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The Department of Trade and Industry has issued revisions to Code 300 which deals with Skills Development in the B-BBEE Codes of Good Practice.

Code 300 seeks to incentivise employers to contribute towards skills development in

the form of bursaries for black students at all higher education institutions.

This regulation will help empower and fund “missing middle” students who want to

study towards scarce-skills professions. But to do this requires a positive and proactive

response from South Africa’s captains of industry.

The Ikusasa Student Financial Aid Programme (ISFAP) is a sustainable proven solution

to funding South Africa’s “missing middle” students for meaningful participation in

the economy.

ISFAP addresses the urgent plight of our country’s unemployed youth.

Achieve your maximum Skills Development Points

Our founding partners:

www.isfap.co.za

Thuma Mina! Partner with ISFAP today.

To discuss a funding partnership please

contact us at partners@isfap.co.za

BC

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WHEN WE LEAD TO DEVELOP

A NATION, WE LEAD WITH PURPOSE.

#aprofessionofnationalvalue

At SAICA, we believe that prosperity goes beyond the bottom line. We are committed to the development

of great South African leaders, with integrity and a responsibility towards the growth of our nation. Through

the Thuthuka Bursary Fund we have produced over 1 020 black qualifi ed CAs(SA), with an additional

1 900 in the pipeline. As SAICA, we strive to develop multiskilled sector and industry experts who add value

through intrinsic understanding and experience across multiple business and technology platforms to

form holistic partnership that advance their skills and our nation. SAICA sees each and every member as

a future leader who will lead South Africa into a future of prosperity and abundance.

To learn more about how SAICA partners for purpose-driven growth, visit www.saica.co.za today.

SAICA YOUTH MONTHSponsored content

Game changer forthe ‘missing middle’• Code revision to benefit students as well as companies, writes Penny Haw

Published at the end ofMay, the departmentof trade andi ndu s t r y ’s revisions tothe Broad-Based

Black Economic Empowerment(BBBEE) Codes of Good Practiceinclude key changes to theAmended Code Series 300:Skills Development. Notably, anew sub-element for skillsdevelopment expenditure onbursaries for black students atall institutions of highereducation was introduced,incentivising employers toincrease contributions in thisregard. The target for the newsub-element is 2.5% for fourpoints. The amendments willcome into effect on November30 2019.

This, says chairman of theIkusasa Student Financial AidProgramme (ISFAP), SizweNxasana, is “a true gamechanger for alleviating the plightof SA’s ‘missing middle’ as morecompanies looking to improvetheir BBBEE scorecards willbenefit from it”.

(Ikusasa is an isiZulu wordmeaning “the future”.)

The ISFAP was establishedin 2016 to develop a sustainablemodel to fund the highereducation of SA’s so-called“missing middle”. The missingmiddle comprises students

from families whose grossincome is between R350,000and R600,000, which meansthey do not qualify for the freehigher education (provided bygovernment for qualifyingstudents from families whosegross income is belowR350,000). The ISFAPprogramme aims to fast-trackS A’s skills production byfunding higher education ofstudents studying towardscareers in scarce skills asidentified as critical to SA’seconomic development.

“At 27.6%, SA’sunemployment rate is twotimes higher than its closestBrics (Brazil, Russia, India,China and SA) counterpart,”says Nxasana. “Our youth facean even greater crisis with onein three unemployed and

inadequately equipped to enterthe marketplace. This equates tomore than half a million youthwho require funding to pursuetertiary education in order togain the skills necessary toobtain employment.

“It is up to our captains ofindustry to rally together behindthis cause and assist the youthwithin the missing middle,” hesays. “ISFAP applauds the DTI’srevisions to Code Series 300,which has introduced a spendon bursaries from companieswith a target of 2.5% leviableamount on payroll and fourweighting points accumulationon the BBBEE scorecard forfunding black students at highereducation institutions.”

Modelled on the SouthAfrican Institute of CharteredAcco u nt a nt s ’ Thuthuka BursaryFund, the ISFAP providesstudents with full funding fortheir studies and wraparoundsupport for nonacademicrequirements. The programmefocuses on the development ofstudents in 11 Occupations ofHigh Demand as gazetted by theDepartment of HigherEducation and Training. Theprimary focus, says Nxasana, isto secure the future of SouthAf r ic a’s youth by providingneeds-based assistance tostudents from poor and

working classes.ISFAP has shown

remarkable growth across allmeasures — including thenumber of applications receivedand students funded, and thenumber of institutions and otherbenefactors providing access tocourses — since its pilotprogramme began in 2017.

