South Africa's Matriculants: The continental advantage we're wasting

“Some 900,000 young South Africans just received their matric results. They represent the continent's most educated cohort and its most connected generation. Yet, 40% of them will join the ranks of youth who are not in employment, education, or training within months.  This is a South African tragedy that is repeating across the continent. 

Statistics South Africa confirms what every matriculant knows: the path forward is blocked. 

Over 100,000 qualified candidates could not access public universities in recent years due to space constraints. Immediate employment prospects remain scarce despite

South Africa hosting Africa's largest companies and having one of the continent's fastest-growing entrepreneurial intention rates.

 The question then is whether our system can convert our youth’s potential into economic strength.

The global context makes our inaction more urgent. At September's UN General Assembly, the Global African Business Initiative centred discussions on Energy Transition, Digital Transformation, Creative Industries and Sports. These are the sectors that require exactly the talent we are sidelining. Next week at Davos, major employers will debate how to build capabilities in critical thinking, collaboration, and ethical leadership for the next generation.

Meanwhile, our matriculants are thinking - what now?

The gap between continental need and youth readiness represents an underutilized competitive advantage for South Africa. Our matriculants hold credentials that position them among Africa's best educated.

They are digitally native in a continent undergoing rapid technological transformation.

They're multilingual and culturally fluent across contexts that multinational corporations struggle to navigate.

But credentials without pathways become sources of frustration, not engines of growth, and so the following needs to change - immediately:

For Employers and Corporates:

• Convert contributions made at global platforms into structured internship pipelines that bridge the credential-to-capacity gap
• Create apprenticeship models in sectors you're already discussing: green energy, digital infrastructure, creative industries
• Recognize that "work experience required" is a barrier, not a quality filter - design entry points for talented matriculants to demonstrate capability

For Education Stakeholders and Funders:

• Increase visibility of existing opportunities - scholarships to Ashesi University, African Leadership programs, and emerging Middle East/Asian partnerships remain unknown to most matriculants
• Go beyond business plan competitions and fund pathway programs that translate entrepreneurial intention into venture creation
• Support credential recognition frameworks so youth educated abroad can return home without bureaucratic penalties

For Policymakers:

• Immediate: Audit how many current government and parastatal roles could absorb matriculant apprentices in 12-month rotational programs. The DBE’s recent teacher training program is a great example of this
• Strategic: Incentivize companies creating structured first-job pathways for non-university-bound youth
• Systemic: Commission research on what post-apartheid winners (Ramaphosa, Motsepe) did in their twenties—and what structural conditions enabled it - then replicate those conditions

In reality, we are asking youth to have self-efficacy in systems that tend to erode it. We celebrate entrepreneurial intention, but maintain regulatory barriers that prevent youth from testing business ideas without capital. We discuss "future skills" but defund TVET colleges.

Thirty years ago, transformation created opportunities for those who moved quickly.

Cyril Ramaphosa and Patrice Motsepe built empires.

Today, Siya Kolisi represents what's possible when systemic barriers in a single sector finally shift.

The question for South Africa's private sector, funders, and policymakers: What are you transforming right now that will create the same momentum for this generation of matriculants?

Because the continent's needs won't wait for our systems to catch up.

Dr Memuna Williams: Founder and CEO of Empowering Sustainable Change. She is a specialist at bridging the gap between education, skills development and entrepreneurship.

BUSINESS REPORT