No doubt: Digital skills and access to platforms are critical for workforce empowerment and skills development. Photo: Oupa Nkosi
South Africa’s presidency of the G20 has given this country an unprecedented opportunity to not only help shape future policy locally but to bring Africa’s voice to the forefront of global decision-making.
And when one considers the building blocks of an equal and sustainable future — two of the three overarching themes of the 2025 G20 — the area of digital transformation needs special attention. No other phenomenon in recent times has had such a profound impact on both individual lives and the economic competitiveness of businesses and countries as the digital revolution.
As part of the Business 20, the official G20 dialogue forum for the global business community, Wits Business School recently hosted a public advocacy dialogue to explore how increased digital literacy and access to digital platforms can turn the tide on youth unemployment.
A message that comes through clearly among researchers and stakeholders in digital transformation is that the digital divide should not be seen in isolation, but rather as just one aspect of a system of other socio-economic barriers to employment facing young, marginalised people.
Kuben Nair, chief technology officer at Harambee Youth Employment, a not-for-profit organisation that works with multiple stakeholders to find solutions to youth unemployment, cited the example of a young South African woman with a matric but no further qualifications or work experience.
Personal circumstances require her to parent younger siblings which limits the time she has for job seeking, along with other barriers including transports costs and airtime.
There is little doubt that digital skills and access to platforms are critical for workforce empowerment and skills development.
Allen Blue, one of the co-founders of LinkedIn, notes how platforms such as LinkedIn, a “staple” in the job market, have evolved to provide people an opportunity to showcase their skills, not just their credentials.
This affords them increased visibility and a better chance of finding appropriate employment and, therefore, participation in the economy.
A local platform, SA Youth — of which Harambee is a strategic partner — is an easy, free-to-use platform that connects employers with thousands of young people looking for entry-level jobs.
Because digital literacy is part of a wider, systemic issue, collaboration is key. The Presidential Youth Employment Intervention and the National Pathway Management Network are examples of a systemic and collaborative approach to unemployment, drawing together government, business, industry, civil society, researchers, funders and non-profit organisations.
The emphasis is on inclusive hiring (jobs targeted specifically at young people), creating new job opportunities in established sectors, as well as support for those seeking self-employment and the informal economy.
It is interesting to note the shape of the South African workforce economy compared to that of the rest of the continent.
In Africa, roughly 45% people are employed in the formal economy, 45% people are employed in the informal economy and 10% are unemployed. In South Africa, 50% of people are employed in the formal economy, only 16% are employed in the informal economy and 34% are unemployed. These figures indicate a shift needed where digital literacy interventions are targeted at the millions of young people in the informal economy who lack the support and networking opportunities for business and career development.
Ekow Duker, founder and CEO of the AI Shop, notes that AI will play an increasingly important role for entrepreneurs, in both the formal and informal sectors, by providing essential information on, for example, access to funding and general business support.
Dr Anne Makena, founder and CEO of Research Alpha and special advisor to the Africa Oxford Initiative, says digital literacy gaps expose what she calls the “underbelly of all the other divides, gaps in our system”. These include access to electricity, the internet, education and smartphones.
Providing digital literacy programmes is not the solution in itself — such initiatives need to match both the needs of the individual as well as the needs of society. Addressing the digital literacy gap is an opportunity to shine a light on all the other barriers that divide our society and hinder economic growth.
Finally, it is important not to overlook the fact that, across Africa, one in four young people are neither in employment nor in training or education. This begs the question — are we targeting our digital literacy programmes at the right audience?
To avoid leaving millions of Africans behind we need to meet them where they are, not where we would like them to be.
Mills Soko is professor of International Business and Strategy at Wits Business School.