For 2019, prospectivestudents from across thecountry submitted 16,500applications, 1,700 of whomwere granted ISFAP funding.This is an increase from 690 in2017 and 1,300 in 2018. ISFAPhas entered into partnershipswith 11 tertiary institutions,which provide access to morethan 17 courses pertinent tocareers on the list ofOccupations in High Demand.

“The number of donors and,as a consequence, the amountof funding that our donors haveassisted us in generating hasalso increased,” says Nxasana.

“We started the pilotprogramme in 2017 with 17donors, generating about R53m.Today, we have more than 40donors, generating R 248m.With more than 216,000students in the ‘missing middle’category, it is estimated the costof funding required from publicand private donors equates tomore than R26bn per year.”

Helping to make maths countYouth unemployment, skillsshortages and poor qualityeducation pose major problemsfor SA. Among the initiativesworking towards solutions isthe South African Institute ofChartered Accountants’ (Sa ic a’s)Thuthuka Education UpliftmentFund (TEUF) and Thuthuka’sBursary Fund (TBF), writesSaica Project Manager:Marketing and Communication,Karin Jacobsen.

The latest youth labourstatistics show that at 54.7%,fewer than one in two of theco u nt r y ’s working-age youths(between the ages of 15 and 34years) is employed. No wonder“not being able to find a job” isamong the youth’s top threefe a r s .

On the other side of thescale, human resource expertsreveal that there are significantshortages in the number of jobseekers who have thenecessary qualifications to enterscarce skills careers in thefinancial, engineering, scientific,architectural and medical

sectors. What this means for theyouth is that choosing a careerwhere skills are in short supplyenhances their likelihood offinding employment.

TRAN S FO RMATI O NThe purpose behind Saica’sTEUF is improving the quality ofthe country’s maths. RobertZwane, Saica Senior Executive:National Projects explains: “Th i sproject has a single-mindedobjective to transform thedemographics of theaccountancy profession byproviding educational supportto African and coloured learners

and university students. Whilethis naturally benefits theprofession, it also helps to upliftdisadvantaged communitiesand to create a pipeline of pupilseligible to study towards allscarce skills careers, not justchartered accountancy.”

Established in 2002, TEUFstarted in the Eastern Cape as asingle project. Today, TEUF hasa presence in 65% of SA’s highschools and runs more than 45maths, science and financeliteracy school programmesannually across nine provinces.These i nc lu de dev e lo p me ntcamps and supplementary

classes (in maths, accounting,English, and responsibleleadership); career-awarenessprogrammes; and maths andaccounting Olympiads.

TEUF also builds capacity atS A’s historically disadvantagedinstitutions (HDIs) to help ruralcommunities access the samequality of education available inthe rest of the country. To date,TEUF’s HDIs capacitationprogramme has seen five out ofsix of HDIs gain Saicaaccreditation for their Bachelorof Commerce undergraduatechartered accountant (CA)-stream accounting degrees,with three of these also havingreceived accreditation for theirpostgraduate programme.

“Together, these projectshave taken CA(SA) blackmembership from a mere 1,352members in 2002 to 12,831. TheTBF has a produced more than1,000 qualified CAs with afurther 2,370 prospectiveAfrican and coloured CAs invarious stages of thequalification route,” says Zwane.

Online learning programmes on offerThe South African Institute ofChartered Accountants (Saica)and the University ofJohannesburg (UJ) haveintroduced a series of shortonline learning programmes toequip accountants with skills tonavigate the fourth industrialrevolution (4IR).

4IR for Accountants is thefirst of a suite of four coursesdesigned to assist chartered

accountants (CAs) to adapt tothe interconnectedtechnological world. It providesan introduction to the fourthindustrial revolution byexploring key topics in the field,including artificial intelligence,machine learning, naturallanguage processing,blockchain and ethics.

At the l au nc h , UJ vice-chancellor Professor Tshilidzi

Marwala shared his insightsinto the technologies for thefourth industrial revolution andexplored how it impacts marketefficiency, economics, financeand political science.

The course is a self-paced,100% online short learningprogramme for thoseparticipating in Saica’scontinuing professionaldevelopment programme.

Driven by competenciesrelating to Saica’s 2025 visionfor CAs, it is an interdisciplinarycourse with topics that have atechnical and business focus.

Saica says its partnershipwith UJ is an important part ofits commitment to helpaccountants future-proof theircareers by embracing the skillsneeded to navigate the fourthindustrial revolution.

Sizwe Nxasana … assist youth.

TEUF HDIb e n efi c ia rygraduates atthe Universityof Zululand( L- R : )Sbu y iseloMshengu ,Phu mlaniDlamini andSandile Nkosi.