Epiroc Road Show accelerates career path for 85 youths!
Over the past four years Epiroc South Africa, a market leader in cutting-edge machine, automation and digital technology solutions for mining and infrastructure, has thrown its full weight behind the Yes4youth initiative. The organisation embarked on a two-month road show, where the Epiroc team engaged with 85 beneficiaries from the 2022 Yes4youth programme.
The Yes4youth initiative is helping to increase opportunities for the country’s unemployed youth for an employable sustainable future by placing them in local businesses. Here they are able to acquire invaluable real life workplace exposure and the necessary experience.
“Yes4youth aligns perfectly with Epiroc’s goal of contributing to the unemployment challenge in South Africa,” says Judy Vilakazi who is Regional Corporate Responsibility (CR) Manager at Epiroc South Africa.
Judy explains the selection process of the Yes4youth 85 beneficiaries: “The managers and employers listed the credentials they required and we advertised on LinkedIn for the seventeen candidates that were placed in Gauteng; the remaining candidates were recruited by Yes4youth.”
“We decided to place most of the candidates for the 2022 programme in our four mining communities. We wanted to meet these beneficiaries and find out how this programme is benefiting them. This prompted the road show which kicked off in the North West province. Next up was Mpumalanga which was followed by the Northern Cape with Limpopo our final destination.”
Judy explains that during the road show two Epiroc employees together with representatives from Yes4youth met with the beneficiaries at either a central venue or at one of their workplaces. This roadshow enabled us to obtain feedback from both their employers’ and the participants themselves.”
“We are extremely encouraged by the heart-warming feedback that we have received so far,” comments Judy. “Some of the beneficiaries are now bread winners who are able to feed their families. Others shared that they have been able to pay off their debts and obtain their driver’s licenses. A few of the candidates confirmed that they are still studying.”
“We are really looking forward to meeting more candidates along our journey and to hearing how the Yes4youth programme is helping to improve their lives. There can be no doubt that these programmes create a talent pool and empower the next generation of youths who are the future leaders and Epiroc’s future employees,” concludes Judy.
