Learn To Earn | Ready To Earn

Learn to Earn offers unemployed, disenfranchised people a hand up, not a hand out.  Through 14 market-relevant training programmes across four Western Cape campuses, Learn to Earn’s short but intensive, holistic skills programmes give students the opportunities they need to gain scarce skills, financial acumen and vital preparation for the world of work. 

With its ethos of restoring dignity, self-worth and hope for the future, Learn to Earn helps  empowers students to become economically active and change their destinies for the better.

Courses such as the Graphic Design programme are specifically designed to boost the opportunities of young people still disadvantaged by inadequate education, and the lack of social capital and economic resources.  Graduates of Learn to Earn’s Graphic Design course have gone on to study at top design schools; take up positions at premier South African creative agencies, and even win Loerie Awards.

“The advantages of the Graphic Design skills programme works both ways,” says Roché van Wyk,  Learn to Earn’s Director.  “Young people who would otherwise continue to be excluded from the digital and design world of work, get to take their rightful place in these vital industries.  On the other hand, it also serves the industry which urgently wants to embrace diversity and needs to tap into emerging, young African talent.”

Essential to the Learn to Earn Graphic Design skills programme is the specialist hardware and software used by students in the training, which is a considerable investment.  Through the Thuso Fund that supports schools and charties, MySchool MyVillage MyPlanet is funding the essential upgrade of 10-year-old hardware and installation of the latest software to ensure a seamless bridge into formal tertiary education options.

“South African design, design thinking and our broader visual arts industries can only benefit immensely by tapping into the talent that has been historically excluded,” says Pieter Twine, MySchool’s General Manager. “It’s not just about tackling youth unemployment; it is about the country’s need for economically active young people from all walks of life.  We need these vibrant young people in our creative agencies and our corporations contributing their unique vision to a better world.”