YOUTH Employment Service (Yes), in collaboration with Metropolitan GetUp and Ford SA, has launched the Youth Content Collective (YCC), a platform that connects talented black South African content creators with businesses so that these young individuals can earn a living from their creative abilities.
According to Yes, YCC’s first cohort is made up of 50 photographers, videographers, filmmakers, and illustrators, aged between 18 and 35.
The company said the cohort had little professional experience at the start of their careers, but showed raw talent and a strong will to succeed.
“Through the programme, they can monetise their skill sets and services, by making their work available to both local and international markets. The intention is to grow the programme to thousands of creators within three years,” the company said.
Yes acting co-chief executive Leanne Emery said the initiative was born out of a desire to address South Africa’s rising rate of youth unemployment, which has sky-rocketed to 46.3% and as high as 63.3% in certain age sub-categories (per StatsSA, quarter one, 2021) since the onset of the pandemic.
“It’s a national crisis of epidemic proportions, and the formal sector cannot create employment at the scale that is needed. However, the Fourth Industrial Revolution has allowed us to leapfrog some of the obstacles and create opportunities that would not have been open to these youths 10 years ago,” she said.
“Simply put: we either get youth working or our country won’t.”
Emery said in mid-2020, Metropolitan GetUp and Yes conducted research to determine where some of the greatest opportunities lay in terms of fulfilling a pressing business need while enabling youth to generate an income.
“It soon became clear that there was a dire need for locally produced photo and video stock as seen through an authentic, South African lens. Our mission for this programme became clear: to identify local talent who would be able to produce stills, video, illustrations and other creative assets that would plug this gap.”
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