African Youth and the Work: What Skills are Needed?
Before the end of the 21st century, more than a billion young people will reach working age, making it the largest labour market in the world. As the job market becomes competitive, employers expect African youth to have relevant and employable skills.
The Young Africa Connects series recently brought together a panel of young professionals – a tech entrepreneur, human resource personnel, project manager, learning designer, and digital marketing professional – to discuss the skills needed for young Africans to be employable.
Michael Lubowo, a Digital Marketing professional explained how personal branding and effective use of social media helped him land work in digital marketing, work that didn’t exist just a decade ago.
The panelists emphasized that young people need to continuously learn new skills. With the onset of the pandemic skills such as learning how to work remotely, time management, understanding different cultures, among other things have become important.
Above all, Nadege Gaju, a Project Management Professional emphasized that resilience is the most important soft skill every African youth needs to learn create opportunities in a competitive market. She explained, “You can have the passion, the drive, but you need to be resilient. That is, being able to fail and get back up and say I have learned something better and will do things better. This is something that a young African needs to be aware of.”
About Young Africa Connects
Young Africa Connects aims to inspire, engage, and uplift young people while amplifying the work they are doing across the continent. It is been a platform for young people to discuss issues and topics relevant to them and access the information and resources they need as they strive to build dignified lives for themselves and their families. Recent episodes of Young Africa Connects have discussed topics such as; Creating healthy habits and building wealth, Being Resilient in Adversities, creating opportunities in a digital world, etc.
To get more updates on the next episode and other information, follow Young Africa Works on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
