How Openserve Prioritises Skills Development To Support SA’s Digital Transformation
As we celebrate Youth Month in June, the lived realities of many young South Africans are thrown into sharp focus. Youth unemployment remains one of the nation’s most pressing challenges. As of Q1 2025, the youth unemployment rate stood at 46.1%, with people living in non-urban areas bearing the brunt. This is significant, as people aged 15 to 34 make up around 50% of the working-age population, and landing a job is a critical milestone towards achieving economic inclusion and independence.
South Africa’s youth employment crisis runs parallel to another growing challenge. As the country’s ICT sector develops, more IT and technology skills are needed to build and maintain digital networks and infrastructure. Skilled workers make up the majority of employees in telecommunications, reflecting the critical need to prioritise skills development and support an ecosystem of new, state-of-the-art technologies.
All these factors coalesce to highlight the need for South Africa and all her stakeholders, including telecom firms such as Openserve, to unite around a shared strategy and address the challenges that hinder nationwide transformation and socio-economic development. Action begins with understanding what skills are needed, leading to initiatives and solutions that help bridge the gap between education and employment, enabling people to build and interact with the networks of tomorrow.
Building a new kind of skills pipeline
South Africa’s ICT sector needs essential skills to capacitate the people who build and maintain networks and infrastructure. The rapid evolution of technology means the efficacy of those skills reduces with every passing year. New thinking and skills capacity are critical to meeting the technological needs of consumers and businesses, and recently graduated youth help fulfil that need.
As one of South Africa’s leading open access network providers, Openserve prioritises practical and relevant skills development through several initiatives. Our internship and learnership programmes are aimed specifically at graduates and unemployed youth, providing experiential learning and, where possible, an opportunity to become permanent members of the organisation. Driven by the need to ‘learn, unlearn and relearn’, the training balances innovative thinking with current technologies, creating professionals like network technicians who can not only identify and rectify network issues but respond to trends and incorporate them into network architectures and systems. These include areas such as machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI), cybersecurity and commercial developments.
In addition to the learnership and internship programmes, Openserve contributes to youth development through its Centre of Excellence (CoE) programme, a two-pronged initiative that contributes to research funding at tertiary institutions and awards bursaries for postgraduate studies to deserving students. This framework not only ensures a pipeline of skilled and knowledgeable graduates but also continuous research in the fields of electrical and computer engineering, computer science, and information technology and systems, which are critical for the development of the ICT sector and the delivery of connectivity to people and businesses.
Of course, it is important to determine the success of any skills development initiative. In addition to gauging learner experience, Openserve measures success by tracking skills development and knowledge transfer, with the ultimate return on investment calculated by performance against the organisation’s strategic goals and objectives, including our social, environmental and governance (ESG) policies.
Technology is both the future, and helps us prepare for it
Across South Africa, there is increasing focus on how technologies are transforming the way we live, work and interact with one another. Many enterprises are experimenting with AI while 5G networks and satellite connectivity enhance our ability to communicate and conduct business. South Africa’s ICT market is predicted to grow year-on-year by 6% between 2023 and 2028, culminating in a valuation of $49 billion (R871 billion) by the end of that period. Its impact depends on whether infrastructure is reliable, scalable, and indeed sustainable, culminating in the need for skills that can support it.
Becoming future-ready is also reflected in success stories of youth development initiatives. In 2023, in partnership with MICT Seta and an external training partner, Openserve embarked on a Certificate of Compliance (COC) candidacy programme with 12 electrical engineering graduates. Following the 12-month programme, 11 of those graduates completed the relevant tests and examinations, including the CoC Unit Standard, and then joined a CoC internship with Openserve to gain practical workplace experience. To date, seven of those graduates have been permanently placed at Openserve while the remaining four are still participating in the programme.
This reflects the ICT sector’s reliance on a sustainable supply of competent and capable human resources. By creating pathways to upskilling and employment opportunities, young people can contribute to overall sector growth, and not just isolate change to a single organisation. Sector growth leads to youth upliftment and economic empowerment, which in turn can lead to the closing of the digital divide and ensuring all citizens enjoy high-speed, quality connectivity.
But more than that, any skills development initiative must reflect human values and qualities that help enable people to flourish and do their best work. South Africa will continue to face its skill challenges of the future, but today it is possible to sow the seeds of change with a positive attitude and a commitment to providing opportunities to the next generation of technicians, innovators, and technology professionals. This long-term way of thinking is how we do not just connect South Africa to a better life but also prepare for an intelligent, tech-driven and people-centric future.
- Justin Hughes, Executive: HR Operations at Openserve
Crédito: Link de origem