Marketplace Academy is a registered non-profit organisation (NPO) founded by the WNL Network NPC to provide solutions to youth unemployment in the communities it serves and to create better lives for young people from such communities.

Our organisation aims to bring individuals who have skills or to provide skills to the youth, connect with employers by sourcing funding from funders, and identify suitable service providers.

Our organisation collaborates with businesses and various strategic stakeholder partners to realise the organisational aim of creating youth employment opportunities.

Can we solve the youth unemployment crisis?

For many years, South Africa has been plagued by youth un- and underemployment. According to the World Bank, the Covid-19 pandemic worsened unemployment among young people. Among 15 to 24-year-olds, 63% are unemployed and looking for work, whereas among 25 to 34-year-olds, this rate reaches 41%. The problem is enormous. Young people make up more than a third of the South African population.

Far too many of these individuals come from environments with multi-generational unemployment, and as a result, they live on the fringes of the economy. This is unsustainable and contributes significantly to the deterioration of the social fabric in affected communities.

Millions of young people around the country set out every day to find a quality job in an attempt to resolve their situations.

But without the right support, information, and training, most of these individuals will never gain meaningful employment, let alone reach their full potential.

So what can we, as communities and businesses, do to alleviate their plight?