Help! Gen Z needs you to get involved
As we’ve discussed in our previous post, Gen Z is a third of South Africa’s population but they’re not yet equipped to be effective workers. And they need us to get involved.
But, if we act intentionally now, we can equip them and enhance their futures. And in the process, this vibrant generation will boost our business’ sustainability!
So, are you ready to pay it forward? Great! Let’s dig deeper into how you can get involved.
Our UPvisor Academy challenges, and invites small business owners to join forces as we reach top performing and disadvantaged students together.
Your UPvisor Academy options
You can pay it forward by getting involved as a:
- Mentor
- Sponsor
- Partner in the entrepreneurs exchange program
- Workplace for job shadowing
- Financial or non-financial contributor
Mentoring
Accountability will be key as we raise up the next generation.
Mentoring is the main channel for accountability and promotes:
- effectiveness of learning
- application of learning
- further development
- resilience to engage in lifelong learning.
You may have been fortunate to have been exposed to a great mentor. So, consider how that mentor has helped you become a more successful business owner today. Now you can pay it forward as a much-needed mentor to someone else. You can enlighten students through sharing your own good and bad experiences.
Make accountability happen! Remember, there is a wealth of wisdom from learning what someone would do differently if they could go back in time. We don’t have to make the same mistakes someone else has – if we’re willing to learn and share.
And, when we face challenges within our business, we reach out to find someone who can relate, right? So surely someone out there has come out the other side of a similar hurdle?! We need human connection to seek solutions. And that’s exactly what students will need as they enter into the workplace.
Also, finding a position that matches their personality is important to Gen Z. So working through this with a mentor will lead them to their most desired career path. This will help maximise their potential!
Contact us to get more information about our mentoring program.
Training
Gen Z are cautious of the debt that traditional education can bring. Many Millennials are still paying theirs off. Therefore employers must get creative in offering short and long-term training options to serve as a supplement.
Never knowing life without the world-wide-web, Gen Z place high value on technological development. They want to gain skills which will allow them to adapt to the latest technology and to various job roles.
We can meet the needs of Gen Z through training that provides:
- flexibility
- autonomy
- experiential and social learning
- high video content
- infographics
- everything accessible on their mobile device
Entrepreneurship
Gen Z is an entrepreneurial generation. But, unlike Millennials, they will seek employers or businesses for authority and security. This is especially exciting for the future of our businesses!
Read more about what Deloitte has to say about Generation Z here.
As part of the UPvisor Academy we will be providing entrepreneurship training. But, we need your help to give them hands-on experience. Because face-to-face and experiential placements is the environment which Gen Z thrive in.
Which is why we invite you to be part of our entrepreneurship exchange program too!
Work Readiness
So, how can this entrepreneurial generation reach their most desired job role? And how will they become effective?
We need to allow them to lead now.
After completing work readiness training in the Academy which develops professional skills, such as:
- communication
- team work
- professional behavior
- and more
our UPvisees can be released to the world! Through job shadowing opportunities, your business can be a pioneer for raising Gen Z to be effective workers.
This will be a safe space for Gen Z to apply their prominent innovation and entrepreneurship skills. These strengths need nurturing. Which means your company could be the next nurturers through our work readiness strategy.
Funding our Academy
UPvisor's contribution
10% of our Financial management services revenue goes towards putting someone through the academy.
Your contribution
From just R1,000 per month, you can “Adopt-a-grad” too!
This will take them through a 12 month process of mentoring, training and a job experience.
But if you would like to get involved in a smaller way, or non-financially, we’d still love your support!
How will you get involved?
We have so many opportunities to get involved in the lives of the next generation.
Although we’re not the only option, partnering with us through this process will make a massive difference in raising up our youth.
Get in touch with us to talk through how you could potentially get involved, and let’s move things forward, together!