Famous Brands, the name behind iconic South African franchises like Mugg & Bean and Wimpy, have partnered with the Youth Employment Service (YES) to provide 159 young people access to job opportunities and training within the company.
While the Covid-19 pandemic and resultant lockdowns impacted greatly on the hospitality sector in South Africa, with restaurants closing down and thousands of people losing their jobs, Famous Brands and YES are offering a lifeline to unemployed young people.
South Africa’s hospitality sector is a massive employer and contributes around R392 billion to the country’s GDP, but the Covid-19 restrictions severely impacted this sector, according to statistics portal Statista.
However, with the Covid-19 pandemic squarely in the rear-view mirror, the outlook is much rosier. Stats SA reported this week that foreign tourism is growing again, and the Bureau for Economic Research (BER) reported that activity in the hospitality industry expanded strongly for the third quarter in a row.
The Famous Brands and YES programme has seen young people given work experience as interns and baristas in six provinces – Gauteng, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape, Mpumalanga and Free State. More than 80% of the youth are women and the average age of the intake is 25 years.
Using the YES internal model, Famous Brands have provided critical, relevant roles within the hospitality industry, specifically within a successful franchise model. Youth are employed in restaurants, learning transferable skills as baristas and waiters, and some have been placed at their head offices, working for different departments as administrative assistants.
The skills these young people are learning at the Famous Brand franchises are skills that can take them anywhere – baristas are sought after all over the world, while waitering skills equip these young people with problem solving and decision-making skills. By using the YES internal placement model, companies are also creating a talent pipeline within their organisation.
Derrian Nadauld, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Famous Brands said, “As we know, unemployment and specifically youth unemployment, is the single biggest challenge facing our country and society. We are delighted to be able to contribute in a small way to providing opportunities for some young people to obtain skills and work experience that, should significantly improve their future prospects of meaningful employment in the future by having employable and marketable skills. We have been energised and inspired by the young people who have joined the programme with us, and they are already making a positive impact in the businesses they have been deployed to”.
Ravi Naidoo, CEO of YES, said despite South Africa shedding over two million jobs from March 2020 to the end of 2021, YES has been bucking this trend and has created more than 82 000 work opportunities for youth.
Naidoo said that the retail sector has the capacity to create meaningful employment in South Africa and this sector’s partnership with YES can play a significant part in creating employment, especially for young, semi-skilled or unskilled people. Through training programmes, like the one offered by Famous Brands, these young people can learn new skills and competencies to give them a head start in the jobs market, Naidoo said.
“More than 2 200 private companies believe in this mission and have signed on to co-create a future that works. If anything, the COVID-19 pandemic cemented YES’s message in the hearts and minds of our corporate partners and has become a catalyst for action.
“More than this, globally and locally, the pandemic has encouraged investors and consumers to choose what they buy and who they buy from based on a company’s sustainability plans. Companies that are participating in YES can be seen as good corporate citizens who are investing in the country’s future, which has also pushed us beyond B-BBEE solutions,” Naidoo said.
