Having an ongoing learnership program yields many rewards for the companies involved, and these range from increments to the Broadbased Black Empowerment Equity rating, SARS tax-breaks of up to R50 000 per learner per anum, as well asreduced overhead costs and sundry considering that a typical learner costs a third of what an entry-level staff member does –the former having the advantage of having been trained on reasoning skills, customer service and communication skills, to skim through a few learnership benefits.

It is an irony that companies struggle to find quality staff while there are millions of youth without jobs. Right from the first democratic elections, government has realised that it required a new approach to reduce unemployment. The country needed to roll-out training on a massive scale to benefit the large number of jobless youth in waiting. Learnerships have been a buzz-word ever since.

South African government incentives for broad-based black economic empowerment have encouraged companies to invest in skills development training for existing staff as well as new recruits. Companies that have the infrastructure and capital to fund customised skills training can apply for limited upfront cash grants and qualify for tax rebates once training is complete.

The Skills Development Act of 1999 laid the foundation for education and training to occur in a format that could be monitored and controlled by Government.