For Rachel Segale, the seeds of her purpose were sowed at a young age when her father lost his job as a police officer while she was in primary school.
Now, as the human resource manager of technology company In2IT, Segale prides herself with being a key part of the company’s mission to grant young minds technological skills through a successful intake program based in Sandton.
Their program also reaches down to catch some of these young minds from an even earlier age, through partnerships with schools whereby they furnish them with the basic necessities to their computer laboratories, and invaluable insight into what the world of technology is about.
The development agency has been a lifeline for 27-year old Muzi Themba, who battled to find employment after graduating from the Vaal University of Technology, but joined the company in 2019.
“I appreciate that not only did I get this opportunity, but that here they make it a point to open up your horizons and expose you to not only the type of IT courses that are glorified because of the profile of people who receive attention for them, but those that address the shortage of certain skills in the country,” Themba said.
He said he aspires to be a service delivery manager, and arm other youth the knowledge that when pursuing a career in the field of technology, one does not need to follow the crowd.
Segale said she works hard to ensure the type of attitude Themba displays in all of the young adults that join the company. Since 2011, In2IT has taken over 200 unemployed learners through exhaustive training in cyber security, business analysis and systems support, and were recently named “Top Employer” in SA by the Top Employer Institute.
“I’m passionate about championing the youth. One of my favourite things about this role is ensuring that young people know how to behave in the workplace, how to handle challenges, and how to effectively balance their work and home life,” Segale said.
“It’s important to us to contribute to our country’s goal of addressing unemployment, so even though we, like most companies, were affected by the pandemic financially, have started to reintegrate the young people we were forced to let go back into the company. We make sure that whatever talent we retain. We took into cognisance the report that was published that said 43% of young South Africans were jobless due to the pandemic, and are looking to specifically tackle the part of it that speaks to this being a result of a lack of skills,” Segale said.
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