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Vodacom to offer 500 young graduates paid internships

Staff Writer
By Staff Writer, ITWeb
Johannesburg, 18 Jun 2021

Vodacom is partnering with eight institutions of higher learning and the Wholesale and Retail Sector Education and Training Authority (W&RSETA) to provide 500 post-graduate training and internship opportunities to young graduates.

The mobile operator announced yesterday that the interns will be deployed for 12 months in different areas of its operations, such as stores, enterprise division and ICT centres, to gain work experience.

The interns will also receive a monthly stipend for the period they will be mentored at the telco.

Vodacom says the internship programme will help prepare young people for the work environment, as well as help alleviate the country’s growing numbers of unemployed young people.

A recent unemployment report released by Statistics SA shows there were 39.3 million people of working age in the country in the fourth quarter in 2020, of which 22.3 million were employed, while 17.1 million were not economically active.

The unemployment rate in SA was pegged at 46.1% in that period.

“For South Africa, the COVID-19 pandemic has illuminated our structural inequalities and laid them bare. The pandemic worsened the problem of youth unemployment and we are now faced with an alarming unemployment rate among youths aged 15-34,” says Jorge Mendes, chief officer: consumer business for Vodacom SA.

“As a long-standing partner of government in partnership with W&RSETA, we have teamed up to create 500 internships for young people that recently graduated from TVET colleges and universities. This is part of our social contract to respond to some of the pressing socio-economic challenges plaguing our society today.

“As a company with deep local roots in South Africa, we have always recognised the need to develop local youth with relevant tools and support mechanisms to help them reach their true potential and destiny.

“It is our hope that this programme will in some small way contribute to the closing of the skills gap among youth and that local youth will take the opportunity to apply and flourish in their chosen career paths.”

In a statement, Vodacom says the programme is designed such that graduates gain exposure to business, strategy formulation and implementation, and decision-making at the highest levels at the company.

Successful candidates will be deployed in Vodacom regions, namely: Eastern Cape (100), Limpopo (200), KZN (100) and Central Region (100) covering Free State and Northern Cape provinces.

“Graduates are being sourced from Letaba TVET College, Central University of Technology, eThekwini College, University of Fort Hare, Ingwe TVET College, Buffalo City TVET College, Eastcape Midland College and Port Elizabeth College,” says Vodacom.

The recruitment is facilitated by TVET Colleges and is done based on Vodacom’s requirements and in line with W&RSETA’s scope of work.

According to Vodacom, the programme looks to recruit interns who have studied sales and marketing, information technology, business management and communication.

“Through this project, the W&RSETA is facilitating partnerships between Vodacom and higher education institutions, with the aim of exposing unemployed graduates to a diverse organisation that will provide them with experience to make them employable, and in turn, these graduates will also share some of the knowledge they have acquired with the employer, leading to a mutually beneficial relationship,” says Peter Shoba, acting chief operating officer for W&RSETA.

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