Four steps to create employment for talented people

I recently heard a radio interview featuring a successful businessman who had worked his way up from humble beginnings to being one of South Africa's wealthiest men. He has reached the pinnacle of his career, as it is today, because of an idea.

This underscored the raw potential of our South African youth and the success of some of the development efforts we have witnessed at our company. We have been running learnership programmes in partnership with the DTI, ISETT SETA and blue-chip companies for more than seven years.

Nowhere is the latent potential in our youth more apparent than in the group of 18 sponsored contact centre support learners who have been placed at one of the City of Cape Town's call centres for their workplace phase. Over the festive season, these learners took active calls from Cape Town residents covering all spectrums of the city's operations. These included water and rates, electricity and motor vehicle registration. This call centre has to be one of the city's biggest and most successful areas to date.

The group of 18 learners, sponsored by Bytes Technology Group and Powertech, was made up of 13 women and five men. The group can converse in Xhosa, English and Afrikaans. It also includes a disabled learner.

* The idea behind the learnership delivered was initiated by management at Bytes People Solutions, who are actively involved in the development and management of learnership initiatives within Bytes Technology Group and industry.
* The effort put in by the learners, educators and workplace employees (coaches and mentors) provides an opportunity for optimal growth and development.
* The drive comes from the team taking this idea to the marketplace and encouraging all involved to buy into the idea.
* The passion comes from all involved in seeing these learners from initiation to closure, ensuring the graduates are gainfully employed and adding value to the South African economy.

The call centre learnership programme runs over a 12-month period, with the training phase being a full two months in a practical classroom environment, followed by a 10-month workplace phase in which the learners are exposed and integrated into a real world environment.

Our group of learners commenced their training on 29 March 2010 and started at the City of Cape Town on 2 August 2010, where they spent two months in functional training and shadowing of existing agents. They then went through an incubation environment where they received live calls under the guidance and supervision of their coaches.

In December 2010 they relieved permanent employees who were on leave and also helped to alleviate the additional pressure that the festive season brings. This learnership concludes on 25 March 2011, by which time the learners are available for employment.

With such an outstanding track record, if the City of Cape Town cannot accommodate everyone with full-time employment, many other call centres will be able to offer these talented, skilled folk further employment opportunities.

As quoted by Wendell L Willkie: “Education is the mother of leadership.” May our learners become leaders in their communities, their lives, and in the future of a successful nation.