A KPI Project Legacy Initiative

Igniting 2,035 Data Science Careers for Young South Africans by 2035

More than a job. A launchpad. We bring exceptional young talent, world-class training, and deep mentorship together — and place graduates into careers across the globe.

Help Us Reach 2,035 Careers Are You a Grad? Apply

105 careers built

96% absorption

5 years strong

Young South African graduates learning data science

96%

Absorption Rate With Market Related Salaries

The Proof So Far

105

Careers Created

Real grads. Real jobs.

96%

Absorption Rate With Market Related Salaries

Almost every grad placed.

Years Running

A programme that compounds.

The Story

From 105 Careers to a Generational Capability Movement

Five years ago, we set out to prove that South African youth, given the right opportunity, could become world class Data, AI and Automation practitioners.

105 careers later, with a 96% absorption rate, we know the model works. Every graduate is evidence that talent here is abundant. What was missing was the runway, the structure, and the right business environment.

Now we are building that runway at scale. 2,035 careers by 2035. This is not a job placement scheme. It is a national capability movement that helps companies modernise, future fit their teams, and open real career paths for a new generation.

Young digital talent brings energy, tools, and confidence with new technology. Experienced people bring domain knowledge, judgment, and context. Together, they create the capability companies need for the new world of work.

Why It Works

Three Things, Done Relentlessly

A 96% absorption rate is not luck. It is the result of selecting the right people, training them practically, and coaching them personally until they are ready to create value in a real business environment.

Purposeful Talent

We select graduates who are hungry, coachable, curious, and ready to grow. Talent matters, but attitude, discipline, and learning agility matter just as much.

Practical Training

We train with real business problems, real tools, and real performance expectations. Graduates learn how to turn data, AI, and automation into useful work, not just theory.

Personal Coaching

Every graduate is supported, mentored, and performance managed throughout the programme. When someone falls behind, we do not leave them behind. We coach, adjust, and help them build the confidence to succeed.

What We Teach

Practical Skills. Real Tools. No Theory for Theory’s Sake.

We teach the theory graduates need, then move quickly into research, real data, practical case studies, technology, and presentations. The goal is not simply to know more. It is to solve real business problems and create value from day one.

Technologies

Hands on capability in the data, AI, automation, analytics, and business platforms used by leading companies.

Data Analytics

Automation

Methodologies

Practical concepts from proven frameworks, including data analysis, project management, process improvement, root cause analysis, and problem solving.

Analyse

Improve

Manage

Solve

Soft Skills

Professional behaviours that help graduates communicate clearly, take ownership, present confidently, and perform effectively from day one.

Communicate

Ownership

Present

Perform

Technologies Covered

Graduates build practical capability across a broad technology stack, with deeper specialisation based on their role, client environment, and business needs.

Data Analytics

Graduates learn to analyse data, build dashboards, automate reporting, model information, and turn complex data into clear business insights.

Power BI

Qlik

Tableau

Excel

AI and Large Language Models

Graduates learn to use leading AI platforms to research, analyse information, improve processes, build practical agents, and create solutions suited to the client's technology environment.

Microsoft Copilot

Claude

OpenAI

Low Code Automation

Graduates use low code platforms to digitise processes, manage tasks, improve collaboration, build trackers, automate workflows, and create greater visibility across teams.

Smartsheet

Monday.com

SharePoint

CPM / EPM / FP&A

Graduates gain exposure to budgeting, forecasting, financial reporting, modelling, and performance management technology.

Prophix

Excel

Business Concepts and Methodologies

We take the most useful concepts from proven business methodologies and apply them to real problems, processes, data, and decisions. We do not teach every methodology in full. We focus on the practical concepts graduates can use immediately in the workplace.

Project Management

Planning, scope, ownership, milestones, dependencies, and disciplined execution, supported by clear tracking of risks, actions, issues, and decisions.

Data Analysis

Structured thinking, insight generation, trend analysis, comparison, and decision support.

Business Analysis

Requirements gathering, problem definition, stakeholder needs, business context, and solution thinking.

Business Process Management

Work breakdown structures, process mapping, roles and responsibilities, controls, handovers, bottlenecks, and process improvement.

