Automotive manufacturer BMW Group South Africa onboarded its 2024 cohort at BMW Group Plant Rosslyn Training Academy on May 7, marking its ongoing commitment to the Youth Employment Service (YES) Programme, an initiative aimed at addressing youth unemployment.

During the event, BMW Group South Africa CEO Peter van Binsbergen expressed his pride in the YES Programme students, as they showed that young people “hold the key to great innovation”.

He added that the company looked forward to integrating its new cohort and was confident in their valuable contributions.

“At BMW Group South Africa, we continue to say YES to youth,” he enthused.

Through the YES Programme, BMW Group South Africa also addressed skills shortages by providing young people with work experiences that enhanced their employability and entrepreneurial potential, BMW Group transformation and corporate investment head Valencia Modiba explained.

YES CEO Ravi Naidoo added that YES worked with leading businesses to provide quality work experiences for unemployed youth.

He asserted that YES recognised the significant unemployment crisis in South Africa and understood the importance of youth participation in the economy.

“We give businesses the opportunity to embrace the innovative mindsets that young people possess, to build future-focused skills to thrive in our economy,” he said.

BMW Group’s involvement with the programme focuses on creating opportunities within BMW and other sectors, thereby “integrating youth into the economic fabric of the country and addressing both employment and skill development challenges”, Modiba stated.

As part of the programme, BMW Group provides 12 months of quality work experience for students, who will be placed across the BMW Group South Africa business and in other sectors for 2024.

YES Programme participants gain exposure to diverse functions, including placements in BMW dealerships, small- and medium-sized enterprises, as well as sectors such as information and communication technology (ICT), education and health.

“This diverse experience helps youth develop a wide range of skills and better understand different industry dynamics,” Modiba elaborated.

To ensure that students gain lasting skills, BMW Group Plant Rosslyn Training Academy blends theoretical knowledge with practical application through integrating innovative technology and digitalisation in its training programme.

This dual approach ensures that participants learn essential theoretical concepts and apply them in real-world scenarios, enhancing their practical skills and making them more adaptable to industry needs, Modiba explained.

The Impact of YES
Through the programme, along with various learnerships and apprenticeships, BMW has partnered with various organisations to address the skills gap contributing to unemployment.

To date, BMW has placed over 2 400 youth through the programme within its business areas, and externally through its implementation partner.

Bursaries were also offered to them to further their studies, combating “unemployment from the ground up”, said Modiba.

In the first year of the YES Programme, BMW Group South Africa created 510 work experiences across the nine provinces, placing youth within the organisation’s retailer network, in small-, medium-sized and microenterprises, as well as the ICT, education and health sectors.

“An impressive 95% of this group were black African students and 67% were black women,” she highlighted.

BMW created 961 work experiences, with 74 in-house and 887 external placements in the second year of the programme, which concluded with 50% of youth placed in-house being absorbed into the company’s graduate programme. By the third year, BMW Group South Africa had created 1 010 work experiences, with 129 in-house and 881 external placements.

Modiba emphasised the importance of collaborative efforts in tackling unemployment, explaining that the YES Programme was a collaborative initiative with many companies investing and hosting YES youth.

“BMW has strategically invested in placing youth within its network to enable a sustainable pipeline towards future employment and entrepreneurial development,” she adds.

The YES Programme had achieved significant success, with many participants transitioning into permanent roles within BMW or other companies, highlighting the programme’s effectiveness in fostering career growth and long-term employment, Modiba noted.

“The group continues to innovate and adapt the programme to meet the evolving needs of South African youth, ensuring they are well prepared to contribute to and thrive in the economy,” she concluded.