The Food and Beverages Manufacturing Sector Education and Training Authority (FOODBEV SETA) manages a dynamic industry central to South Africa’s economy and daily life. Its NSDP 2030 mandate is to ensure that levy funds strengthen workforce capabilities, support SMEs, and drive innovation across food processing, beverages, packaging, and distribution.

The sector employs hundreds of thousands across firms like Tiger Brands, Nestlé, Coca-Cola Beverages SA, Clover, and thousands of SMEs supplying retail and hospitality. It plays a crucial role in exports, rural economies, and value chains linking farmers to supermarkets. Yet it faces labour market challenges of skills mismatches, unemployment, and retrenchments as firms restructure.

Automation in food processing plants has displaced manual workers, even as new roles in quality control, food science, logistics, and compliance emerge. The challenge is how to reskill retrenched factory workers for these technical positions. Without affordable training, South Africa risks widening unemployment.

Youth and women entrepreneurs could transform the industry through agribusiness startups, township-based bakeries, and beverage ventures. Access to finance, mentorship, and market linkages is vital here. The FOODBEV SETA can play a catalytic role in developing entrepreneurship programmes tied to supermarket and hospitality supply chains.

Another challenge is the informal food economy, where thousands earn a living but lack recognition or structured training. Integrating informal traders into food safety and business management courses could formalise this labour force, boosting both incomes and consumer health.

Retrenched workers from large corporates could also be absorbed into logistics, quality-assurance services, or new niche food enterprises. The sector’s growth is tied to consumer demand, but skills development will determine whether it remains competitive globally.

Food is both a necessity and a driver of economic growth. The FOODBEV SETA must ensure that workers, entrepreneurs, and communities are prepared for a rapidly modernising industry. The sector can reduce unemployment, strengthen food security, and open markets for the next generation of South African innovators.