Problem Solving and Root Cause Analysis

Using structured techniques to define problems, identify underlying causes, test assumptions, and solve the right problem.

Strategy and Performance Management

Balanced Scorecard, KPIs, OKRs, goal alignment, performance measurement, and accountability.

Lean Six Sigma

Waste reduction, quality improvement, process optimisation, root cause thinking, and continuous improvement.

Software Development Lifecycle

Structured solution design, testing, deployment, adoption, support, and continuous refinement.

Professional and Leadership Development

Technical capability alone is not enough. Graduates are coached to communicate clearly, take ownership, work with others, and perform confidently in a professional environment.

Personal Mastery

Accountability, professionalism, discipline, resilience, self awareness, and continuous improvement.

Leadership

Initiative, ownership, collaboration, influence, decision making, and business awareness.

Communication

Clear written and verbal communication across business, technical, and leadership teams.

Presentation Skills

Presenting insights, dashboards, recommendations, and business cases with clarity and confidence.

What Graduates Can Do

What One Data Analytics Cohort Learned to Do

Every cohort is designed around the client’s environment, technology stack, and capability priorities. This example shows the outcomes from a Data Analytics stream focused on practical analysis, business insight, visualisation, and confident presentation.

Other cohorts may place greater emphasis on AI, automation, process digitisation, FP&A, or a combination of these capabilities.

Handling Dirty Data

Diagnose, clean, and structure messy real-world datasets for reliable analysis.

Working with Dates

Standardise date formats and calculate YTD, PYTD, rolling averages with confidence.

Storytelling with Data

Turn raw numbers into clear Problem → Insight → Action narratives.

Root Cause Analysis

Apply the 5 Whys and segmentation to find the real drivers behind performance gaps.

Visualization Types & Selection

Pick the right chart from 21 options using a repeatable four-step framework.

Variance Analysis

Quantify gaps between actuals and targets, then prioritise with RAG indicators.

Analysing Growth & Decline

Measure absolute and percentage shifts across like-for-like periods and dimensions.

Ranking & Sorting

Surface top performers and track ranking shifts with dynamic, drill-down logic.

Mix Analysis

Measure how product, region, and segment mix shape the bigger business picture.

Comparative Analysis

Compare entities and metrics side-by-side to expose meaningful differences.

80/20 (Pareto) Analysis

Identify the 20% of factors driving 80% of results — then drill into 16/64.

Correlation Analysis

Spot relationships, outliers, and trends using scatter plots and dual-axis views.

Spread Analysis

Benchmark performance against Mean, Median, Min, Max, and Mode (5M method).

Analysing Products and Services

Analyse product, service, and hybrid business models and their financial drivers.

Presenting Insights to Senior Leaders

Deliver concise, structured insights and hold composure under tough questions.

Presenting and Interpreting Data with Confidence

Speak to live data on the fly, handle challenges, and offer real recommendations.

Managing Weekly Deliverables

Plan, prioritise, and ship weekly deliverables under realistic business pressure.

Beyond Analytics

They Build Real Solutions, Not Just Reports

Graduates go beyond dashboards. They help build internal systems, automate manual work, improve processes, connect information, strengthen controls, build and deploy practical AI agents, tune and optimise them, and turn business needs into working solutions.

Build Internal Systems

Help design practical internal systems that coordinate work, capture information, guide users through processes, and provide clear visibility of progress and ownership.

Automate Manual Work

Identify repetitive activities and build practical automations that reduce effort, improve consistency, minimise errors, and free people to focus on higher value work.

Build and Optimise AI Agents

Design, build, deploy, test, tune, and improve AI agents that support specific business tasks, knowledge needs, decisions, and processes.

Strengthen Controls and Approvals

Build sign offs, approvals, checklists, audit trails, reminders, and escalation steps into everyday processes so that important controls are not dependent on spreadsheets or memory.

Connect Systems and Information

Build simple integrations that move information between platforms, reduce duplicate capturing, and make the right information available where it is needed.

Map Processes and Data Flows

Turn complex ways of working into clear process maps, work breakdown structures, roles, handovers, controls, and data flows that teams can understand and improve.

