Youth Employment Service (YES) — Fully managed by SolveSA
Trusted by organisations that take impact seriously.
From listed corporates to leading asset managers, we’ve helped South African organisations turn compliance and ESG obligations into measurable impact — across B-BBEE, carbon, governance and social.
+2
B-BBEE levels possible
0
Added headcount on your books
B-BBEE levels possible
Powering South Africa’s largest privately-funded youth employment response — at scale
228,614
12-month jobs since 2018
R13.74bn
youth salaries into the economy
2,005+
corporate sponsors
Up to 2
B-BBEE levels gained
The challenge
You need to move up — but the scorecard alone won’t get you there fast enough.
Most companies know YES can lift their B-BBEE level. Far fewer have the capacity to run it. Recruiting, employing and hosting dozens of young people for a year — and getting every compliance rule right — is where good intentions quietly stall.
The scorecard is capped
Points-chasing has a ceiling. YES is the only route that moves your level outside the scorecard entirely — but only if it’s done right.
The admin is a nightmare
“We tried YES — the hosting admin overwhelmed us and we gave up halfway.” Payroll, placements, attendance and reporting swallow your team.
One slip forfeits everything
Miss your target, fall short on absorption, or drop a level and the entire benefit is lost. The rules are unforgiving and change often.
No spare HR capacity
You can’t add permanent headcount just to manage a compliance programme — and you shouldn’t have to.
Why SolveSA
We know YES can feel like more risk than reward. So we carry it for you.
SolveSA has spent more than 15 years helping South African businesses turn B-BBEE obligations into real impact. As part of the Alternative Prosperity Group, we know exactly how the YES rules work — the targets, the absorption thresholds, the verification traps — and we manage every one of them on your behalf.
You stay focused on your business. We make sure the level-up actually lands.
15+ yrs
B-BBEE & transformation experience
End-to-end
recruitment to verified level-up
Zero
added headcount on your books
Same cost
as running YES yourself
A government & business partnership with the dtic
How YES lifts your level
Create 12-month jobs for youth. Gain up to two B-BBEE levels.
YES — the Youth Employment Service — lets your company sponsor quality 12-month work experiences for unemployed Black youth aged 18–35. No qualification required, just real work. In return, your business can move up the B-BBEE ladder in a way the scorecard alone can never deliver.
The one thing to remember
YES is the only mechanism outside the traditional B-BBEE scorecard that can move a company’s B-BBEE level — by one or even two levels in a single measurement period. That makes it the single most powerful lever available to most companies today.
Three outcomes
What you gain depends on scale and absorption
Your outcome is set by how many youth you place against your target — and how many move into ongoing work at month 12.
1×
One level up
Headcount — Achieve your YES target (1×)
Absorption — Retain at least 2.5% of youth into work
1×+
One level up + 3 points
Headcount — Achieve 1.5× your YES target
Absorption — Retain at least 5% of youth into work
2×
Two levels up
Headcount — Double your YES target (2×)
Absorption — Retain at least 5% of youth into work
Your entity must maintain or improve its prior-year B-BBEE status for the YES benefit to count. Absorption can be into your own business or a third party — SolveSA manages this for you.
The solution
SolveSA runs your entire YES programme — end to end.
You sponsor the opportunity. We do everything else. Youth are recruited, formally employed and placed with vetted host businesses, fully managed for the full 12 months — never on your payroll, never your admin burden.
Recruitment & vetting
We source, screen and confirm eligible youth — Black, South African, 18–35, previously unemployed — matched to the right placements.
Employment & payroll
Youth are employed on compliant 12-month contracts through our employer-of-record network. Salaries, UIF, SDL and stipends all handled.
Hosting & placement
Youth are placed with vetted host SMMEs — ideal if you want to channel the impact into your supplier and ESD ecosystem.
Attendance & management
Day-to-day supervision, attendance tracking and youth support — keeping the programme on track without touching your team.
Compliance & absorption
Targets, absorption thresholds and prior-level maintenance managed to the letter, so nothing quietly voids your benefit.
Verification-ready reporting
Every placement, contract and payment documented and packaged, so your B-BBEE verification is clean and defensible.
Placing youth at external host SMMEs also strengthens your Enterprise & Supplier Development and gives you a measurable ESG social-impact story — from one programme.
How it works
The SolveSA YES Pathway
A clear, five-step route from “should we do YES?” to a verified level-up — with SolveSA carrying the load at every step.
1
Eligibility & target
We confirm you qualify and calculate your exact YES headcount target for your entity size.
2
Design the programme
We shape the right managed model for your goals — level-up, ESD impact, or added skills spend.
3
Place & employ youth
Youth are recruited, contracted and placed with vetted hosts — never on your books.
