South Africa's young people could have much to offer the country, but too many of them are unemployed and thus not able to reach their full potential.

Crispin Sonn, director of corporate affairs at Old Mutual (South Africa), says that our youth could give South Africa the competitive advantage that would see the economy emulate the economic successes of South Korea, Singapore and Japan.

"But it might be hard to imagine that, when so many of our young people are unemployed and have bleak prospects in life. For every school-leaver who gets a job, there will be thousands who don't. A formal letter of appointment and the security of regular wages might seem ideal, but the blunt truth is that many of our young people will never enjoy such security."

Sean Hettema, the human resources director at Nando's, says the fast-food company has tried to make a difference in the lives of young people. "At Nando's we have partnered with an NGO (HIV & Me) to pilot a process where specific restaurants adopt a school in their community. The school's educators are trained by the NGO on HIV/Aids education, and provided a curriculum and learning aids. The restaurant staff will support the school where possible as role models or with other corporate social investment initiatives, and will also host career days and recruit future employees from the graduating classes of the schools. The interaction with potential future employees over an extended period increases the likelihood of getting it right."

Fashion store Foschini has also made an effort to give young people a better chance of finding work. Mary Griffiths, senior human resources manager: group resourcing at the Foschini Group, says: "The Foschini Group supports initiatives to grow and develop talent and we have a number of opportunities to encourage young people to either find work permanently in our group or to gain valuable temporary experience in our group that assists them with their future careers."

The ways in which the group does this include:

l A graduate recruitment programme through which graduates are appointed to a variety of positions, including trainee buyers and trainee merchandise planners. All trainees go through a comprehensive training programme; and

l The company's financial services division attracts call centre agents, many of whom are students who complete their qualifications while working either full time or part time as agents. Many of these agents are promoted to supervisory roles.

For Sonn, however, more effort needs to be put into encouraging young people to make work for themselves rather than look for an employer. "Reality demands that we make it easier for them to choose not to become employees, but self-employed entrepreneurs who someday become employers themselves."

Sonn says that US research shows that almost all job creation in the US since 1980 has been generated by companies that have been in operation for less than five years.

Anthony Farr, the CEO of the Allan Gray Orbis Foundation, agrees that helping young people to become self-employed would make a big dent in the problem. "The country is not in short supply of bright, gifted young people who have the potential to drive economic transformation. However, these future leaders require access to adequate education as well as an induction into an entrepreneurial way of thinking."

The foundation aims to improve job creation by giving those young people with the potential to become entrepreneurs the chance to realise their dreams. The Allan Gray Fellowship programme, for example, has as its goal the development of "high impact leaders and entrepreneurs".