Appeal to Catholic Business Owners!

An educational project in Johannesburg is appealing to Catholic business owners to provide a temporary workplace for learners needing practical training as part of their programme.

The Don Bosco Educational Projects (DBE), based in Ennerdale Johannesburg, is one of 22 centres across the country that is supported by the Thabiso Skills Institute, a division of the Catholic Institute of Education.

These centres, all with a Catholic ethos and supported by members of various religious orders, offer Further Education and Training courses to learners within their communities.

These short courses and skills programmes provide the learners with portable skills, which they can then take with them into the workplace.

The 12 learners, mostly female, require practical training as part of their New Venture Creation Learnership, which is a 12-month practical and theoretical training programme.

70% of the learnership is based on the practical component and 30% on the theoretical component.

They have recently completed the theory portion and now need to be placed into workplaces for three months between December and February, so that they can get some exposure to a workplace and practice what they have learnt.

The purpose of the learnership is to provide entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs in the small, medium and micro-enterprise (SMME) sector with the technical, business, managerial and personal skills to create and sustain a business.

The learners receive a small stipend to assist them with travelling costs; so they don’t need to be paid a salary, but the project works best when their host company assists them as well.

The appeal is for Catholic business owners to try and take a learner or two into their businesses to provide them with the support, necessary to become employable.

To take part in this programme and provide a learner with an opportunity for employment, contact Janine Scott-dos Santos on