1 000 young people from Athlone and surrounding areas will be given an opportunity to be trained within a local Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) company, and receive a monthly stipend, following a recruitment drive yesterday.
Premier Alan Winde and the MEC of Finance and Economic Opportunities, Mireille Wenger, attended a ‘Day of 1000 opportunities’ recruitment drive, at the Athlone Stadium, which provided a platform for more than 1 500 young people, with an interest in the BPO sector, to be interviewed.
Following interviews, 1 000 selected students will go through to the next stage of training, which will give them the skills they need to find a job.
This initiative is in partnership with CapeBPO, the Jobs Fund through the National Treasury, the College of Cape Town, the BPO Skills academy, Future ED, SA Youth Mobi, the Department of Labour as well as the City of Cape Town.
MEC Wenger says it shows what can be done if all stakeholders work together.
“It is a great joy to be here for the Day of 1 000 opportunities. While we, as a province and a country, face significant challenges, it is days like these that really give me hope that, together, we are taking the action needed to ensure that our tomorrow, is better than today. This is a perfect illustration of our Growth for Jobs Strategy in action, through partnership and innovation – hand-in-hand with the private sector.”
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Speaking to a group of young candidates ahead of their interview, Premier Alan Winde said, “the opportunities offered to you today are the first step towards your future. This will empower and equip you with invaluable experience in a sector that is growing exponentially in our province and country. If you are nervous, that is great. It means you want to succeed.”
“With each person taking part in this programme there is a story: a story of a young person discovering their potential, a story of youth embarking on the next chapter of their lives. Today, stories of young people finding dignity and hope through a job are being written right here through this initiative. This programme is vital to boosting job creation, ensuring that our youth become a part of the solution to reducing poverty.”
The Province says the BPO sector contributes significantly to the Western Cape economy, as it created about 10 000 new jobs between March 2022 and March 2023.
In addition, the sector also contributed roughly R20 billion in annual Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and more than R66.5 billion in FDI between 2012 and 2023.
Wenger says between 70% and 80% of those who participate in the training are retained by the host company.
