Four self-upliftment opportunities for young South Africans
If you are a young South African yearning for opportunities, this article is for you. The team at the Freedom Advocacy Network (FAN) cares about young South Africans and wants you to flourish in life.
The FAN team believes that when young people have opportunities, they are empowered to fulfil their potential and achieve their dreams. While this list is by no means an exhaustive summary of all the opportunities on offer in South Africa, it does illustrate that our country does have many opportunities for young people to seize and learn from. Share this advice with your friends or use it in your personal life.
- Apply for bursaries and jobs
The Knowledge Trust is an organization that helps young people to find work and jobs. This organization was founded in 2020 and its mission is “to use the power of community to make education more accessible to more people, more often and as we all know, education and jobs go hand-in-hand.” The Knowledge Trust can help young people to find the bursaries they need to upskill themselves; furthermore, it also offers a platform through which people can apply for jobs. Young South Africans can use this platform to kickstart their careers and grow as professionals.
- Volunteer to have an impact
South Africa is a country with many socio-economic challenges. These are made worse by the rampant levels of corruption amongst the political elite. Although these challenges make our lives harder, they also offer opportunities for you to become more involved in South Africa’s civil society sector. Our country has many NGOs, civil society groups and community forums. Together, they perform a stellar job in representing our country’s vibrant citizens and keeping leaders accountable. Perhaps you could contact one of them and volunteer to promote the cause that you believe in. As a start, you can subscribe Freedom Advocacy Network and stand up for freedom with us!
- Starting a business
As a developing country, South Africa’s economy offers many opportunities for growth. This means that if you create an innovative product or service, you could become a successful businessperson. South Africa is home to many successful enterprises that began as start-ups , such as UCook and Computicket. If you decide to start a business, there are private organisations that would be willing to support your endeavours. Venture capital businesses such Knife Capital provide businesses with the financial support that they need to upscale and grow.
- Work overseas teaching English
Some countries, particularly in Asia, are always looking for people who can teach their young students English. Luckily, English is one of South Africa’s official languages. Doing a short course and connecting with the right people can make this dream a reality. The Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme helps English-speakers to source opportunities to teach overseas. Bear in mind that, if you do leave to teach overseas, South Africa would highly appreciate it if you came back and lent your experience to the country’s development!
As you can see, there is a wide are a variety of interesting opportunities for young people to take advantage of. Some, such as volunteer work, are focused on society; others – such as using a venture capital firm’s support to grow a business – are economic in nature. Despite economic gloom and stagnation in South Africa today, there are opportunities that people can make the most of to develop themselves and to contribute to building the country. Remember, your success can help others achieve success too.
Cover image source available here.