Global pharmaceutical company MSD recently hosted the Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Science, and Innovation Mr Buti Manamela at its Midrand Campus to officially launch the company’s 2023 Graduate Placement and Youth Employment Services (YES) program. YES is a collaborative effort between the government, business, and labour to address youth unemployment in South Africa. This comes after MSD was recently verified as a Level 4 B-BBEE contributor, no small feat for the US-headquartered enterprise given the limitations of the local ownership component for multinationals operating in South Africa. The achievement is the result of MSD’s investment in supporting transformation, which includes graduate and youth employment initiatives, preferential procurement, socio-economic development (SED) and various health systems strengthening programs.

MSD recently introduced strategies to comply with the B-BBEE regulations, which include a grant through MSD for Mothers to the Unjani Clinics Network. This provides access to health for communities who cannot afford medical aid, but access maternal health services through private institutions. The organisation also contributed to ACFS-Feeding Scheme, a non-profit organisation that provides meals, school materials, clothing, and toiletries to 1,000 child-headed households, usually common in areas with high AIDS mortality and with challenges linked to COVID-19.

MSD, which focuses on innovation in therapeutic areas such as HIV, oncology, vaccines, infectious diseases and antivirals, has been extensively involved in running HIV and oncology clinical trials in the country. More than 1,250 clinical trials have been conducted across Africa, mostly in South Africa, with an accumulative investment of over $40 million over several years.

“The biggest benefit of conducting clinical trials locally is that they provide critical data and real-world evidence addressing efficacy, effectiveness, and safety of our medicines in our local patient profile,” says Zweli Bashman, MD, MSD South Africa & sub-Saharan Africa. “The secondary benefit is the skills transfer and employment creation as these trials can run for a period of several years at a time.”

Public and private sectors need to put youth to work South Africa’s youth unemployment rate is currently at 34.5%1 and counts amongst the highest – if not the highest – in the world. To reverse this number and ensure that young people are provided opportunities to participate meaningfully in the economy requires several interventions and must be led by all levels of society, not just government. Over the past four years, MSD has employed 51 graduates across various departments, from finance, digital marketing, communications, and HR to its clinical trials centre, and its packaging factory. In addition to on-the-job training, the graduates also undergo formalised learning programs managed by digital training company eStudy. Of the latest cohort of graduates, 29,4% secured permanent employment before the end of the two-year program, with a further 33% also finding permanent positions within and outside of MSD.

Addressing the 120 delegates who attended the MSD graduate placement launch, Mr Manamela said that 1.2 million students are funded through the government’s National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) which has expanded over the years and yields about 70% of graduates annually.

“10% of graduates are unemployed, up from 6% in previous years,” he said. “That’s why government wants to see more graduates being absorbed into projects such as the one MSD has launched to increase employment opportunities for young people from universities and TVET colleges. This increases the employment chances for graduates in South Africa.”

Manamela added that private organisations need to expand their involvement in the YES initiative, which was introduced as government’s challenge to the private sector to help curb youth unemployment.

Speaking at the launch, Mamelodi-based YES program beneficiary Sibusiso Khoza, who is studying towards a teaching degree and is currently employed as an administrator at an organisation that manages work injury claims, said: “The work experience that I gained will assist me in my career as a teacher because I have finally been given the opportunity to apply my knowledge and love for mathematics. I have also learned to engage well with people and have developed good communication skills. After this program, I want to complete my degree in teaching.”

Bashman said that MSD prides itself in placing graduates in real-world work situations, giving them business problems to solve and allowing them to experiment. “I came through the MSD gates as a graduate myself at the start of my career and I hope my journey inspires many after me to become leaders of this innovative organisation,” he said.

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About MSD
At MSD, known as Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, NJ, USA in the United States and Canada, we are unified around our purpose: We use the power of leading-edge science to save and improve lives around the world. For more than 130 years, we have brought hope to humanity through the development of important medicines and vaccines. We aspire to be the premier research-intensive biopharmaceutical company in the world – and today, we are at the forefront of research to deliver innovative health solutions that advance the prevention and treatment of diseases in people and animals. We foster a diverse and inclusive global workforce and operate responsibly every day to enable a safe, sustainable, and healthy future for all people and communities. For more information, visit www.msd.co.za and connect with us on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube

Sources: Statistics South Africa. South Africa’s youth continues to bear the burden of unemployment. | Statistics South Africa (statssa.gov.za) accessed 28 March 2023.