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Nwali Hubs is a South African non-profit organisation dedicated to addressing youth unemployment by providing cost effective, relevant hard and soft skills training through an e-learning platform. 

Their mission is to empower unemployed youth by equipping them with the skills needed to thrive in the modern job market, fostering computer literacy, and encouraging divergent thinking about work.

Ultimately, they want to reach 1 million youth in 5 years.

Nwali Hubs is tackling the severe youth unemployment crisis in South Africa, where the youth unemployment rate has reached over 60% in 2024.

This is compounded by educational and vocational systems that are not adequately preparing young people for the job market, exacerbating poverty and limiting social and economic opportunities.

Besides the exorbitant cost, many youth cannot access the academic options. We offer online training at about $1 per hour, all-inclusive.

The approach is also community-driven, thus adding value where it is needed.

Nwali Hubs provides a community-centred, digital literacy and IT-based skills development programme.

The approach involves web-based skills training linked to on-site accreditation.

They offer both vocational (hard) skills, such as construction, plumbing, and digital literacy, alongside soft skills like entrepreneurship, marketing, and financial management.

The training combines online education with practical experience and caters to diverse learning needs through multiple languages, audio/Braille options, and accessible premises for the disabled.

The hubs offer a dual approach to skills development. This includes hard skills, such as construction, plumbing, event management, beautician services, sports coaching, home-based services, vehicle maintenance, and digital literacy skills, and soft skills training which focuses on areas like entrepreneurial skills, marketing, customer care, health and safety, financial management, banking solutions and worker management.

Nwali Hubs plans to launch 20 community-based hubs in South Africa in 2026. This will be followed by another 20 hubs in 2027, and then 20 in 2028, ultimately reaching 100 hubs nationally.

They also have plans to expand the initiative to the SADC region. This growth involves establishing operational foundations, recruiting qualified staff, expanding training programmes, and securing financial support.

Nwali Hubs uses both qualitative and quantitative measures to assess success.

Qualitatively, they track the number of students reached, job placements, skills selections, practical advancement, content adaptations, and mentoring.

Quantitatively, they focus on income changes in the community, entrepreneurial spin-offs, reduction in crime, poverty reduction, improved health outcomes, and social change in the communities.

Nwali Hubs requires R20,000,000 ($1,250,000) in the first year for setup, expansion, and management.

They seek various types of financial support, offering benefits such as branding, recognition, shared databases, featured logos, personalised impact briefings, co-branding opportunities, and dedicated liaisons, depending on the level of contribution.

Nwali Hubs differentiates itself by providing community-based, digitally focused trade skills training combined with soft skills in a way that is both affordable and accessible.

They state that they have no real competitors in this field, and they are specifically focused on reaching those in under served communities where online, self-help training often fails to reach.

They also cite their understanding of the market and their pioneering entrepreneurial approach as key differentiators.