Young Aspiring Thinkers

Young Aspiring Thinkers is a Non – Profit Organization which aims to serve the purpose of providing young South African high school learners with the skills to unlock their future careers, and tackle the challenge of youth unemployment. Our purpose is to become one of the most transformational youth-led movements in the country. Our implementation strategies consist of career exposure and career development through our value offering of Career Exposure events and our Illuminate Programme. We aim to target schools in South Africa where opportunities and access to information is limited; These are public schools mainly located in township areas where there are plenty of bright young students that are not being exposed to the necessary information regarding their career options - This leaves young learners feeling like their paths in life are limited. Our Career Exposure events are centred around unique methodologies - such as speed mentoring and 30 seconds. This fun and unique structure allows young professionals excelling across various industries, to share their journey of continuous learning and the innovative aspects of their work, with the learners. Successful high school students are then filtered into our 6 month Illuminate Programme, which focuses on career development and self-awareness. We provide the learners with projects that are centred around the SDG goals, that are then implemented in partnership, and with the help of business schools and corporate entities. The Illuminate Programme then ends off with the learners undergoing a job shadowing experience within organizations that are passionate about tackling the challenge of youth employment, and who are aligned to the SDG goals formulated by the United Nations. This hands-on programme informs and links the learners to bursaries, learnerships and graduate opportunities.