Education Training Business Development Strategies. Education and training organisations are uniquely placed to address market shifts, and opportunities and align with government policy to try alleviate poverty conditions. When doing this, many interventions can be funded by government or businesses.
Education Training Business Must Engage With Multi-Dimensional Youth Poverty
RSVP for the Vulnerable Markets Workshop: The Youth and Unemployed
If your business intends becoming Quality Council accredited (e.g. QCTO or SETAs), understanding poverty and economic challenges is critical to your success.
Government agencies focus on solving macro economic challenges. When you know what they are you can shape a business development strategy maximising opportunities.
UNDERSTANDING POVERTY MARKETS
Who is most affected by poverty?
Stats SA reported that the following South Africans are most likely to struggle in poverty:
- children aged 17 years and younger
- black Africans
- females
- people from rural areas
- those living in the Eastern Cape and Limpopo
- those with little or no education
School Drop-outs as Market Indicator
Since low levels of education impact livelihood opportunities, it makes sense to position products that up-skill school drop-outs.
Occupational programmes at NQF levels 2 and 3 could be critical in this space. However providers should expand on electives in order to drive a diverse range of graduates.
Business Tech published the following table unpacking provincial drop-out data. These drop-out rates are very disturbing.
| Province | Grade 10 (2014) | Grade 12 (2016) | Drop-out rate | Grade 12 pass | Pass rate | ‘True’ pass rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northern Cape | 22 034 | 10 041 | 54.4% | 7 902 | 78.7% | 35.9% |
| North West | 67 734 | 32 045 | 52.7% | 26 448 | 82.5% | 39.0% |
| Free State | 55 293 | 26 786 | 51.6% | 23 629 | 88.2% | 42.7% |
| Eastern Cape | 154 220 | 82 902 | 46.2% | 49 768 | 59.3% | 31.9% |
| Limpopo | 189 170 | 101 807 | 46.2% | 63 595 | 62.5% | 33.6% |
| KwaZulu Natal | 264 816 | 147 648 | 44.2% | 98 032 | 66.4% | 37.0% |
| Mpumalanga | 94 528 | 54 251 | 42.6% | 41 801 | 77.1% | 44.2% |
| Gauteng | 174 471 | 103 829 | 40.5% | 88 381 | 85.1% | 50.7% |
| Western Cape | 75 791 | 50 869 | 32.9% | 43 716 | 86.0% | 57.7% |
| South Africa | 1 100 877 | 610 178 | 44.6% | 442 672 | 72.5% | 40.2% |
Do you have an effective business strategy in place?
Are you compliant and able to tap into government funding available for pro-poor development?
