Building relationships with stakeholders that will have a positive impact is important to us. Our collaboration with Harambee Youth Empowerment Accelerator enables us to give young South Africans the opportunity to gain and develop vital skills.
In the financial services work environment that DirectAxis operates, we require particular skill sets that include good numeracy and literacy skills, and financial knowledge.
To find a solution to this challenge, DirectAxis was one of the founding businesses that collaborated with Harambee to co create a sustainable model that would bridge unemployed youth into financial services roles. DirectAxis now partners with Harambee who assess candidates, who have matriculated or graduated with tertiary qualifications, for potential; teaches them about employer’s minimum expectations, such as punctuality and presentation and bridges the skills gap for specific careers by providing work-readiness skills. Harambee ensures that candidates meet our basic requirements by tailoring its training to suit our business.
Through this innovative partnership we’ve been able to give over 400 first-time job seekers valuable work experience at DirectAxis and improve their lives. It is a shining example of successful co-operation between business and civil society.
Harambee has partnered with over 500 other African businesses and has significantly improved the career prospects of thousands of first-time job-seekers in South Africa. Besides restoring the recruits’ hope and self-confidence, many are also the sole breadwinners in their families and their success has improved the entire household’s circumstances.
Harambee recognised with the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship
In April 2019 it was announced that the Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator had won the 2019 Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship. The Skoll Foundation’s vision is to live in a sustainable world of peace and prosperity. The Award recognises and invests in change agents whose innovations have had significant impact on the world’s most pressing problems and drive large-scale change. The Award is a select honour that has only been given to about 100 organisations globally since its inception.
South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa congratulated the team at Harambee, saying “We are proud of the work Harambee and its partners have done to build solutions that address our youth unemployment challenge. The Skoll Award recognises that Harambee’s innovative model to pathway young people is leading-edge and an African solution to one of the world’s most pressing problems.”
To grow new jobs Harambee uses innovative initiatives, an award-winning Pathway Manager adopted at South Africa’s Presidential Jobs Summit, and a social impact bond to drive inclusive hiring.
Harambee is understandably excited by what the Skoll Award means for Harambee’s future growth and impact.
Learn more about working at DirectAxis.