Robots are going to take your jobs.
This is one of the few lies of the great centuries. Robots are not job takers rather more opportunities will be created by the gaps that robots will fill.
I never miss the Korn Ferry reports and one of the most recent studies shows that robots are not taking all the jobs- in fact, the problem is that we do not have enough Humans to take the available job opportunities globally.
There is a part of the report that shows that by 2030, there will be a big mess that we need to start to clean up proactively. There will be a global human talent shortage of more than 85 million people. That is almost the entire population of Germany.
So let’s talk about money! That means by 2030, we could have a situation that leaves the world with an unrealized revenue of about $8.5 trillion due to talent shortage. So that you understand what I am saying; that means because we do not have talented Humans, the globe will experience a shortage of almost 8.5 trillion USD. That is the entire 2 years of the United States Budget.
Let me just make your heartbeat a little more. What this means is that if we do not solve the problem of Talent Shortage today, the value that world gets from the amount of money that the US economy pumps into the global market will not be realized at a double scale. Makes sense?
This is an emergency!
I do agree with Yannick Binvel, the president of Korn Ferry’s Global Industrial Markets practise on this subject too.
“Governments and organizations must make talent strategy a key priority and take steps now to educate, train, and upskill their existing workforces,”
I currently consult for the government of 4 states in Nigeria on this same subject! How do we develop a talent strategy for the entire African Nation?
But I beg to debate that Africa is currently at a huge disadvantage on this but we can turn the table around greatly. With high levels of unemployment and vulnerable employment on the rise, the world of work in Africa is still facing tremendous challenges in terms of job creation and sustainability.
Africa is not a country and there is a huge share of informality across the region: for instance, the informal employment is lower in southern Africa, where it ranges from 32.7 per cent in South Africa to 43.9 per cent in Namibia. But in other sub-Saharan African countries, the rate can be as high as 50% and some countries even flourish in about 76.2%. Some countries like Uganda records about 93.5% as some 2 years ago.
But before you get bored, this is where we can win! We have a huge population of 226 million young people as a continent and we can offer the world this number as a value if we develop a talent strategy.
As a country, we have to first understand the global demand curve and unveil the type of capabilities and skills that the Future of Work and 5th Industrial Revolution will be based on. Then, aggressively, as a matter of urgency, ensure that every young person has those capabilities. We are at an advantage because with the remote work dynamics and the workaround distributed engineering teams, we can present the world with a workforce and take a chunk of the value of the $8.5 trillion revenue.
I also acknowledge that it might be difficult to see the talent shortage because lots of reports also admit that today, there is a talent surplus in countries like India, China, Russia etc and same reports forecast that in countries like Japan and some European Union that have had low birth rates for decades there will be a huge talent gap and this remains a market opportunity. In great economies like the United States, a large percentage of baby boomers would be out of the workforce by 2030. And the younger generation will not have had enough time to be trained for highly skilled jobs.
I am building Utiva for that market dynamics. I am building Utiva to last!
This is the premise on which the Utiva model is built. Develop premium and advanced digital and tech learning programs in Africa, offer low-cost training on advanced digital skills, offer global companies tech teams as a service right from Africa. As a company, we are offering top firms in the United States the best digital teams to help take on their product development challenge.
This is the African value for the Future!
