A close friend's struggles with finding employment despite getting good marks at tertiary level inspired former University of Cape Town student Mvelo Hlophe to create a platform that would offer people practical skills in IT and boost their chances of employability.
The founder of Zaio, an online school teaching digital skills such as coding, data science and cybersecurity, started the business as a third-year student, working with his friends in their dorm rooms.
Zaio is a play on the isiZulu word "okuzayo" which means what's coming.
"The goal was to solve the challenge of employability among new graduates in the IT sector, but I realised that we were faced with a deeper problem as a country where people needed the necessary practical skills to be employable," said Hlophe.
At this time, he had switched from studying for a bachelor of business science degree, majoring in finance and accounting, to a BSC in politics, philosophy and economics. His passion changed at the height of the Fees Must Fall protests, when he realised he wanted his work to have a social impact.
"I wanted people to walk away from this programme with a portfolio they could use to approach companies and show them that they have projects they have worked on and know what they are doing."
With no background in IT, Hlophe reached out to people who understood the sector and could assist with the operations of the company. Once the website was set up and ready to be used, he encountered the same problem he was trying to resolve.
"One of the challenges we encountered was finding people who had the skills necessary to meet the needs of the company. We had to start by upskilling our staff to efficiently do what they needed to do."
The other hurdle for Zaio was securing funding in its initial stages. Hlophe said the project was selffunded when it began, which brought about some limitations for growth. As it was funded through his and his friends' monthly allowances received from their bursary grants, the company could not invest in digital marketing to attract clients.
"We had to knock on doors and approach people, we would find start-up projects in Cape Town and offer our services. It was a manual process, a timeconsuming process."
Once the company started attracting clients, the money generated was used to grow the project and expand its digital marketing side. Hlophe said one of the platforms they paid for was Google Ads, to ensure that as many people as possible knew about Zaio.
As the company grew, it was recruited to an accelerator programme that eventually led to it receiving its first round of funding.
"This helped a lot with the growth of the business, and it played an important role in where we are today. We were able to grow the subjects that we offered to our clients".
Zaio's operations are two-fold, where they offer their services to companies and also host boot camps for people interested in learning the skills they offer.
The six-month course costs R25,000, with payment plans made available for those who need it. He said at the inception of the company they offered their services for free, but this became unsustainable in the long run.
"We have a lot of people who approach us trying to get into the programme but cannot afford it, so we also work with a funding partner called Manati Alternate Student Funding, which pays for them to take the course, and the client arranges to pay Manati monthly."
Currently, Zaio's boot camps have limited seating, with 30 slots available for those wishing to enrol in the course every two months.
The company is planning on increasing its intake to accommodate the influx of aspirants who apply for the course.
Hlophe said while the courses may be pricey, Zaio ensures it is able to connect successful participants with potential employers at the end of the six months of training, with the company maintaining a 92% placement rate.
"When someone walks away from us, on average they will earn R10,000, which is a good start for someone who might only have that short course as a qualification."