Bytes People Solutions successfully partners with government to train and secure work for the unemployed

Bytes People Solutions, a company in the Bytes Technology Group, wholly owned by JSE-listed Altron, has proved that community-based skills development works.

Through its learnership programmes, Bytes People Solutions has trained and secured work for more than 3 000 learners. This sound track record has resulted in the company being a preferred partner in a widespread government ICT training programme, which is implemented in partnership with various local and provincial authorities.

“The success of these programmes are based on good public and private partnerships (PPP), where all the parties involved work together to achieve a higher level of skills to benefit our country as a whole,” said Dr Madelise Grobler, Managing Director of Bytes People Solutions.

She said Bytes People Solutions applies the same model to government learnerships as it does to its corporate clients in the private sector, namely to offer the best possible training solution to fit the client's business model.

With regards to its government partnerships, Bytes People Solutions seeks sound partnerships with relevant Sector Training Authorities (Setas), as well as workplace providers, before it embarks on the programmes.

“Once these partners are secured, we set out to equip the young people with IT skills, prepare them for the workplace and then secure employment within the provincial and local government as well as the private sector,” says Dr Grobler.

Since the launch of the programme, many learners have graduated in IT training. Soon, 31 people will graduate in the Free State, where the company partnered with the Office of the Premier of the Free State to provide NQF level 4 technology training for a group of young men and women, in Harrismith.

Another 30 learners have graduated in Tshwane, through a partnership with the Progressive Women's Movement of South Africa. This partnership involves the training of some 180 women in entry-level ICT in six municipalities in Gauteng. The funding for the programme is provided by the Media, Advertising, Information and Communications Technologies Sector Education and Training Authority (MICT Seta).

“Our learnership programme can be described as a type of incubator, with both academic and practical components. The 12-month learnership involves four months of academic training and eight months of on-the-job training,” said Dr Grobler.

She said many of the learners have their practical training contracts extended or are offered full-time employment. “I ascribe this success to our strict selection of candidates for the programme as well as the quality of the training that we offer, which ensures a 'real-world' orientation to the learners.”