Your future
is not void
POPA helps young people build practical skills, gain experience and explore pathways into employment and enterprise.
This isn't a handout. It's a way in.
POPA is a youth employment and enterprise platform founded by Mafoko Global. We prepare young South Africans for the economy, connect trained talent with employers, and enable structured pathways into jobs, enterprise and sustainable income. POPA can't promise you a job. It gives you the training, the experience and the introductions that make one possible.
Retail isn't just where things are bought. It's where ideas change hands.
Our first academy is in retail sales and customer experience. By the end you'll understand how a product becomes a brand, how a brand becomes a business, and how a business creates work for other people. That's knowledge you can use working for someone else — or building something of your own.
Where do you
see yourself?
From the retail floor
You learn the floor, the customer, and the moment somebody decides to buy. Successful participants may be matched with roles in Mafoko Global businesses or participating employers, depending on competence, readiness and available vacancies.
- Sales, customer service and store operations
- Supervised time in a real workplace
- Matching, placement and retention support
To your own enterprise
Approved participants may enter structured, commission-based digital retail or service opportunities, with onboarding, product training and enterprise support. Income depends on activity and successful transactions.
- Onboarding and product training before you trade
- Activity monitoring and enterprise support
- Independent and commission-based, with no guaranteed minimum earnings
Your future doesn't need approval.
You're not waiting for somebody to decide whether your future is worth something. Your potential is where this starts — not the thing you have to prove before anyone will look at you.
Be first to
hear about intakes.
Complete a short form so we can contact you when a suitable intake opens. Registering interest is not a formal application and does not confirm a place on the programme.
How it works
- Check whether registrations are open in your province.
- Read the intake-specific eligibility and programme information.
- Submit the online expression-of-interest form.
- Complete screening and any required assessment or interview.
- If shortlisted, upload verification documents through the secure application process.
- Wait for written confirmation from an official POPA channel.
Who POPA is designed for
- Unemployed South African youth, generally aged 18 to 35
- Young people not currently in education, employment or training
- Applicants from township, peri-urban and rural communities
- Historically disadvantaged young people, young women and persons with disabilities
Never pay anyone to secure a place at POPA. Registration does not guarantee selection. POPA will communicate only through official channels.