Make 2019 count. Hire interns for your team and give SA’s youth a boost into the tech sector.

Register your company’s interest by visiting www.citi.org.za or emailing us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

On 11 December 2018, in Cape Town at the CapaCiTi campus in Salt River, 340 young South Africans completed the technical training and received their certificates. They are now ready to be placed in tech internships in Cape Town and Johannesburg.

CapaCiTi, the Cape Innovation & Technology Initiative (CiTi)’s Tech Career Accelerator, has been preparing young people for the tech sector for 8 years, in 2018 scaling up to support youth and business in both Johannesburg and Cape Town. Now, they’re inviting SA business to interview these ambitious young future tech professionals for an internship starting in January.

Addressing a rising youth unemployment in South Africa, yet leveraging growing opportunities in the tech sector and for those with technology skills, CapaCiTi’s programmes are accelerated career pathways for previously unemployed youth. Key to this, is the commitment by SA businesses to create internship opportunities for youth to apply and grow their technical skills and confidence in the workplace. In turn, organizations are able to access temporary tech support for their teams and projects, particularly valuable at the start of a year.

“This year, CapaCiTi is proud to have equipped several hundred SA youth with the relevant training and coaching they need to accelerate their careers into the tech sector. We’re calling on South African businesses to support our future talent on the next six months of their journey, helping them to apply and build their skills and confidence and contribute to the digital economy. They’re ambitious, tenacious, and will add huge value to your teams as you kick off 2019. These young people are the future of South Africa’s tech sector, let’s all join together to help them start their journey towards a successful career that will be life changing,” states Fiona Tabraham, Acting Head of Skills Development, CiTi.

Since 2010, CapaCiTi has partnered with close to 150 leading organisations to hire interns and graduates. Corporates such as Media24, BCX, Absa have been strong supporters of interns and grads from the Accelerator, as well as a growing list of SAAS businesses, digital agencies. 

“(Absa) has had tremendous success with the talented young people from CapaCiTi’s programmes. Since 2016, we’ve taken on 55 talented interns, and 16 going on to full-time employment with Absa, which we are looking to scale up significantly with CapaCiTi over the next few years. Their aptitude, attitude and aspiration has blown us away! They are hard-working, passionate about technology and creative, with the maturity to negotiate the trickiness of working in teams, as well as rise to the challenge when we put them in leadership positions,” states Alwyn van Wyk, Head of Cape Town Dev Shop, Absa.

The Interns:

CapaCiTi has a large group of youth completing programmes in December, ready to join business teams in January. These young people were all unemployed or under-employed when entering the programmes, and have now completed an intensive programme in a technical discipline relevant to skills in-demand in the tech sector. Importantly, they received coaching and skills training to prepare them for the 2019 workplace – critical and creative thinking, collaboration, presentation.

These ambitious young people are now ready to apply and amplify their knowledge during a 6-month internship, to gain the experience they need to land a tech job.

What they’ve learnt:

CapaCiTi’s programmes run from 9 to 12 months and are designed for matrics and graduates looking to start a career in IT.

The interns available to start in January 2019 in Cape Town and Johannesburg have completed an intensive training programme in the following:

Software Engineering – Trained in Java, Python [CPT & JHB]

Full-Stack Development – Trained in Full Stack Mobile Dev, Net, JavaScript, PHP, Android [CPT]

Java Development – Trained in Java, JavaScript [CPT & JHB]

Software Development (postgrad) – Trained Post Graduates with Java, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, PHP and MY SQL Databases [CPT]

CISCO Security –Trained and certified as a Cisco Network Security Associate [JHB]

ICT Infrastructure – Trained in IT Essentials, Routing and Switching, Linux Fundamentals, CCNA [CPT]

Company Hosts:

As a host, you will help cement the youth of South Africa’s futures in the business world.

Hosts will accommodate the trainees in their respective offices with access to a computer and involve them in work that allows them to grow their technical experience.

Hosts are required to pay a stipend to support their interns with transport and living costs.

Company Benefit:

Interns can support your teams with existing or new projects with data capture, database management, analysis, software testing, software development to administration, help-desk management. What’s important is that they are exposed to technical projects, team-work and ways of working that build their confidence and knowledge.

Join CiTi in supporting young South Africans to positively shape their future:

As a company partner to CiTi, allow these ambitious, motivated interns to contribute to your teams, and projects, where you need it most.

Help support South Africa’s youth to change their future by hiring talented tech interns for your team.To register your company’s interest in interviewing CapaCiTi interns or grads, please visit www.citi.org.za or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and indicate whether you are in Johannesburg or Cape Town, and the focus of your business.

Or contact directly:

Ilze King for Cape Town interns or grads: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or

Estelle Langa for Johannesburg, PE or Durban interns or grads: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Java Launch: The Cape Innovation and Technology Initiative (CiTi) recently launched the latest of their Tech Skills and Job-Readiness Programmes for previously disadvantaged South African youth interested in a future coding or software development career.

24 August 2018 – Young, unemployed South Africans that are passionate about a career in digital are invited to apply before 10 September 2018 to the Java Launch CapaCiTi training and placement programme set to kick off in Johannesburg and Cape Town late September.

CapaCiTi, a full-time tech career accelerator for ambitious youth, earlier this year significantly scaled up its programme delivery to support even more talented young tech enthusiasts. For those who are crazy about technology and ready to work hard – these programmes are a powerful platform to secure your digital career.