Improve Data Quality and Master Data

Identify missing, duplicated, inconsistent, or poorly structured data, then help clean, standardise, document, and strengthen the information used across the business.

Translate Business Needs into Solutions

Engage stakeholders, understand the real problem, define what information and functionality are needed, and turn business requirements into practical working solutions.

The 2035 Goal

From 105 to 2,035.

The gap between where we are and where we’re going is the invitation. Every career we add is a family changed, a community lifted, and a global employer that wins.

Progress to 20355.16%

105

of 2,035 careers

Built

105

To go

1,930

2035

Help Us Close the Gap

Refer a Grad · Host a grad · Sponsor Training

Part of our journey

Companies That Helped Shape the Programme

Since 2014, a number of organisations have given young South African talent the opportunity to learn, contribute, and grow in a real business environment. Some hosted graduates. Some supported training. Some helped us test and strengthen the model. Each played a part in the journey that has brought us to this point.

We gratefully acknowledge the organisations that have partnered with us and contributed to our journey since 2014.

From the managers

How Our Graduates Have Made an Impact

Hear from the managers and mentors at our host companies — the people who worked alongside our graduates and saw the difference firsthand.

Sarah Mitchell

Head of Finance Operations

Absa

David Naidoo

Data & Analytics Lead

Clientèle

Gavin Pretorius

FP&A Manager

Prophix

Vesta Khumalo

Reporting & Insights Manager

AECI

Placeholder names & videos — real manager interviews coming soon

Before & After

See What Our Graduates Could Do Before — and What They Can Do After.

Real work samples from real graduates. The dashboards, automations, and analyses they built — side by side with where they started. Drop your email and we'll send the full results pack.

Before/after work samples from 12 graduates
Dashboards, automations, and reports they built
Honest skill progression over 12 months

Real graduates. Real careers.

105 Stories & Counting. Every One Real.

Behind every number is a graduate who was given an opportunity, developed real capability, and built a career. Hear directly from the people who have lived the programme.

+ more stories from the first 105 graduates — and 34,895 still to come.

How You Can Help

Five Ways to Ignite a Future

Swipe, tap a card to read more, and pick the path that fits. Every one of them moves us closer to 3,500.

A Career Changes a Life —
2,035 Careers Can Spark a Generation

Whether you host a cohort, sponsor a graduate, or introduce us to the right organisation, you can help build South Africa’s next generation of Data, AI and Automation talent.

Explore Partnership Options Call Our Team

Igniting 2,035 Data Science Careers for Young South Africans by 2035

From 105 Careers to a Generational Capability Movement

Three Things, Done Relentlessly

Purposeful Talent

Practical Training

Personal Coaching

Practical Skills. Real Tools. No Theory for Theory’s Sake.

Technologies

Methodologies

Soft Skills

Technologies Covered

Data Analytics

AI and Large Language Models

Low Code Automation

CPM / EPM / FP&A

Business Concepts and Methodologies

Project Management

Data Analysis

Business Analysis

Business Process Management

Problem Solving and Root Cause Analysis

Strategy and Performance Management

Lean Six Sigma

Software Development Lifecycle

Professional and Leadership Development

What One Data Analytics Cohort Learned to Do

Handling Dirty Data

Working with Dates

Storytelling with Data

Root Cause Analysis

Visualization Types & Selection

Variance Analysis

Analysing Growth & Decline

Ranking & Sorting

Mix Analysis

Comparative Analysis

80/20 (Pareto) Analysis

Correlation Analysis

Spread Analysis

Analysing Products and Services

Presenting Insights to Senior Leaders

Presenting and Interpreting Data with Confidence

Managing Weekly Deliverables

They Build Real Solutions, Not Just Reports

From 105 to 2,035.

Companies That Helped Shape the Programme

How Our Graduates Have Made an Impact

See What Our Graduates Could Do Before — and What They Can Do After.

105 Stories & Counting. Every One Real.

Five Ways to Ignite a Future

Become a Host Company

Sponsor a Grad

Refer a Grad

Apply as a Grad

Share the Vision

A Career Changes a Life — 2,035 Careers Can Spark a Generation

A Career Changes a Life —
2,035 Careers Can Spark a Generation