YES Awards

YES hosted their inaugural ESG Awards at the 2023 ESG Africa Conference where they honored their partners who significantly contributed to the S in ESG through job creation, economic progress and social development.

The Youth Employment Service (YES), South Africa’s largest private sector jobs creation initiative, will host its second ESG Awards at the ESG Africa Conference on 1 October 2024.

The awards recognise social impact through job creation by private companies.

In 2023 these companies made a significant contribution to the ‘S’ in ESG through job creation, fostering economic growth, and driving social development. By partnering with YES, their social impact is helping to empower a whole generation to become the architects of their own success stories and agents of change in our society.

Signed certificates by President Cyril Ramaphosa were presented to The Top 10 YES jobs contributors: Nedbank Limited, Shoprite, Toyota, Anglo American Platinum Ltd, The Foschini Group, Ford, Investec, Bidvest Protea Coin, Volkswagen SA, and BMW.

Special awards were also presented to Famous Brand, Pizza Hut and Microsoft for sector contributions.

Presenting the awards YES CEO Ravi Naidoo said that, providing youth with quality work experience is the most critical endowment that business leaders can make towards building a sustainable and inclusive economic future for South Africa. If more corporates include initiatives like YES in their ESG strategies a broader socio-economic change can be made.