City Power and partners launch youth skills development and empowerment programme

City Power and partners unveiled youth skills development and empowerment programme aimed at benefiting 1 200 unemployed young people on August 6 at its head office in Reuven.

In this programme, they partnered with UNISA Enterprise, Afric Training College, African Bank and the Department of Labour’s Unemployed Insurance Fund (UIF).

This multi-stakeholder initiative targets the alleviation of unemployment of young people between the ages of 18 and 35 years with accredited electrical skills training, as well as structured enterprise and supplier development support (ESD).

The beneficiaries will be inducted on August 8, and will be split into two groups, where 400 will be trained in electrical engineering and 800 will be enrolled in a structured incubation programme focused on new venture creation.

The overall goal is to drive job creation and build sustainable, youth-led businesses within the energy and infrastructure sectors.

Vivi Khoza from the Department of Labour (programmes) said they empower youth through this programme.

“The high rate of unemployment shows the struggle to find jobs. We want to drive the impact, not only by training them but enhance employability, entrepreneurship and job preservation. Seventy percent of them are former UIF contributors while the rest is the youth who have never been employed. It is a must to implement demand driven programme,” she said.

Highlighting the significance of this platform for unemployed youth, deputy director for Public Employment Services at the Department of Labour, Vusi Mazibuko noted that:

“This platform will help us access the youth and support them in upskilling and assisting in placing them into the workforce. There are many challenges, especially with the high rate of youth unemployment, and this initiative, through our partnerships with City Power and others, can truly benefit young people.”

CEO of UNISA Enterprise, Lesetsa Matshekga, said they are excited to be partners in this transformative programme.

“We are glad to be part of these stakeholders which came together to address unemployment of the youth. We need to look at multiple solutions to curb unemployment hence we believe in partnerships and collaborations,” noted Matshekga.

Nyiko Bvuma from Afric Training said they will train the youth, put them in the field of what is needed in the market. It will be a six months programme and then another six months practical work. He also mentioned that City Power will then assist in incubation after they finished with the programme.

The programme is structured in two parallel streams:

1. Electrical skills development: an accredited programme that includes both theory and practical components, targeting 400 youth with or without Grade 12.

2. Enterprise and supplier development: a three-phase entrepreneurial incubation stream offering formal training in new venture creation, business compliance, financial literacy, tendering processes, and sustainability planning. This arm is designed to help 800 youth start and scale their own businesses, supported by structured mentoring and tender-readiness simulations.

City Power is embarking on a new journey filled with abundant opportunities and is actively participating in the just energy transition. Currently, City Power is constructing electric vehicle charging stations at its head office. There is also the potential to convert their fleet of over 400 vehicles to electric vehicles, an initiative that will create demand for new and specialised skills.

On the importance of public and private partnership City Power CEO Tshifularo Mashava mentioned that their biggest role is to ensure there’s development. “Not every youth will go to university, so this programme with bridge that gap.

We are thankful with this partnership and we welcome anyone who wants to work with us. These candidates will be well-positioned to take part in this transformation once they graduate from the programme. City Power is growing and expanding into new markets. We want to create a pool of young individuals who are not only equipped with technical skills but are also trained in ESD, enabling them to start their own businesses and eventually create jobs for others. We welcome more partners to come on board.

“Together, we can build a pool of accredited, skilled, and credible professionals. As City Power continues to grow, so too will the opportunities for youth participation and empowerment. We hope more partnership will come on board so that we can have more people to take in,” she said.

Board chairperson of City Power, Makhosini Kharodi endorsed the programme. He said as they are in a process of transforming from being electricity to Energy Company, this training will help into the implementation of their programmes.