A programme that has reached 4,000 young people is easy to celebrate. The hard part is the next 20,000. At a digital skills summit in Johannesburg this month, an investment executive said that step could cost R2.5 billion, about $152 million. The surprise is where she thinks the money should come from: funds that already exist.
The Collective X, which coordinates South Africa’s National Digital Skills Plan, wants to scale a model that links training to real jobs. Nicola Galombik, executive director at the investment firm Yellowwoods, said R2.5 billion from existing state skills funds could help an extra 20,000 young people gain digital skills and find work by 2028. That money is not secured. It is a target, not a budget.
How the model works. Employers and government share the cost. Employers give young people real work experience, and public skills funding helps pay wages and workplace preparation. The idea is to train for jobs that businesses actually have, instead of producing graduates with nowhere to go. The Digital Skills Impact Fund pays for results, not classroom hours. According to Business Day, it co-pays employers and partners for verified outcomes, meaning recognised digital qualifications and permanent jobs for young people.
The numbers so far. Ziaad Suleman, chief executive of Cassava Technologies and chair of The Collective X board, said the effort has brought together 600 organisations, mobilised R600 million ($36.4 million) and reached 4,000 beneficiaries in all nine provinces. Galombik pointed to a 95% absorption rate among young people who finish work-based learning programmes. The long-term goal is 500,000 young people in in-demand digital roles by 2034.
Here is what the ask means in plain terms. Our own arithmetic puts R2.5 billion across 20,000 young people at about R125,000 each, or roughly $7,600. That is an average from the ask, not a measured cost per placement.
What the numbers do not say. Be careful with the headline figure. Galombik did not present the R2.5 billion as money already committed. The funding needed to scale the national effort is also not the same as what the initiative holds today.
Other figures do not line up neatly. In August, Business Day reported that the fund had supported more than 1,800 young people since 2024, with a 97% employment absorption rate, and described the R600 million as multiyear commitments. The summit report says 4,000 beneficiaries and 95%. These may count different things, and the sources do not explain how. We also do not know how “absorption” is defined, or how long young people stay in those jobs.
Why money is not the only problem. Rudi Dicks, who heads the Project Management Office in the Presidency, said: “Resources are not necessarily the problem. The question is how we use them more effectively to achieve the best outcomes.” He warned that complex funding processes put off smaller firms. “Some businesses do not apply because they lack a human resources department to manage the process,” he said.
That is a useful insight for founders. A startup with ten staff and no HR team may qualify for support and never apply, because the paperwork costs more than the help. Simpler applications, lighter reporting and easier access to incentives could widen who takes part.
Why this matters now. AI is changing which skills employers want. Phuthi Mahanyele-Dabengwa, who is joining The Collective X board, said people can no longer expect to do the same tasks for a whole career. Business Day cites Collective X research that found about 118,500 ICT vacancies, 36% of them at junior level. It also cites Pnet, which reports that only 42% of IT job applicants have the qualifications most advertised roles require.
What to watch next:
- Whether the National Skills Fund and the Labour Activation Programme commit money to the plan.
- Whether the 95% to 97% absorption rate holds as the numbers grow from thousands to tens of thousands.
- Whether more small employers join, since partners are expected to rise from 30 to 100 by the end of the year.
Evan Jones, chief executive of The Collective X, named three priorities for scaling: aligned policy, multi-year financing that mixes government and business money, and employers who can respond quickly as skills needs change.
If you run a company that hires young people, this is worth a closer look. If you are a young job seeker, ask programmes how many of their graduates are in jobs a year later, not only how many finish.
Sources: TechCabal’s report on South Africa’s digital jobs drive and the $152 million test, by Phathisani Moyo, 16 October 2026, as provided to Index Prima; Business Day on the Digital Skills Impact Fund; CIO South Africa on The Collective X.
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