Giraffe, which was founded in 2015 by Anish Shivdasani and Shafin Anwarsha, connects job seekers with opportunities in sales, retail, customer service, banking, and insurance. They may establish a CV, take courses, and look for jobs via a mobile app. The startup has raised funding from UNICEF’s innovation fund, Omidyar Network, Forever Young Capital, Catapult Trust, and Vumela Fund, attracting over a million job seekers and hundreds of businesses. The Harambee Young Employment Accelerator is a non-profit social enterprise that works with governments and the private sector to develop solutions to South Africa’s youth unemployment problem. Harambee accomplishes this by connecting young South Africans to work at partner organizations and providing them with free access to training opportunities through the SA Youth Initiative. In its ten-year history, it claims to have connected over a million young people with job and training opportunities. Anish Shivdasani, the CEO of Giraffe, lauded the SA Youth Initiative as the country’s most concerted attempt to combat the issue of youth unemployment, and expressed hope that the partnership would benefit more young people. Despite being Africa’s most industrialized economy, South Africa has one of the highest youth unemployment rates in the world at 75%. In addition to dealing with a system that excludes many youths, young South Africans also have to deal with the difficulty in acquiring skills or training as well as the cost of searching for jobs. According to TRT World, the monthly cost of looking for work is $85, which is out of reach for most youths, and 32.4 percent of people aged 15 to 24 were unemployed in the first quarter of 2021. As a result, startups like Giraffe and initiatives like Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator’s SA Youth Initiative are critical in assisting these youths in gaining skills and finding jobs. However, the fact that unemployment rates have gotten worse despite the presence of startups like Giraffe and projects like the SA Youth initiative is an indication that more needs to be done. With President Ramaphosa’s promise on Youth Day to support youth-owned businesses, develop their skills in various sectors and create job opportunities, perhaps this could change.
