Naspers Labs Digital Skills Programmes for Unemployed Youth

Written by Thabo MokoenaSenior Education Editor

Reviewed & verified by Naledi KhumaloSenior Admissions and Bursaries EditorVerified

Naspers Labs is Naspers’ social impact programme for unemployed young South Africans. It pays for digital skills training, work-readiness preparation and placement into first jobs, and supports small tech-enabled businesses run by young people. Naspers does not run the training itself or take applications on its own website. It funds five implementation partners, and each partner recruits and trains its own groups.

This is separate from the Naspers bursary, which pays for university study. Naspers Labs is for people who have already finished a post-matric qualification but have not found work.

Unemployed graduates aged 18 to 34

The Naspers Labs page describes the target group as unemployed graduates from historically disadvantaged backgrounds who hold relevant post-matric qualifications. They should be between 18 and 34. Naspers says the programme concentrates on improving access to tech jobs for young women and young people living with disabilities.

Naspers publishes no minimum marks, no list of accepted qualifications and no stipend amount. Those details, where they exist, sit with the partner running each intake.

Tech roles the training covers

Naspers says it works with training partners and industry on skills for these roles:

• Desktop technicians and cyber security
• Business solutions architects, cloud engineering and AI
• Software developers and data scientists
• Digital web developers and digital marketers
• Robotics

Besides the technical training, Naspers lists work-readiness training, internships, experiential learning, and then employment or entrepreneurship as parts of the programme.

Two sets of results from Naspers

Naspers publishes two different sets of figures for Naspers Labs. The web page shows these numbers:

The Naspers integrated annual report for the 2026 financial year gives newer and slightly different figures. It says 8,657 young South Africans have received digital skills training since 2022, 65% of them women and 4% learners with disabilities, and 7,183 have been supported with work experience opportunities. In the 2026 financial year alone, 1,602 young people were trained and 942 were placed in work experience. The report puts the group’s investment in these programmes at R316 million from FY22 to FY26. It also says Naspers Labs has given business support to more than 63 entrepreneurs, most of them Black women and youth.

The report names qualifications in AI, data analysis, software development, business analysis, cloud administration and desktop technician training. Alumni it features include a principal network controller at Pelonomi Tertiary Hospital, a software developer intern at Wipro and a junior network engineer at Huawei.

The five training partners

Naspers tells applicants to visit its partners’ websites for programme details and application instructions. The Naspers Labs page names these five partners. The annual report lists four of them and does not mention Mindworx.

• Abaguquli, a women-owned company that trains people in digital and technology skills through qualifications, skills programmes and short courses.
• Afrika Tikkun, a non-profit that has run “cradle-to-career” programmes for children and young people since 1994.
• Dynamic DNA, an ICT training academy that offers IT courses and learnerships and runs a campaign for disabled women in IT.
• Mindworx Academy, a digital skills academy that combines intensive training with on-the-job work experience for graduates.
• UVU Africa, a non-profit in South Africa and Rwanda whose CAPACITI programme teaches technical and workplace skills for digital jobs. The annual report names CAPACITI directly as a Naspers Labs partner.

When checked in September 2026, none of the partners’ home pages said which of their intakes Naspers Labs pays for, and none showed an open Naspers Labs round. Naspers publishes no programme-wide opening or closing date. Each partner advertises its own intakes on its own schedule. The Naspers Labs link to Abaguquli’s training page was broken; the company’s home page still works.

For other routes into tech work, see the ICT bursaries list. Students who still need funding for a degree can look at the Naspers bursary and the information technology bursaries hub.

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