Spazapp, an app innovation of a Durban tech team, has heeded the call by Gauteng premier David Makhura to tackle unemployment head-on by signing the Tshepo 1 Million pledge.
The free app connects spaza store owners directly to bulk buying opportunities and business support.
The app has now launched a built-in feature, Spazasparks, a development course that aims to create employment opportunities for SA's youth.
The app pilot was initially launched with the eThekweni Municipality and has attracted corporate support from the likes of Unilever, Johnson & Johnson and Tiger Brands.
Tim Strang, CEO of Spazapp, explains: "Spazasparks is an upliftment division that trains youth on using the app for mobile trading and rendering support to other spaza store owners. Through partnerships with the likes of government initiatives and employment accelerators like Harambee, we will be supporting 5 000 youths to become self-employed from the moment they complete their Spazapp development course."
Strang adds that the youth, which he refers to as 'Sparks', will receive training and support, and in turn then support business owners and members in their community, earning a percentage of all sales.
"The app will provide them with employment and skills tracking as well, so they may stand a better chance at later also entering the formal job market. We are now able to roll this out anywhere with any partner. Sparks can also be commissioned to conduct brand surveys and brand training - all of these tasks are recorded and contribute towards creating a work experience track record in sales, retail, customer service, that serves as a stepping stone to access formal work opportunities," he adds.
The Tshepo 1 Million pledge is an expansion of the Tshepo 500 000 initiative, launched in 2014 and led by the premier. The provincial government has now revisited the goals and doubled its target to empower a million young people through skills training, job placement and entrepreneurship development by 2019.
Other companies which have signed the pledge include Microsoft SA, Coca-Cola, Absa, Nestle, Unilever, SABMiller/ Abinbev, GE, Cisco, Standard Bank, FNB/First Rand, Arcelor-Mittal, Barloworld, MasterCard and Media 24.
Microsoft SA has pledged to provide one million young people with training opportunities in digital skills. This partnership commits to a mass-scale deployment of the Microsoft Digital Literacy and Virtual Academy Platform.
The firm adds the young residents will be trained in basic proficiency as users of the most current versions of Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel, and training will be run through the Tshepo 1 Million learning lab network attached to local libraries, based on the open online varsity system that will be piloted by the City of Johannesburg.
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