Harambee, Me, and Falling in Love with the Problem

It’s been exactly 3 months since I joined Harambee and what an incredible journey it’s been! I couldn’t help but reflect on my career experiences so far and how my own personal story has made for such a natural connection to the purpose of this organisation.

When I arrived in Johannesburg a decade ago, I was a bright-eyed, ambitious young man who felt like I had the world at my feet and that I could achieve anything I set my mind to. I was all set to conquer the City of Gold except for one minor issue; I had no job and no realistic options on how to get one. This wasn’t for a lack of trying! I had applied, modified CV templates to try standing out, gone to a handful of (read “too many to bother counting”) interviews, and just hadn’t gotten any positive responses. It wasn’t that I don’t interview well – because I believe I do – there just wasn’t a strong enough linking of the opportunities available to the people who needed them most. This experience has haunted me ever since, despite my eventual lucky break and subsequent career in the corporate world.

Regardless of my qualification, I needed that lucky break to be able to enter the first door, to find that entry level employment opportunity that unlocked so many worlds for me that have enabled me to live and thrive in Johannesburg for 10 years. For all this time I’ve felt like an anomaly, like my story just wouldn’t and couldn’t have happened if not for a series of fortunate events. And you know what? In South Africa this unfortunate feeling is the painful reality for almost half of our young people (the unemployment figure at last census count is 44%, which is 4.7 million young people!) And it really shouldn’t be this way. We should be ashamed that so many of our young people can’t even be given opportunities to START being productive and building careers.

This is the backdrop that sets the scene for me starting my role at Harambee. What a full circle moment! I’m privileged to be program manager for driving solutions to what I believe to be one of South Africa’s most pressing issues – systemic youth unemployment. Retrospectively, it is quite a gift to have tangible lived experience of the issue we are tackling. I say gift, but really, only in as much as it provides me proximity to the issue and being able to relate. There really isn’t anything enjoyable, noble, or justifiable in not having work and not having any recourse to getting work either!

And so, I’ve joined this dynamic organism called Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator, and two main things excite me about this role and organisation – 1) the problem they (we) are working to solve and 2) the stage we are in our organisational growth and development. I have already waxed lyrical about the first point, which is the problem and how I personally relate to it, but you should really check out these resources to learn more!

The growth stage of Harambee is also exciting for me in that the organisation is currently evolving from being primarily an implementer / executer in the solutions it provides, to being more of an influence in bringing like-minded people together to solve the issue of youth unemployment more effectively! This relatively new focus is primarily what I’ve been brought on for, as part of a team that leads the stakeholder engagement to really understand who cares about gainfully employed youth, who should care, and who can do something about achieving this. Many of these engagements tackle complex, difficult ideas but I have been so encouraged already to see how much good government, the private sector, and civil society can do when we pull together around a common purpose. Coincidentally, Harambee means ‘we all pull together’ in Kiswahili – make of that what you will haha!

In short, I’m looking forward to doing work that matters and helping others do the same. Here’s to doing more!