Bühler Southern Africa brought together representatives from industry, government and international organisations on
The Advancing Value-Chain Quality Apprenticeships in South Africa roundtable, held at Bühler’s Johannesburg site, co-hosted by the Global Apprenticeship Network (GAN) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO), drew representatives from the Department of Higher Education and Training, the Swiss Embassy, the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA), and the private sector.
“Building quality apprenticeships requires collaboration across industry, education, and government. No single organisation can do it alone,” said Rachael Madziwanyika, CFO and head of human resources at Bühler Southern Africa.
Why now?
The Johannesburg roundtable builds on a state visit in October 2025 when South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa toured Bühler’s Uzwil, Switzerland headquarters alongside then Swiss President, Karin Keller-Sutter, and met apprentices who had trained there.
Albert Okal, skills and lifelong learning specialist at the ILO, pointed to Recommendation number 208 on Quality Apprenticeships, which is the global framework adopted at the International Labour Conference in June 2023. The framework covers important pillars such as protection, meaning, legal frameworks, sustainable financing, social dialogue, structured learning and inclusion aspects as foundational for a successful quality apprenticeship programme.
Skills shortage, youth unemployment are inseparable
South Africa’s youth unemployment rate remains among the highest in the world. Globally, more than one in five young people are not in education, employment or training (NEET). Employers across sectors report growing difficulty finding qualified artisans, technicians and engineers, a gap experts say will widen as labour markets experience rapid and overlapping changes, including the green transition, digitalisation and artificial intelligence.
Quality apprenticeships offer one of the few proven mechanisms capable of addressing both problems simultaneously by combining structured learning with practical workplace experience. They enable young people to earn and learn at the same time, while helping businesses build a workforce aligned with their operational needs.
“If South Africa is to unlock the potential of its young people and build the workforce needed for current growth, we must move beyond talking about skills development and focus on creating pathways into productive employment,” said Madziwanyika.
Okal added: “Quality apprenticeships create structured pathways into decent work.”
Why quality is a defining principle
Throughout the event, one word consistently emerged as the defining principle: quality. Kathryn Rowan, executive director of GAN Global, explained that apprenticeship programmes must provide structured learning, meaningful workplace experience and recognised outcomes for both learners and employers.
“We are seeing skills changing at an extremely rapid pace,” she said. “Whether it is green skills, digitalisation or AI, employers are asking where they are going to find the skills they need for the future. That is precisely where GAN Global comes in.”
Established in 2014 following B20 and G20 discussions on youth unemployment, GAN Global now connects multinational companies such as Bühler, national networks in nine countries and international partners under a shared conviction that employers have a much more active role to play in skills development, not only as recruiters of talent, but as key contributors to how skills are defined, developed and recognised.
GAN was created with a clear purpose: to help make quality apprenticeships and work based learning a central part of how skills systems function and a powerful tool in combating youth unemployment.
Apprenticeships create value for all
“Apprenticeships are part of Bühler’s DNA. They enable us to develop future talent while creating opportunities for young people to build meaningful careers,” said Irene Mark-Eisenring, global chief human resources officer at Bühler Group, adding that the company’s global experience demonstrates the value of the Swiss dual education system which combines classroom learning with practical workplace experience.
Bühler has run an apprenticeship programme since 1915, making it one of the longest-established vocational training programmes in Swiss industry. The company trained 524 apprentices in 2025 alone, more than 10 500 globally since the programme began, and retains 67% of Swiss apprentices as employees after they complete training. In South Africa, apprentices and learners make up about 10% of the company’s 220 person regional workforce.
That track record put Bühler at the centre of the discussion. Marco Sutter, managing director of Bühler Southern Africa, who began his career as a Bühler apprentice in Switzerland in 1994, described his own professional journey as proof of the impact of structured vocational education. “The future lies in Africa which has the youngest population in the world,” he said, arguing that technical skills development is inseparable from the continent’s growth.
As food security, population growth, urbanisation and industrialisation reshape the continent, Sutter argued that developing local technical skills will become increasingly important. “Education should be viewed not separately from sustainability, but as one of its essential foundations,” said Sutter.
The facilitated discussion reinforced broad agreement that no single stakeholder can address South Africa’s skills challenges alone. Participants identified stronger coordination between government, industry, education institutions and development partners as essential to expanding quality apprenticeships, while also calling for a shift in public perceptions to position apprenticeships as a high-value career pathway alongside traditional academic qualifications.
Looking ahead
Concluding the roundtable, Madziwanyika said the real measure of success would be the partnerships that emerge from the discussions. “Today’s conversation is only the beginning,” she said. “If we want to unlock the potential of South Africa’s young people, we must move beyond talking about skills development and focus on creating real pathways into productive employment. That is something we can only achieve together.” In October 2026, key stakeholders will meet again to define the next steps of the collaboration.
For more information contact Bühler Southern Africa,
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