A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of sharing the youth@WORK story at our Youth in Action – R1 Billion in Motion Youth Day celebration. As I prepared my speech, I realised that while we often talk about the numbers, we don’t always pause to reflect on the journey behind them.
Since 2019, youth@WORK has placed more than 17,000 young people into structured work opportunities, supported almost 2,600 small businesses with young talent and we are on track to reach R1 billion paid into the pockets of young people.
Seven years ago, if you had told me we’d reach this milestone, I would have said it was beyond my wildest dreams. Even my wonderfully visionary co-founder, Erica Kempken, might have agreed that this BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) was a bit of a stretch.
But while R1 billion is a milestone worth celebrating, it has never really been about the number. It’s about what that number represents.
More than a number
What does R1 billion into the pockets of young people look like?
It is Zanele in Orange Farm being able to buy a door that locks to the back room where she lives and for the first time, she is able to sleep in peace.
It is Lebogang in Lephalale, able to afford to put her child in daycare and start her first job.
It is Sipho from Umlazi, who is able to pay off his outstanding university fees.
Simultaneously, it is Andile, who runs a manufacturing business, being equipped with three young people to help him grow his company. At the end of the 12 months, he can offer two of them permanent employment.
R1 billion in motion is not just a number.
- It is first payslips.
- It is transport money.
- It is groceries at home.
- It is school uniforms for siblings.
- It is a young person opening a bank account, learning how the workplace works and, most importantly, beginning to imagine a different future.
It all started around a kitchen table
Near the end of 2018, Erica and I were introduced by a mutual friend, Robyn Whittaker. At the time, we had both started and scaled businesses before. We knew two things very clearly.
Firstly, we didn’t want to do it alone again. Secondly, whatever we built next had to make a meaningful difference.
And so, youth@WORK was born. We started with two laptops at my kitchen table.
In early 2019, we secured our first projects as a YES Implementation Partner. Erica and I interviewed the first 32 young people ourselves under a tree in a schoolyard in Vosloorus. We scanned their employment paperwork and drove them to the police station to get certified copies done.
There was no big team. Just determination and a belief that our work made a difference.
Over the next few years, our team grew organically. Many of the young people who joined us on funded 12-month programmes stayed on permanently, and many are still with us six years later.
That remains one of the parts of the youth@WORK story I am most proud of. We don’t only talk about youth employment. We live it inside our own organisation.
As we grew, we outgrew my house and moved into offices in Rosebank. Later we moved to our current premises in Craighall. Along the way, experienced leaders joined our management team, our regional footprint expanded, and today youth@WORK operates across all nine provinces.
Our 2025 Industry Report showed that youth@WORK had grown from 575 active youth in 2019 to more than 3,800 active youth in 2025. Today, that number has grown to more than 4,500 active youth.
Our youth retention rate remains at 95%.
Those numbers matter because they show that young people are being supported to successfully complete their first year of work.
Supporting the whole journey
We recognised early on that placing young people into work opportunities wasn’t enough. That’s why we built support around every placement.
Today, our Wellness Centre actively supports our youth, while monthly online sessions cover workplace readiness, labour law, entrepreneurship, LinkedIn profiles and other practical workplace skills.
Every first Thursday of the month we host Think Tank Thursdays, bringing together current participants and alumni to keep learning.
Our most recent session was so well attended that we almost exceeded our Zoom licence limit!
Building for the future
As our organisation grew, we invested in building better systems.
We developed our own learning management and CRM platform, CORE, introduced a WhatsApp Bot to engage both youth and supervisors, and began using AI to streamline onboarding and strengthen our impact measurement.
These innovations are tools that help us scale while never losing sight of the individual young person.
Along the way, youth@WORK was recognised as YES Implementation Partner of the Year, while our payroll management and technology innovations have been recognised as industry best practice.
We also strengthened our governance by appointing a Board of Advisors whose expertise continues to guide and challenge us as we grow.
The beginning of 2026 has been our busiest year ever. But we didn’t panic, because by now, we know who we are and we know our people always go the extra mile.
For me, Youth in Action – R1 Billion in Motion is the story of seven years of work.
It is the story of funders, host sites, supervisors, alumni, team members and partners all playing their part.
youth@WORK is no longer just an idea born around a kitchen table. It is about young people becoming catalysts for the growth of small businesses – again and again, at scale.
As we look ahead, our commitment remains exactly the same as it was at the beginning:
To care deeply.
To keep building pathways into the world of work.
