Ukiyo's new app connects South African students to their first jobs

As I scrolled through my Twitter feed, a tweet from TechCabal caught my eye: "Ukiyo, a South African ed-tech company, has launched a mobile platform to connect young people to opportunities in education and employment." I couldn't help but think about the dire state of youth unemployment in South Africa. In the first quarter of 2026, the unemployment rate of youth aged 15 to 24 stood at 60.90%, with around 3.9 million young people classified as not being in employment, education, or training (NEET). This crisis has severe consequences for individuals, families, and the economy as a whole.

Ukiyo's founder, Nozuko Mzamo, is on a mission to address this issue. Her company has launched the Global Student Support Platform (GSSP), a mobile app that combines scholarships, job listings, mentorship, wellness services, tutoring, and career development tools. The platform is designed to be a marketplace for youth development services, free for students to use. With GSSP, students can explore study options, access mentorship opportunities, connect with accommodation providers, find wellness and mental health support, attend skills development workshops, and search for internships, graduate programmes, and entry-level jobs.

Mzamo identifies a fundamental problem in South Africa's education system: a lack of integrated pathways into economic participation. While there are many ambitious young people in the country, they often struggle to access the opportunities they need to succeed. GSSP aims to bridge this gap by providing a single platform for students to access a range of services. As Mzamo notes, "We built GSSP to support the full journey, from finding a place to study and securing education funding, to building a career and accessing mentorship."

Ukiyo was founded in 2017 after operating informally since 2014. The company's goal is to tackle youth unemployment by addressing some of its underlying causes, including limited access to information and skills development. GSSP has already attracted over 4,200 users, who have generated over 1,300 click-throughs to bursary and scholarship opportunities and more than 2,100 click-throughs to job listings in its private beta. While the platform is currently limited to filters and searches, Ukiyo plans to introduce intelligent matching features in future releases.

As South Africa's youth unemployment crisis deepens, Ukiyo's GSSP offers a beacon of hope. By providing a single platform for students to access a range of services, the company is helping to bridge the gap between ambition and opportunity. As I reflected on Mzamo's vision, I couldn't help but wonder: what if every student in South Africa had access to the resources and support they needed to succeed? What if GSSP became the go-to platform for young people looking to build their careers and create a better future for themselves and their communities?

In the end, the success of GSSP will depend on its ability to scale and adapt to the evolving needs of South Africa's youth. With over 3.9 million young people classified as NEET, the stakes are high. But if Ukiyo's vision takes hold, we may see a future where every young person in South Africa has access to the opportunities they deserve.