The future of the workforce points toward artificial intelligence, robotics, and automation; of which the African workforce is largely unprepared. Many repetitive jobs such as administration, finance, and manufacturing risk obsolescence. As much as Africa is growing and digitalization is on the rise, 66% of people remain unemployable and others are in vulnerable employment. The fact that youths under the age of 25 make up 60% of the Sub-Saharan population does not help the situation. To blame is the decrease in technical education as only 1 in 6 college students graduate with a college degree in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). There is an urgent need for businesses and educators to collaborate and address the skills gap, and creation of talent pipelines could be the answer. Read more at iAfrikan.
Dear D -
Africa’s prosperity depends on what the majority youths can make for themselves. All sectors need to invest in building talent pipelines that equip the youth with future skills. An example of a talent pipeline is the 3D Africa HackforGood Platform by the Youth for Technology Foundation. The platform is an experimental learning model which gives university students and young people a base to launch ideas and create prototypes that solve national problems. Since its first hosting in 2017 in Nigeria, 75 youth have already created solutions to community problems by use of 3D printing technologies, blockchain, machine earning, artificial intelligence, internet of things, and virtual reality. The initiative was backed by big names such as HP, Uber, Microsoft, and Cocacola. Read more about the HackforGood platform.
Do you know of any other talent pipelines or have like ideas that can equip African youth with future skills? Share.