Exclusive Networks Africa Graduates 1st Cohort

Exclusive Networks Africa recently graduated the first group of learners from its year-long learnership partnership with Netwxs Enterprise Development (Netwxs), a local skills development provider.

Of the initial group of 12 learners, who are aged between 19 and 27 years of age, 10 have graduated to date, with three going straight into full-time studies with bursaries within the IT and business management arenas at a tertiary education level. Two have been employed by Exclusive Networks Africa and two still completing the programme. The other five are eligible to apply for jobs within the channel due to the skills they have acquired, for example with regards to Fortinet training.

Anton Jacobsz, Managing Director at Exclusive Networks Africa, a distributor with an emphasis on cybersecurity said: “We are acutely aware of the shortage of skills in the IT arena, both globally and here at home, and as a business have run internship programmes for a number of years now. We are committed to supporting skills development initiatives that ultimately support individuals, while also bolstering the local IT industry by providing skills to our channel.

Jacobsz noted that, as of figures released by Statistics SA in mid-February 2024, out of 10 million young people aged between 15 and 24 years, 3.5 million of them were not employed or in education during the last three months of 2023.

Belinda van Deventer, Operations Manager at Netwxs said: “It is an additional cause for concern that some 90 percent of learners who complete general learnership programmes remain unemployed after completing such a course. Our learnership programmes are structured for a 12-month period and comply with SAQA/QCTO requirements, offering access to meaningful education and training interventions for a wide range of learners. Specific learnerships are generated out of particular skills needs or shortages in all economic sectors. We are very proud that some 60 percent of our 2023 learners have moved into either employment or tertiary studies – this is an extremely good result”.

With regards to the learnerships, Netwxs provides an allowance for the duration of the learnership to cover travel and living expenses. The organisation carries out thorough checks and balances on the learners’ credentials to ensure that it is offering its support to candidates who fit the qualifying criteria. In addition to learnership facilitation, Netwxs also offers training, recruitment and channel marketing.