The Next10 playbook: How South Africa can lead the industries of the future

This week’s jobs data was a stark reminder that we’re running out of time to fix the employment crisis. Statistics South Africa reported the official unemployment rate rose to 33.2% in quarter two 2025, with the expanded rate at 42.9%. Youth unemployment is unchanged at a crushing 46.1%. Behind those percentages are real lives: 8.4 million South Africans seeking work in a labour market that is still too small and too slow. 

Yet the same release hints at where momentum already exists. Trade (+88 000), Private Households (+28 000) and Construction (+20 000) added jobs in the quarter, while Community & Social Services (-42 000), Agriculture (-24 000) and Finance (-24 000) shed employment. That map matters. It shows which roles can scale quickly (customer service, logistics, sales, artisans, site crews) and where targeted re-skilling and demand stimulation must focus next. 

South Africa’s opportunity is to convert this short-cycle absorption into a long-cycle Next10 strategy - ten future-defining industries where we can lead niche global value chains, while creating hundreds of thousands of youth on-ramps over the next 24 months. Here’s the Next10™ Job Creation blueprint.

1 Green Energy & Storage: Grid-relief rooftop solar, heat pumps, and industrial energy efficiency are labour-absorbing now; battery assembly and recycling build medium-term depth. Create city-level “Green Works” pipelines that bundle public buildings, clinics and campuses into bankable packages for SMEs and youth apprentices.

2 Advanced & Additive Manufacturing: From medical devices and tooling to precision parts for mining and mobility. Expand SEZs into Skills-Ready Factories with shared equipment, vendor finance, and guaranteed orders from anchor buyers.

3 Agritech & Bio-Manufacturing: Climate-smart inputs, controlled-environment farming, food processing, and bio-based materials. Tie youth learnerships to export-ready agro-processors and supermarket supplier programs.

4 AI, Data & Digital Services. Scale contact centres into higher-value AI-enabled business services (analytics ops, labeling, model monitoring, sales development). Pair every export contract with a quota of local junior hires plus a 12-month skills ladder

5 Fintech & Digital ID Rails. Build on our payments and KYC strengths to export compliance, risk ops, and wallet support roles across the continent - while incubating local regtech and SME credit innovators.

6 Creative Economy & SportsTech. Production, post-production, gaming, live events, and sports performance analytics. Treat events as industry factories that certify thousands of crew, stewards, riggers, and digital marketers on real gigs.

7 Healthtech & Care Economy. Telehealth support centres, device refurbishment, health logistics, and community care workers with digital toolkits—an on-ramp for tens of thousands of youth, especially women.

8 Critical Minerals & Battery Value Chains. Move beyond extraction into beneficiation, cathode precursors, and recycling. Lock in offtake with auto and storage OEMs to justify local mid-stream plants.

9 Aerospace, Space & Earth Observation. Grow smallsat components, ground-station services, and EO analytics for agriculture, water, and disaster response. Bundle public-sector demand to anchor startups.

10 SecurityTech & Resilience. Water-loss tech, grid-stability services, cyber and physical security integration - exportable capabilities born of necessity.

A list isn’t a strategy. Delivery requires five job-creation instruments that convert sector talk into signed contracts and youth wages.

• A Next10™ Supplier Inclusion Pledge. Get 1 000 large buyers (corporates, SOEs, metros) to shift +1% of 2026 procurement to youth-, township- and women-owned SMEs in the Next10 sectors. Publish a live Orders & Jobs Dashboard so citizens can see purchase orders turning into real hires.
• Paid Apprenticeships at Scale. Launch Next10™ Apprenticeships - six to twelve months, co-funded by SETAs and employers, targeted at roles that already scale in Trade and Construction, then laddered into Next10 firms. Link vouchers to verified placements and on-the-job assessment, not classroom seat time. (The Q2 data shows where absorption is strongest; amplify it.) 
• CityWorks for Investable Precincts. Six-month sprints to fix sidewalks, lighting, wayfinding, safe transit and broadband in growth nodes - turning them into youth-friendly job basins where firms actually want to locate.
• Blended Capital & Working-Capital Lines. Many Next10™ SMEs fail not for lack of orders but because they cannot pre-finance delivery. Create a blended facility with risk buffers for first-loss and invoice discounting tied to the Supplier Inclusion Pledge.
• Permits, Standards, and Grid Fast-Tracks. A “single-front-door” that clears interconnects, type approvals, and occupational certifications in weeks, not quarters for projects with verified hires.

This is where the 2nd Future of Jobs Summit (7 November, Johannesburg) must play a catalytic role. The summit should function as South Africa’s Next10™ Delivery Studio. Three outputs would change the national conversation:

• The Next10™ Jobs Ledger: a public dashboard of signed buyer pledges, SME orders, and paid youth placements, with city-by-city targets through November 2026.
• Ten Investable Precincts: each with a corporate anchor, a financing partner, and a pipeline of SME suppliers and apprenticeships aligned to one Next10 industry.
• The First 100 000: an initial tranche of 100 000 verified youth jobs and paid apprenticeships announced at the Summit - contracts in hand, supervisors named, start dates set.

Policy reform still matters - electricity, logistics, crime. But we cannot wait for “perfect conditions” to hire. The Next10™ framework turns today’s limited absorptive capacity into tomorrow’s competitive advantage by buying locally, training on the job, and exporting services. If we use the next 90 days to lock in buyer pledges, apprentice cohorts, and precinct fixes - and then show the country a live count at the Future of Jobs Summit - we can pivot from mourning yesterday’s number to mobilising around tomorrow’s payroll.

South Africa doesn’t lack talent; it lacks throughput. The Next10™ is our chance to prove that future industries aren’t a 2030 dream - they’re a 2025 hiring plan. Let’s publish the orders, sign the contracts, and put our young people to work. Starting now.

Dr Nik Eberl is the Founder & Executive Chair: The Future of Jobs Summit™ (Official T20 Side Event)  and author: Nation of Champions: How South Africa won the World Cup of Destination Branding.

*** The views expressed here do not necessarily represent those of Independent Media or IOL

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