Gauteng provides free ICT skills training for young people

Government is doing its best to create an enabling environment for township business owners and young people to flourish in today’s digital economy.

The Gauteng Department of e-Government and Finance are currently hosting training sessions for young people and small business owners around the province.

Established in September last year, the programme has reached several townships across Gauteng.

Benefitting over 15000 people across all five corridors of the province, the programme aims to assist them to improve their competitiveness and sustainability, so that they are part of the mainstream economy.

MEC for Finance and eGovernment, Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko, addressed young people from the City of Joburg at the launch of the ICT Skills Training programme at the City Hall on Wednesday, October 27.

She was joined by City of Joburg MMC for Economic Development, Tom Mofokeng and senior managers from e-Government and the provincial treasury.

Speaking to the young business owners and the artists from the City, MEC Nkomo-Ralehoko emphasized the department understands the negative impact the pandemic has made on their enterprises.

“Since the invent of COVID-19, you were forced to be innovative and adapt to a massive digital world coupled with using emerging technologies such as virtual and augmented realities,” she said.

The MEC emphasized that although digital tools are fast-growing and taking over traditional methods, this cannot replace the cultural experience bought by creatives.

She called for them to create new forms of experiences and business models so they can stay competitive.

The MEC also highlighted that throughout the programme, not only young people have become beneficiaries.

“We’ve also reached pastors and religious leaders, providing them with the same ICT skills training right from their churches,” she explained.

In this programme, young people and small business owners are trained on how to utilize digital platforms like social media and the web to grow their enterprises.

Other lessons include 5G knowledge, Cloud Service Development, Big Data, introduction to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robotics.

The programme also helps SMMEs register their details on the Central Supplier Database, where government finds its suppliers when looking to purchase any goods or services.

The departments also set up a mobile unit outside the venue to assist people with business registration, registering on job-seeker databases and introduce them to services like e-Invoicing (electronic invoicing).

According to Gauteng, this is done to integrate township-based and youth-owned small businesses into value chains by providing both financial support and business development assistance.

Last year, the Gauteng City-Region (GCR) spent R 6 billion on procuring goods and services from township entrepreneurs up from R1.5 billion from the previous financial year.

To date, the province has registered more than 6000 township entrepreneurs into the Central Supplier Database (CSD).