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What If Your B-BBEE Spend Could Solve a Talent Problem Too?
By Aubrey Bapela, Digital Marketing and Content Coordinator, Shaper – 23 October 2026
Towards the end of the year, businesses start looking backwards and forwards at the same time.
What worked? What didn’t? Where did we spend? What do we need next year?
If Skills Development was part of your business plan, there is another question worth asking:
Did our Skills Development investment actually solve a business problem?
Perhaps you trained people, but skills gaps remain. Participants may have completed programmes without gaining enough workplace experience. In other cases, the programme looked good on paper, yet it is difficult to see what changed for the business or the people involved.
The real opportunity is to ask what capability you need to build, not just what you need to spend.
What is B-BBEE Skills Development?
B-BBEE Skills Development recognises qualifying investment in the development of Black people through specified education, training and workplace-based learning activities. The activities recognised, eligibility requirements and measurement rules depend on the applicable B-BBEE framework. Depending on the relevant scorecard or sector code, qualifying activities may include:
- Learnerships
- Internships
- Apprenticeships
- Bursaries and qualifying education expenditure
- Skills development for employees
- Workplace-based learning
- Certain programmes supporting people with disabilities
- Qualifying absorption outcomes
For businesses measured under South Africa’s Generic B-BBEE Codes of Good Practice, Skills Development is one of the priority elements. The Generic Codes apply a 40% sub-minimum to the 20 weighting points allocated to Skills Development, excluding bonus points when calculating the threshold. Requirements may differ under a relevant sector code, so businesses should confirm which framework applies to them (B-BBEE Commission: How to calculate the 40% sub-minimum for priority elements).
Businesses should verify the applicable requirements before assuming that a particular programme, expenditure or outcome qualifies for recognition. Understanding those requirements, however, is only part of the picture. The bigger opportunity is to connect qualifying Skills Development investment with practical learning and the capabilities people need to contribute in the workplace.
The gap between being trained and being work-ready
Imagine two scenarios.
Scenario one:
Someone completes a training programme, receives a qualification and leaves with new theoretical knowledge.
Scenario two:
Someone receives that same foundation, but also works on real projects, uses workplace tools, receives feedback, collaborates with colleagues and learns what professional expectations actually look like.
Both people have received training, but the second has also had opportunities to practise applying those skills in a workplace context. This is why workplace-based learning matters.
The Department of Higher Education and Training defines workplace-based learning as an educational component of an occupational qualification that gives learners real-life work experience in which they can apply academic and technical skills, helping to improve their prospects of employability (DHET, Dictionary of Terms and Concepts for Post-School Education and Training).
Why should businesses connect Skills Development to talent strategy?
Businesses don’t ultimately have a training problem. They have a capability problem. Demand for emerging capabilities, including AI and machine learning, is growing, as highlighted in the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025.
The report found that more than 60% of businesses operating in South Africa identify skills gaps as a key barrier to business transformation by 2030. At the same time, organisations must adapt to technological and economic change while developing the capabilities needed to deliver that transformation.
This makes Skills Development a workforce planning issue, not just a training decision.
A company might say: “We need more data analysts.” But that statement raises several more useful questions.
Where will those people come from?
What skills do they actually need?
Can we develop some of those capabilities internally?
Could an entry-level talent pipeline help us develop future employees instead of competing for the same experienced candidates?
Would a learnership, internship or workplace experience programme help develop people against our actual business requirements?
South Africa has talent. The challenge is connecting talent to opportunity.
There is another side to the equation. South Africa continues to face extremely high levels of youth unemployment.
In Q2 2026, South Africa had 5.0 million unemployed young people aged 15–34, and the youth unemployment rate reached 47.4%, according to Statistics South Africa’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey for Q2 2026.
But describing this simply as a shortage of “skilled people” misses something important.
There can be a significant gap between:
having potential
and
having the experience employers ask for.
A young person may have completed training and understand the fundamentals, with the ability to learn quickly. But where does that practical experience come from?
Workplace-based learning, internships and learnerships can bridge that gap, and for businesses, that bridge can become a talent pipeline.
Training someone isn't the same as building a talent pipeline
There is a subtle but important difference between these two approaches.
Training-led thinking
We need to spend our Skills Development budget.
Find a programme. Enrol people. Complete the programme. Report the outcome.
Talent-led thinking
We need capability in a specific area of the business.
Identify the skills gap, then find people with the potential to develop. Build their technical and professional skills through structured development and workplace exposure. Finally, evaluate performance and create pathways into employment where there is a business need.
The second approach asks a more commercially useful question:
What happens after the training?
Because if the answer is simply “the programme ends”, the business may be missing part of the opportunity.
What should a Skills Development strategy actually look like?
1. Business need
Start with the organisation.
What skills are missing today? What capabilities will be needed in the next two to three years? Which roles are difficult to fill? Where is the business growing?
