• Kia will employ unemployed youth on a one-year contract.
• The 'YES' programme seeks to give said youth a chance at full-time employment.
• Kia has placed these youth across its business network.
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This year, Kia South Africa - through its local holding company, Motus - participates in the Youth Employment Service (YES) programme that calls on businesses to assist government in creating critical work experience opportunities for young people across the country.
Most of the YES programme learners have been placed in Sales Co-ordinator roles throughout the Kia retail network and its head office. It will allow the learners to gain valuable experience ranging from customer service, administration, vehicle financing and an overall perspective of what it takes to run such a business.
Pamentha Kadathlal, Human Resources Director at Kia South Africa, says: "Work experience is crucial as there is a huge difference between a textbook and hands-on experience. We want to give these learners a variety of work experience so they can discover their passion and start building successful careers."
YES to success
Launched a little over two years ago by President Cyril Ramaphosa, YES has already created 51 600 work experiences for previously unemployed youth who would otherwise have had limited employment opportunities. In this time, these partnerships have injected approximately R3 billion into the economy through salaries that have been transferred into the youth worker wallet.
The introduction of the 355 YES youth will be staggered across different divisions within Motus and provide previously unemployed youth with a one-year fixed-term contract, a mobile device for ongoing support and training, as well as access to jobs across the group. Of these, 63 learners will find their feet at Kia South Africa.
Motus firmly believes that the corporate sector has a keen responsibility toward skills development in South Africa. "By partnering with and investing in programmes such as YES, we are not only providing an opportunity for those 355 youths, but we are expanding the talent pool for the entire industry, which means we all benefit in the end," says Osman Arbee, CEO of Motus.
