Blog

By Chris Campbell, CESA CEO

As business South Africa, we all have a responsibility to empower the next generation to shape the future of infrastructure development in South Africa. In the engineering sector, that means investing in young professionals and creating an environment where they are empowered to thrive and choose to contribute their skills here at home.

South Africa’s infrastructure development demands not just technical ability, but local insight, long-term commitment, and visionary leadership. That’s why we must focus on retaining not only our youngest graduates and engineers, but also our mid-career engineers – those aged 30 to 40 – who also hold critical institutional knowledge and experience. These professionals, together with our seasoned and older professionals, are the backbone of project delivery, mentorship, and innovation. Losing them to global opportunities sets us back years.

We must ask ourselves: who will continue to mentor our graduates if our mid-career professionals are leaving? Who is ensuring that expertise is passed on and scaled locally?

That’s why, as CESA, we will continue to champion mentorship, meaningful career paths, and professional development within our member firms. We believe in nurturing a pipeline of engineers who are equipped and motivated to help build a better South Africa.

One of our key initiatives is the Young Professionals Sustainability Imbizo, which we view not only as an investment in emerging leaders, but as a reward for their outstanding contributions. Participating in the Imbizo is a strategic advantage for member firms: it recognises and develops talent that will drive your business, and the industry, forward. Learn more about the CESA Young Professionals Sustainability Imbizo and how your firm can get involved here or register now: www.cesa.co.za/eventreg/?id=454

Throughout June and in celebration of Youth Month, we will also be profiling some of the inspiring young engineers in our network. If you’re a young professional, or know someone whose story deserves to be shared, please contact bonolo@cesa.co.za.

Together, let’s build a thriving, inclusive industry that values mentorship, recognises contribution, and keeps our engineers building at home. South Africa’s current and future infrastructure, economy, and innovation depend on the skills and vision of our homegrown engineers. These young professionals understand the unique context of our country, the challenges we face, and the creative solutions needed to build resilient, life-cycle systems. When we lose them to opportunities abroad, we lose not just talent – we lose insight, perspective, and long-term capacity. Let us work together to build an industry, and a country, that our young professionals are proud to be a part of.