2. Talent
Then ask:
Who could potentially fill those gaps? This doesn’t necessarily mean looking only for people who already have the perfect CV. It can mean identifying people with the right foundation, aptitude and potential to develop.
3. Development
Build the skills deliberately.
That could involve qualifications, technical training, professional skills, mentorship, workplace exposure and practical projects.
4. Outcome
Finally:
Can successful participants move into employment? Can they join a talent pool? Can the business absorb some of them? Can the programme inform future workforce planning?
Is it too late to change your Skills Development strategy?
You may not be able to change every decision already made for the current cycle, but you can still review what happened, understand where the investment fell short and use those lessons to shape what comes next.
Start with a simple review.
What did we invest in this year?
Look at the programmes, training and development activities your business funded.
Who benefited?
Were the right people reached? Did the investment align with the areas where development was actually needed?
What skills were developed?
Go beyond attendance and completion. What can people now actually do?
Did participants get meaningful workplace exposure?
If not, ask whether the learning could have been strengthened through practical experience.
What happened after the programme?
What happened after the programme?
Did people progress?
Did the business gain capability?
Were participants able to move into employment or another meaningful opportunity?
Where did the biggest gaps appear?
Use the answers to identify what needs to change in the next cycle. Q4 isn’t only a time to review past investment; it’s an opportunity to make more deliberate decisions about the skills and capabilities your business will need next.
What about young talent?
Young talent is often assessed against the experience it has yet to gain. But businesses should also consider what they could build by developing people earlier in their careers.
The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025: Region, Economy and Industry Insights found that 34% of companies operating in South Africa plan to remove degree requirements to expand their talent pool and improve skills matching.
That signals an important shift. Businesses don’t necessarily need to lower their standards. They may need to rethink how they identify potential. For emerging roles, particularly in technology and digital environments, hiring exclusively for years of previous experience can become increasingly difficult.
The better question may be:
“Can this person develop into what our business needs next?”
That is where structured development becomes important. You don’t simply hire potential and hope for the best. You give it a framework.
Can B-BBEE compliance become a competitive advantage?
Compliance will always be part of the conversation, but businesses don’t have to stop there.
There is a difference between:
Doing something because the scorecard requires it.
Using the requirement as an opportunity to solve a real business problem.
The first approach asks:
“How do we meet the requirement?”
The second asks:
“How do we meet the requirement while developing people our business could actually need?”
That’s a much more interesting question. It changes Skills Development from a once-a-year compliance exercise into part of a longer-term talent conversation, and importantly, it doesn’t mean treating people as a means to an end. Good Skills Development should create genuine value for both sides.
People gain skills, experience and access to opportunity.
Businesses gain capability, stronger talent pipelines and a clearer connection to the skills they need.
That is where transformation and business strategy can meet.
Where does Shaper fit?
Shaper helps businesses connect skills development with real-world talent outcomes through programmes that can include learnerships, internships, workplace experience and future-focused skills development.
Our focus is on connecting development to the capabilities businesses need and helping participants gain opportunities to apply what they learn.
Our focus extends beyond programme completion to the pathway that follows:
Learning → experience → capability → opportunity.
“What could this investment help us build?”
Planning your next Skills Development cycle?
Talk to Shaper about connecting your Skills Development objectives with practical learning, workplace experience and your organisation’s talent needs.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is B-BBEE Skills Development?
B-BBEE Skills Development is the Skills Development element of the applicable B-BBEE framework. Under the Generic Codes of Good Practice, it recognises qualifying investment in the development of Black people through specified education, training and workplace-based learning activities. Eligibility and measurement requirements vary according to the applicable scorecard or sector code. Businesses should consult the relevant provisions of the Amended B-BBEE Codes of Good Practice and seek appropriate verification guidance where necessary.
Can learnerships and internships contribute to B-BBEE Skills Development?
Certain learnerships, internships and other workplace-based learning activities can qualify for recognition under applicable B-BBEE requirements. Businesses should confirm the specific requirements that apply to their scorecard or sector code (B-BBEE Commission: Codes of Good Practice).
Is it too late to improve our Skills Development strategy?
No. While businesses may not be able to change every decision already made in the current cycle, Q4 can be used to review what worked, identify gaps and begin planning the next cycle. Waiting until the new year to start the conversation can mean missing an opportunity to make better decisions earlier.
Can Skills Development help businesses address skills shortages?
It can be part of the solution when programmes are designed around genuine business skills needs. Rather than treating training as an isolated activity, businesses can use Skills Development to build specific capabilities and develop potential talent.
How can Skills Development support workforce planning?
Businesses can start by identifying current and future skills gaps, then design appropriate training and workplace-based learning around those needs. Reviewing what participants can do after a programme, and whether further development or employment opportunities are available, can help connect Skills Development investment with longer-term workforce planning.
Skills Development should do more than produce certificates. It should help people move closer to opportunity, and businesses closer to the talent they need.
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