In 1995, we started with computer and language skills training. Experience taught us that work seekers with market-related skills will enable immediate employment. We then developed courses as the market dictates and as funding becomes available. We therefore keep a close eye on current demand and the economic conditions of the time. Our courses are, therefore, not all presented each year, but we believe that we best serve our students by providing training that is currently in demand to better their chances of employment.

Despite a few dropouts, we have had staggering success with students finishing our courses, with a 90% throughput in 2018/2019. Following is a summary of the courses presented in 2018 and 2019 and the number of students who completed their courses:

The quality of the training environment and the training content is evident in the following video, in which Chef Leta du Toit-October guides students in the Chef Assistant course.

Successful students from our training programmes are placed as apprentices with our partner employers in our family network. Our commitment doesn’t end there, however, we try to keep in contact with our students in various ways. This continued contact approach ensures that we remain aware to what extent our development approach contributed to our students’ long-term career development and helped them to break free from the poverty cycle. Our hope is that their personal transformation empowers them, in turn, to become positive change agents in their own communities.

Listen to them talk about their journeys to success.

Applicants who have qualifications and job experience may be placed in jobs without training. The placement of applicants who have not come through our training programmes also continues to grow, showing an increased reach of our services with 4 777 job placements made since 1997. Following is a chart showing the growth of placements made of qualifying applicants with experience who didn’t go through our training programmes compared to placements of our own students.