The CapaCiTi programmes are to be run at its brand-new tech student campus in Salt River, Cape Town, and at the CapaCiTi training hub at Resolution Circle in Milpark, Johannesburg. CapaCiTi students have direct access to CiTi’s vibrant technology and entrepreneurship ecosystem to access further opportunities and form valuable connections with other tech professionals and leaders through events and mentorship opportunities.

The goal is to equip 3000 talented young South Africans with industry-demanded technology and business skills, placing graduates into internships and permanent jobs in South Africa's leading companies. The Java Launch programme is the most recent high impact programme available to youth in Cape Town and Joburg. The programme is open to previously disadvantaged, unemployed youth.

The Java Launch Programme

Young South African that are interested in solving problems, curious about how things work, are interested in and passionate about mathematics and science, and excited about the applications and growth of tech, will succeed on the Java Launch programme.

The Java Launch CapaCiTi programme teaches students to code with Java, but also the broader technical and business knowledge you’ll need to succeed in today’s workplace. During the programme students will learn the fundamentals of Java, one of the most in-demand and foundational programming languages both within South Africa and internationally.

Participants in the programme will learn:

Java fundamentals (Intro to Java/Variables, Expressions and Statements/Control/Loops)

Java Data Structures and Error Handling (1D arrays, 2D arrays/Types of errors/Exception handling)

Java OOP and Advanced Programming (Classes and Objects/Classes and Methods/OOP principles/Complex topics.

This programme will prepare participants for careers as Junior Software Developers, Software Testers, Software Analysts and Software Engineers; but also as a great foundation for many other digital career avenues.

Application Criteria

All candidates must be 18-35 years old, previously disadvantaged, South African citizens and currently unemployed. The Java Launch programme requires applicants to be in possession of a Matric certificate. Applicants for the Java Launch programme are asked to complete an assessment to qualify for an application interview – this interview tests for problem solving and logic so those with an aptitude for STEM subjects (science, mathematics, engineering, technology) are most likely to succeed.

Pay it forward

While there are no training costs for students on the programmes, graduates will be required to pay forward their training costs only when they are settled into their new permanent job post programme. This pay-back then goes directly towards training of further young South Africans in the programme, thereby contributing to further SA youths’ digital career opportunities.

The pay-it-forward cost for the Java Launch programme is R16 000 for the skills training and coaching and an additional R9 000 travel allowance. Once a participant in the programme is settled in their first job, they will need to pay back the training costs in affordable installments every month, relative to their earnings.

In the years following graduation, CapaCiTi continues to support its alumni to support their career progression.

What to expect?

Individuals are mentored by a network of skilled coaches and receive training in important business skills such as collaboration, critical and creative thinking, presentation and personal branding. Each programme, including the Java Launch, is coupled with a 6-month internship so that candidates have an immediate chance to apply and grow their skills. On completion of the internship, candidate interviews are facilitated by CapaCiTi to ensure graduates are placed in permanent jobs.

Over the past seven years, CapaCiTi has trained over 1000 young South Africans, placing 82% of candidates, 40% being female, in technology positions at 130 partner host companies such as Media24, Woolworths, Shoprite, BCX and Absa.

“I’ve been totally blown away by CapaCiTi. The programme helped me achieve my goal, get my dream job, and start my career in Tech. I had graduated in 2012 with a Diploma in Programming from another institution and struggled to get a job in IT for over 4 years prior to joining CapaCiTi,” states Xavier Mehl who completed the CapaCiTi Software Development Programme in 2016.

CapaCiTi programmes not only provide meaningful opportunity for young South Africans to participate in the digital economy but allow companies to access job-ready young talent to diversify their teams and reduce recruitment and retention challenges. In today's industry, smart and extensive digital technology is no longer an addition but a requisite and data-driven companies who adopt and adapt tech will survive the surge in digital disruption across all sectors.

Are you a young, unemployed South African that fits the criteria and is passionate about a future career in technology?

Then APPLY ONLINE NOW for the Java Launch Programme.

Candidates need to be 18 – 35 years old, previously disadvantaged, a South African citizen and in possession of a Matric certificate.

Start #yourdigitalfuture by applying at: www.citi.org.za/capaciti-apply for the September Java Launch programme.

Connect with CapaCiTi on Facebook (@capacitiza) and Twitter (@capacitiza). 

ENDS 

For media enquiries please contact:

Mika Stanvliet | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | 081 534 6237 

ABOUT CAPACITI AND THE CAPE INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY INITIATIVE (CITI)

CapaCiTi is a programme of the Cape Innovation & Technology Initiative (CiTi), Africa's oldest tech incubator set up to develop initiatives that support and stimulate growth in the South African digital economy. The programme provides unemployed youth with coding and tech skills, psychological and mentoring support, job readiness training, as well as internship and permanent placement in our partner companies. For the past seven years, CapaCiTi has trained young people in the Western Cape, which was then scaled to 4 cities in January 2018, to further scale over the next three years. The Cape Innovation and Technology Initiative (CiTi) as an organisation (NPO) has been instrumental in developing South Africa’s vibrant technology and entrepreneurship ecosystem. Its highly successful technology business incubation programmes have supported thousands of entrepreneurs in growing their businesses and contributing towards the local economy, alongside supporting key technology innovation clusters – currently Edtech, Fintech, Traveltech and Data Science. CiTi’s Bandwidth Barns are based in Woodstock and Khayelitsha, and are vibrant digital ecosystems for innovation, entrepreneurship and skills delivery.