4
Manage 12 months
Payroll, attendance, support, compliance and absorption managed end to end for the full year.
5
Verified level-up
Documented, verification-ready evidence so your 1–2 level move holds up at audit.
Do you qualify?
Almost every company can participate — the rules just differ by size.
Eligibility depends on your revenue band and your B-BBEE priority-element scores. Here’s the shape of it — we’ll confirm your exact position in minutes.
Generic
Large entities
Revenue > R50m
50% average across all three priority elements — or a 40% sub-minimum in each of them.
QSE
Mid-sized entities
Revenue R10m–R50m
40% in two of three priority elements, one of which must be Ownership.
EME
Smaller entities
Revenue < R10m
No sub-minimum requirements — all EMEs can participate regardless of B-BBEE scores.
Transport
Transport sector
All entity sizes
No sub-minimum requirements for any size — full participation regardless of scores.
Priority elements are Ownership, Skills Development and Enterprise & Supplier Development. Not sure where you stand? We’ll check it for you →
Live oversight
Full visibility, none of the workload.
You always know exactly where your programme stands — target progress, absorption, compliance and impact — without managing any of it. Illustrative views of the oversight SolveSA gives you.
Programme dashboard — measurement period 2026/27
45
YES target (youth)
68 / 90 (2×)
Placed & active
6.2%
Absorption
2 levels ↑
Projected outcome
Placements vs target by quarter
| Quarter | Placements |
|---|---|
| Q1 | 22 |
| Q2 | 41 |
| Q3 | 59 |
| Q4 | 68 |
| Goal | 90 |
Progress to 2× goal
76% of the 2× goal — active placements plus onboarding, against the remaining balance.
Compliance tracker — verification-ready evidence
| Compliance requirement | Detail | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 12-month fixed-term contracts | 68 of 68 signed & filed | Complete |
| Youth eligibility verified | Age, citizenship, prior-participation checks | Complete |
| Minimum wage, UIF & SDL | Monthly payroll reconciled | On track |
| Prior-year B-BBEE level maintained | Level held — benefit protected | Confirmed |
| Absorption threshold (5%) | Currently 6.2% — above target | Tracking |
| Verification evidence pack | Auto-compiled — finalised at month 12 | In progress |
| No double-counting | Separated from learnership & skills claims | Clean |
Impact & ESG report — your social-impact story
68
young people employed
57%
young women
R4.3m
salaries into households
190+
dependents supported
12
host SMMEs strengthened
100%
first-time formal jobs
Board-ready metrics for the “S” in your ESG reporting — evidencing measurable social impact alongside your B-BBEE level-up. Figures shown are illustrative of a sample programme.
Compliance & impact reporting
Audit-ready on the compliance side. Board-ready on the impact side.
The YES benefit is assessed at B-BBEE verification — not mid-year. SolveSA keeps the evidence trail clean throughout, and turns your programme into a social-impact story you can report with confidence.
Verification & compliance
- Compliant 12-month fixed-term contracts for every youth
- Minimum wage, UIF and SDL correctly administered
- Prior-year B-BBEE level actively protected
- Absorption thresholds tracked and evidenced
- Kept separate from learnership and skills claims — no double-counting
Impact & ESG reporting
- Jobs created, salaries paid and households supported
- Youth demographics — gender, age and first-time employment
- Host SMME development for your ESD and supply-chain story
- Board- and investor-ready metrics for the “S” in ESG
- Skills-development spend surfaced where it can be claimed
Data & trust
Young people’s data, handled responsibly.
A YES programme means handling the personal information of dozens of young South Africans. SolveSA treats that data with the same care we bring to your compliance.
POPIA-aligned
Youth and payroll data managed in line with South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act.
Controlled access
Role-based access to programme records — the right people see the right information, and no more.
Full audit trail
Every contract, payment and placement time-stamped and retained — ready for verification on demand.
Single accountable partner
One point of ownership for the whole programme — SolveSA stands behind every recommendation we make.
The outcome
From compliance headache to transformation win.
Running YES alone
- Stuck at your current level, chasing capped scorecard points
- HR team buried in recruitment, payroll and placement admin
- Constant worry that one slip forfeits the whole benefit
- Extra people on your books you didn’t plan for
- Impact happening, but no clean story to report
With SolveSA
- Up 1–2 B-BBEE levels — the fastest legal route
- Programme run end to end, your team untouched
- Every compliance rule managed and verification-ready
- Zero added headcount — same cost as going direct
- Real youth jobs plus a board-ready ESG impact story
Turn youth employment into your next B-BBEE level-up.
Book a demo to see how SolveSA runs YES for you — or request a tailored proposal for your entity. We’ll start by checking your eligibility and target, no obligation.
Mike Manson · mike@solvesa.net