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A room full of learners in school uniform with the volunteers who ran their career exposure day

Connecting bright young minds to economic opportunities

Young Aspiring Thinkers is a South African EdTech social enterprise. Career Studio, our AI career guidance platform, combines self-discovery, personalised career planning, real-world exposure and opportunity navigation, closing the gap between aspiration, education and employment.

Book a meetingOpen Career Studio
  • Injini
  • Mastercard Foundation

One operating model

From first question to first opportunity. We find the learner, understand their interests, show them the world of work, and hand them a live pathway to economic opportunity.

  1. Learners in their own school hall on a career exposure day

    Source

    We go to where a young person already is: a school, a campus, or the community around an employer’s operations.

  2. Learners in red school uniform in front of a YAT banner at their school

    Vet

    Five dimensions make the profile. Academic performance, socioeconomic context, psychometric fit, geography and career alignment.

  3. Schoolgirls with their hosts in the reception of a law firm on a workplace visit

    Expose

    A learner meets someone doing the job. Career days and mentors where a visit is possible, a simulated day in the job where it is not. This is the step that turns information into aspiration.

  4. Graduates at a YAT programme table with laptops, ready for the next step

    Pathway

    Subjects, institutions, TVET and learnership routes, bursaries and NSFAS, and the next action to take this term.

Learners in school tracksuits taking notes around a boardroom table on a workplace visit

Young people can't choose careers they have never seen

Career exposure in South Africa is rationed by geography, income and family network. Decisions get made against a narrow, inherited picture of what work exists and what it is worth.

  • 47.4%

    of South African youth aged 15–34 are unemployed

    Stats SA QLFS Q2 2026

  • 98%

    of township learners receive no structured career guidance

    Department of Basic Education

  • >68.9%

    of Grade 12s have never met a professional in their field of interest

    YAT research 2025

  • 51.7%

    of employed South Africans work in occupations they were not educated for

    DHET

The consequence is not only unemployment. Capable, motivated and educated young people arrive in the labour market without career clarity. Every pathway counts, from university and TVET to a learnership, emerging fields or starting a business.

Netflix for careers

Every young person already knows how to find their next show. Career Studio lets them find their next career the same way.

Retention loop

“What should I explore next?”

  1. A learner on a phone beside a parent, facing a line of professionals: a nurse, a chef, a pilot, a site engineer and a musician

    Browse different shows

    Explore different careers.

  2. Two learners on their phones at a busy crossing as a surgeon, chef, ballerina, pilot, welder and photographer walk past

    Get recommendations

    Personalised picks based on what you like.

  3. Two learners in hi-vis vests laughing as an engineer in a hard hat shows them a machine

    Watch a trailer

    Experience a “Day in the Life” of a career.

Growth loop

“What opportunity can I pursue next?”

  1. A smiling professional at his desk in an open-plan office

    Choose a show

    Choose a career pathway to explore.

  2. A learner in school uniform reading his phone in a corridor

    Watch the series

    Build the skills or pursue the education pathway.

  3. Six learners in school uniform sitting on a wall, talking and laughing

    Finish the series

    Progress into an economic opportunity.

See the platformOpen Career Studio

Our track record

Running since 2019. Others do career days, or assessments, or bursary administration. We do all of it as one intervention, with the audit trail to prove it.

OracleEdtech Impact Quality Pedagogy certification mark

Oracle Greenlight to EdTech certification

In 2020 we started running Oracle's Greenlight programme in person at Ponelopele Secondary School: career exposure, mentoring and bursary support, one school at a time. What worked there is built into Career Studio, and its learning design now carries the Edtech Impact Quality Pedagogy certification.

  • 430%

    increase in learners who qualified for the Oracle bursary

  • 230%

    increase in learners taking part, 2020 to 2023

  • 42%

    of learners assisted with tertiary applications, including financial aid

  • 8,100

    learners impacted to date

    YAT Impact Report 2025

  • 81%

    pedagogical approach score for Career Studio

    Edtech Impact Quality Pedagogy evaluation

  • 3.7/5

    learning engagement score for Career Studio

    Edtech Impact Quality Pedagogy evaluation

Our full record

Who we work with

Companies, foundations, government, universities, colleges and youth organisations fund, host and hire alongside us.

Corporate partners and sponsors

  • BCG
  • Nedbank
  • BMW
  • Oracle
  • Werksmans Attorneys

Foundations

  • Mastercard Foundation
  • Trevor Noah Foundation
  • Mr Price Foundation
  • MTN SA Foundation

Higher education and TVET partners

  • University of Pretoria
  • Gordon Institute of Business Science, University of Pretoria
  • Belgium Campus iTversity
  • Münster School of Business

Youth employment and impact ecosystem

  • Injini
  • Global Changemakers
  • Emzingo U
  • ChangeNOW
  • Y20 South Africa
  • Youth Vision Assembly 2025

Where you plug in

The team

Meet the team

  • Monewa Matlwa

    CEO & Co-Founder

  • Lebo Mmatjie

    Higher Education and Training Lead

  • Jude Otenyo

    Senior Developer

  • Kulungile Siwahla

    Project Lead

  • Peter Makgamatha

    Sales & Partnerships Lead

  • Bhekisizwe Qwabe

    Operations Intern

Latest from the blog

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From career exposure to a first opportunity

Book a meetingOpen Career Studio