South African Business 2024

SPECIAL FEATURE
The Chemical Industries Education and Training
Authority, CHIETA, is establishing SMART Skills
Centres around the country to boost training in
digital skills.
business owners (ED) which might be part of their
supply chain (SD). The programmes often overlap,
as it makes business sense for a large mining
operation, for example, to have a successful local
bus company supply its transport needs. The same
would apply to cleaning and maintenance services,
catering and many other categories. Given a steady
client and a reliable income, these local businesses
are much more likely to succeed in the long term
and to create employment as they grow.
So widespread have ED and SD programmes
become that national awards are now presented
annually. The Business Day Supplier Awards
has no fewer than 11 categories and an overall
winner. That winner in 2021 was Tiger Brands,
whose R100-million Dipuno Enterprise and
Supplier Development Fund impressed the
judges and which was cited as an illustration
of the best kind of collaboration between the
private sector, government, mining houses and
their pipeline partners.
The financial sector has an important role in
this environment. Old Mutual’s Masisizane Fund
is geared to finance small, medium and microenterprises
(SMMEs) and it is often to funds such as
these that participants in SD programmes turn.
Venetia Mine, a De Beers Group mine in northern
Limpopo, has more than 50 SMMEs enrolled in
incubation programmes and 34 locally owned
companies are doing business with the mine. This
kind of cooperation creates jobs and can lead to
expansion. A woman-owned business which was
supplying accommodation on the mine is now in
the process of expanding into the nearby town in the
form of a hotel which will be in a position to grow its
clientele beyond visitors to the mine.
Another example of collaboration across
sectors that leads to employment is underway
in the small Northern Cape town of Kuruman.
Mining company Assmang is working with
EduPower Skills Academy in a programme that
combines skills training, enterprise development
and community upliftment. Training is provided
to potential call-centre operators while support is
given to entrepreneur to set up a call centre. Once
the trainees complete their 12-month learnerships,
they are available to employed in the new business.
The country’s biggest private sector youthemployment
programme is YES4YOUTH. The idea
is for private businesses and corporates to take in
young people for 12 months of work experience.
Run since 2019, the programme had by 2023
reached the milestone of one-million placements.
Curriculum relevance
The old debate about how much broad education
should be in a curriculum in contrast to how much
skills training there should be, is a debate that won’t
ever be resolved.
What can be improved is the agility of
educational and training institutions. When the
economy needs new skills, how fast can the
country’s training providers react?
The Chemical Industries Education and Training
Authority (CHIETA) is showing how it might be
done. Recognising that South Africa is going to
need specialists in green hydrogen, CHIETA has
set out to focus on the kind of skills that this highly
specialised economic sector is going to need. Few
people know about electrolysers, fuel cells and
the storage requirements of hydrogen. CHIETA
has developed a list of 17 specific training and skill
requirements as it anticipates that about 14 000
jobs might be created in this new energy sector.
Another body exhibiting flexibility is the
Food and Beverages SETA, FoodBev SETA. In
PHOTO: CHIETA
23 SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS 2024