Against the backdrop of a high unemployment rate among South Africa’s youth, beermaker South African Breweries (SAB) has launched the first edition of its SAB Talent Challenge.

The SAB explains that the programme aims to turn “traditional talent attraction practice on its head through this progressive challenge, as a recruitment tool”.

Participants will engage in a multi-phased journey, solving real-life business problems, and young graduates aged between 18 and 30 years are invited to apply.

Through the programme, the SAB says it offers young people an employment opportunity, while immersing the selected participants in SAB’s business and culture.

The programme is built to test the participant’s abilities to solve real and challenging business problems across commercial, supply chain and technology categories.

SAB says the programme will provide participants with networking opportunities and exposure to SAB’s senior leadership. Some of the participants will be given the opportunity to present their solution proposals to the senior leadership during a grand final interview.

The candidates will undergo an assessment that will evaluate them across a range of abilities and behavioural styles. The selected participants will be placed into teams of three members each. The teams will be assigned to the different divisions, and they will receive the selected business challenge.

The team with the best solution will be invited to the SAB’s offices and will present their solutions to SAB’s senior leadership.

Top-performing candidates could be given employment opportunities at the SAB in one of the company’s graduate programmes.

“We are proud to announce the launch of the SAB Talent Challenge. It’s important that all public and private stakeholders play their part in investing in young talent.

“The SAB Talent Challenge is our way of upskilling young people with soft and hard skills that will build their confidence and aid them in positioning and differentiating themselves in the job market. It will also empower them to navigate the country’s corporate landscape by exposing them to real-life business challenges,” says SAB VP of people Bridget Makhura. 

Applications are now open and will be accepted until May 31.

The Talent Challenge hurdles will take place between June 1 and  July 31, and the grand final interview is set for August.

More information on the eligibility criteria and application procedures is available on https://talentchallenge.sab.co.za/.