A strong and relevant skills base is needed to sustain Africa’s economic growth, delegates at the World Economic Forum for Africa heard last week.
The African region has neglected its talent pool according to the Africa Competitiveness Report 2013, which was produced by the forum in Cape Town, South Africa, from 8 to 10 May.
“This is a pressing concern in view of the region’s youth unemployment challenge,” says the report, which was published by the forum in collaboration with the World Bank and the African Development Bank.
Data from the World Bank says that Sub-Saharan Africa’s annual economic growth is expected to reach 5 per cent over the next three years, outstripping the global average of 2.4 per cent.
But Africa’s economic growth hasn’t translated to development. Nearly half of the continent’s population still lives on less than US$1.25 a day, according to bank’s data
Countries with high economic growth—like Equatorial Guinea—are failing to invest in the skills of its population, said Martyn Davies, the chief executive officer of Frontier Advisory in South Africa. The country’s workforce remains poorly qualified, he told the forum. “The numbers are deceiving us because there is no development.”
Davies said sustained economic growth would not happen without training people with relevant skills. “No country ever developed without industrialisation. Industrialisation takes human capital. If growth is not invested in human capital we can lose out on opportunities of sustained economic growth,” he said.
The African private sector and governments need to open a dialogue with institutions of learning in order for the latter to train the right skills, said Anne Githuku-Shongwe, chief executive officer of Afroes Transformation Games. “We are finding huge gaps in the types of learning to what companies needs,” she said.
In some cases, training of middle-level skills has been downscaled with those such as extension workers and welders becoming “a forgotten talent” as universities focus on producing professionals, such as lawyers and doctors, she said.
But sectors such as engineering and science also still face skills shortages, said Calestous Juma, professor of science and development at Harvard University in the US. “Knowledge is available and what is needed is the ability to absorb it. That’s where the question of training comes in. We need to build skills in engineering and science where Africa is weak,” he said.