Every year, thousands of young South Africans leave schools, colleges, and training institutions carrying the same ambitions: to build careers, create opportunities, support their families, and contribute meaningfully to the economy. Yet for many, the journey into economic participation ends before it truly begins.
For young people living with disabilities, the challenge is often greater. Beyond the realities of an already strained labour market, they face additional barriers that continue to restrict access to opportunities, funding, skills development, entrepreneurship support, and employment pathways. The result is not simply unemployment; it is the continued exclusion of talent, potential, and innovation from the country’s economy.
Statistics South Africa reports unemployment among individuals aged 15–34 at 45.8%, increasing to 60.9% among those aged 15–24. While these figures remain a national concern, far less attention is given to the experiences of young people living with disabilities and the additional challenges they face in securing economic opportunities.
This should concern every South African.
Because this is not merely about unemployment statistics or disability inclusion. It is about human potential. It is about capable individuals with ideas, skills, and ambition who continue to encounter systems that were not designed with them in mind. It is about talented young people who are often required to work harder simply to access opportunities others may take for granted.
South Africa’s conversation around youth empowerment and disability inclusion can no longer happen in separate spaces. In reality, they are deeply interconnected. A country cannot speak of inclusive growth while sections of its population remain excluded from participating in and contributing to that growth.
Amid these challenges, Thuso Ya Dipone Projects (Pty) Ltd, based in Kuruman in the Northern Cape, offers an important example of what becomes possible when barriers are challenged and opportunities become accessible.
Founded by Thusoyaone Kenneth Dipone, a young entrepreneur living with a disability, the company operates as a registered manufacturing and services enterprise across three integrated sectors: the production of industrial and household cleaning detergents, the development and production of fragrances and perfumes for commercial use, and the provision of specialised deep-cleaning services across residential, industrial, and post-construction environments.
What makes the business significant is not only what it produces, but what it represents. It represents resilience where barriers exist. It represents innovation where limitations are assumed. It represents possibility where exclusion has too often become the norm. Operating from Seoding Village in Kuruman, the company continues to expand its services and production footprint across the Northern Cape. More importantly, it serves as a practical example that entrepreneurship, leadership, and economic contribution are not determined by disability, but by access to opportunity.
The issue facing South Africa has never been a shortage of talent.
The issue is that too many capable individuals remain unseen, unsupported, and excluded from systems that should enable them to succeed.
As South Africa continues shaping policy, investment strategies, and youth development initiatives, young entrepreneurs living with disabilities should not remain on the margins of national conversations. Their voices, experiences, and contributions matter because inclusive economic growth cannot exist where opportunity itself remains unequal.