Summarized by AI Model:sshleifer/distilbart-cnn-12-6
VOCO is a comprehensive platform for skills development and career assistance designed to assist young people in navigating their professional paths . The startup links young people with mentorships, internships, skills development programs, and job possibilities . It is primarily focused on the South African market, where youth unemployment is a major problem .A South African business, VOCO is a comprehensive platform for skills development and career assistance designed to assist young people in navigating their professional paths. VOCO, which was founded this year and targets youths between the ages of 13 and 23, offers market entry chances, educational options, and AI-driven, individualised career assistance. Through collaborations with corporations, small businesses, non-governmental organisations, and educational institutions, the startup links young people with mentorships, internships, skills development programs, and job possibilities.
Brittany Kaye, the founder and CEO of VOCO, stated, “Our mission is to equip young people with the tools they need to find their passion and the opportunity to pursue sustainable careers.” Kaye has been passionate about the challenges VOCO addresses for a few years. “VOCO was inspired by the issues we’ve faced at the entrepreneurship and employment skills workshops I host on the weekends,” Kaye stated. In South Africa, there is a notable deficiency in providing young people with individualised career counselling, practical skill development, and real-world employment possibilities. Students are left without a plan or employable skills due to a failure to successfully integrate market demands with educational courses.
This vacuum is filled by VOCO, which Kaye reports has had good early adoption, especially from small-to-medium-sized enterprises and educational institutions. The feedback from young people has also been positive, particularly since our MVP is still preparing for release. Even though we’re just getting started, the feedback has been excellent, and we’ll keep improving the platform in response to user input,” she said.
VOCO is largely financed by bootstrapping and is currently at the pre-seed stage. According to Kaye, the company is actively seeking investment to support its expansion, but its main goal is to release its MVP early in the upcoming year. Although it has broader goals, it is primarily focused on the South African market, where youth unemployment is a major problem. In addition to maybe exploring foreign markets where our model could be modified, we intend to grow into other African regions that deal with comparable issues. Developing a scalable model that can be duplicated in different nations while adapting to local market demands is the ultimate objective, according to Kaye.
The core of VOCO’s business strategy is subscriptions.
“We create skills development programs and recruitment pipelines for small businesses and NGOs, and we offer a high-level applicant tracking system and custom services,” Kaye stated. “As we concentrate on developing the platform, revenues are still in their infancy. As we grow, especially as we gain more market share in the ed-tech sector, profitability will follow.
