Property Point’s Real Estate Incubator Programme has secured grant funding from impact investor E Squared Investments, marking a significant boost to South Africa’s youth employment and transformation agenda.
 
Property Point, a leading enterprise and supplier development organisation in the property sector, will use the funding to train and place 699 young South Africans in income-generating roles across the property sector, ranging from sales and rental agents to support professionals and future entrepreneurs.
 
With South Africa’s youth unemployment rate exceeding 46%, according to Stats SA and real estate remaining a largely untransformed, capital-intensive industry, the programme offers a practical and scalable solution to these two deeply entrenched challenges.
 
Launched with support from the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) through the National Pathway Management Network (NPMN) Innovation Fund, a grant initiative of the Department of Employment and Labour under the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative (PYEI), the programme is the first of its kind in the country.
 
It pairs the paid stipends with licensing support and mentorship from South Africa’s leading real estate agencies.
 
“This programme tackles unemployment, but at the same time addresses the problem of access,” said Shawn Theunissen, Founder of Property Point. “This funding from E Squared will allow us to open the gates into an industry that has proven challenging to enter for previously disadvantaged South Africans. Now with the right tools and mentorship, they can shape the industry and their own future as agents, entrepreneurs, and eventually, owners of their own agencies.”
 
For E Squared, the programme aligns with its mission to fund scalable ventures with high-impact potential.
 
“Sustainable economic inclusion is rarely about placing individuals into an industry. It is about removing the structural barriers that prevent their participation in the first place,” said Zakiya Khan, Investment Manager at E Squared. “This partnership with Property Point reflects the kind of catalytic intervention the market requires. One that combines strong economic potential with deep, long-term social impact. By unlocking entry into a historically inaccessible sector and building a pipeline of skilled, supported young professionals, the programme expands participation in real estate while contributing to a more inclusive and transformed property economy.”
 
The Real Estate Incubator programme dismantles the most common barriers – licensing costs, income insecurity, lack of mentorship and replaces them with a structured agent journey, psychosocial support, and tools for microenterprise success.
 
Theunissen said the programme offered a reimagining of what the real estate sector can become when it reflects the full promise of our country.
 
“The Real Estate Incubator is more than a sector-specific intervention. We believe it could offer a replicable blueprint for how industries across South Africa can unlock economic inclusion through targeted, market-based innovation,” he concluded.