careers and groundbreaking contributions to their industries.

Retail winner: Somila Skelem – retail manager, Mugg & Bean

When Skelem had to drop out of her financial management course because of a lack of funds, she was devastated. Then she clinched an internship at Mugg & Bean through the Famous Brands YES programme.

Three months into the programme, she was asked to be a supervisor at the franchise and it wasn’t long before she climbed the ranks to become a manager.

Mining/Manufacturing/Automotive winner: Karabo Mtsweni – process engineer

Mtsweni joined the YES programme after graduating with a BEng Tech degree and became a quality assurance intern at Adient PPC. Fewer than two years after completing the programme, Mtsweni was absorbed into the company as a process engineer.

Finance winner: Tshegofatso Sekwele – commercial adviser

Joining the YES programme helped Sekwele to get her first job. In five years she went from being unemployed to becoming an intern at Anglo American Platinum, and moved up the ranks to become a department head.

Now she supports the preparation of financial forecasts, collaborates with the management to identify cost-improvement opportunities and provides training and mentoring to staff.

Creative/Tourism winner: Madibaneng Sekonya – founder of Authentic Media South Africa

After graduating from City Varsity in 2019 with a diploma in film and television production, Sekonya struggled to find a job.

He registered his business, Authentic Media South Africa, in 2020 and started producing short-format content and music videos.

When he joined the YES programme in 2021, Sekonya transitioned from freelance videography to collaborating with notable South African music artists and renowned international and national brands.

Two years later, he received the Tilt Rockstar of the Year award.

Entrepreneurship winner: Humbulani Moeketsi – founder of Mbono Media House

After being fired from his media job for pursuing his own business ambitions, Moeketsi used his YES stipend to buy equipment and started Mbono Media House. His company provides media solutions and runs a radio station.

Technology winner: Phakitso Mohale – business analyst

While studying marketing at Unisa, Mohale volunteered at a high school, tutoring pupils in reading and writing in English.

She joined a Microsoft-sponsored YES programme that catapulted her into the tech world. Since completing the programme, Mohale has completed her marketing degree and secured a job at one of South Africa’s top banks.

But for Mohale the greatest thing that came out of the YES programme was that it empowered her to share what she learnt with the pupils at the school where she once taught. Mohale led a cyber-awareness CSI project at the school, teaching coding and robotics to pupils.

Daily Maverick winners: Gcina Twala – junior brand manager, and Thato Mokwebo – co-founder and director of Ntsika Ye Sizwesethu

Husband-and-wife duo Twala and Mokwebo used their stipends from the YES programme to start an NPO, Ntsika Ye Sizwesethu, in Alexandra, Johannesburg, with a mission to alleviate poverty in the township.

Through Ntsika Ye Sizwesethu, the couple built a greenhouse for their vertical farming project, opened a soup kitchen and built hydroponic pods for their rooftop gardening project. DM

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.

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