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South African startup VOCO is an all-in-one career guidance and skills development platform aimed at helping young people navigate their career journeys.
Founded this year and aimed at young people aged between 13 and 23, VOCO provides AI-driven, personalised career guidance, practical skills development and educational opportunities, as well as market access opportunities.
The startup connects youth with mentorships, internships, skills development programmes, and employment opportunities through partnerships with corporations, small businesses, NGOs, and educational institutions.
“Our mission is to equip young people with the tools they need to find their passion and the opportunity to pursue sustainable careers,” said VOCO founder and CEO Brittany Kaye, whose passion about the issues VOCO addresses has been growing for a few years.
“I host entrepreneurship and employment skill workshops on weekends, and the problems we’ve dealt with there inspired VOCO,” Kaye said.
“There is a significant gap in personalised career guidance, and linking young people with practical skill-building and then real life work opportunities in South Africa. There is a gap in integrating market needs with education pathways effectively, leaving students without a plan or relevant skills for the job market.”
VOCO bridges this gap, with Kaye saying it had seen positive initial uptake, particularly from educational institutions and small-to-medium-sized businesses.
“The youth response has also been encouraging, especially with our MVP still getting ready to launch. While we are still in the early phases, the feedback has been very positive, and we’ll work to continually refine the platform based on feedback,” she said.
VOCO is at the pre-seed stage, and funded primarily through bootstrapping. Kaye said the company is actively pursuing investment to fuel its growth, but primarily focused on releasing its MVP early next year. Focused on the South African market, where youth unemployment is a pressing issue, it nonetheless has wider ambitions.
“We have plans to expand into other regions in Africa that face similar challenges, as well as potentially looking into international markets where our model could be adapted. The long-term goal is to create a scalable model that can be replicated in various countries, adjusting to local market needs,” said Kaye.
VOCO’s business model revolves around subscriptions.
“We provide a high level applicant tracking system and custom services for small businesses and NGOs, creating skills development programs and recruitment pipelines,” Kaye said. “Revenues are still in the early stages, as we’re focusing on building the platform. Profitability will come as we scale, particularly as we capture more market share in the ed-tech space.”