{"id":30426,"date":"2019-11-27T10:52:40","date_gmt":"2019-11-27T10:52:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/?p=30426"},"modified":"2019-11-29T10:51:15","modified_gmt":"2019-11-29T10:51:15","slug":"ibm-expert-tamreem-el-tohamy-on-bridging-the-skills-gap-in-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/2019\/11\/27\/ibm-expert-tamreem-el-tohamy-on-bridging-the-skills-gap-in-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"IBM expert Takreem El Tohamy on bridging the skills gap in Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is underway, and the surging high-tech, sharing economy is transforming jobs, policies, industries and entire economies as we witness our digital and physical worlds continue to merge. Takreem El Tohamy, General Manager, IBM Middle East and Africa, looks at how you can empower Africa\u2019s youth to leapfrog towards a better future. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the core of this Digital Transformation is the ongoing adoption of new emerging technologies. It is imperative for technology companies not only to bring these technologies safely to the world but also equip societies and the workforce with the essential skills for this disruptive era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Africa,\nunemployment remains a core issue, affecting even those with tertiary\nqualifications in some parts of the continent. Many of our educational\ninstitutions are keen to teach students the skills required to operate in the\ndigital economy. This is where the private sector must step in. After all,\nhelping Africa\u2019s 1.2 billion people prepare for the 4th Industrial Revolution\nis good for the society and Africa\u2019s youth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

CEOs rank\ninvestment in people as the number one way to accelerate performance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the next\nthree years, as many as 120 million workers in the world\u2019s 12 largest economies\nmay need to be retrained or reskilled as a result of Artificial Intelligence\n(AI) and intelligent automation. This is according to the latest IBM Institute\nfor Business Value (IBV) study, titled The\nEnterprise Guide to Closing the Skills Gap<\/a>. According to the\nresearch, the time it takes to close a skills gap through training has\nincreased by more than 10 times in just four years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2014, it\ntook three days on average to close a capability gap through training in the\nenterprise. In 2018, it took 36 days. In addition, only 41% of the CEOs\nsurveyed say that they have the people, skills and resources required to\nexecute their business strategies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2016,\nexecutives ranked technical core capabilities for Science, Technology,\nEngineering and Mathematics (STEM), basic computer and software or application\nskills as the top two most critical skills for employees. Looking at that\nstatement now, it\u2019s obvious \u2018basic computer skills\u2019 just aren\u2019t going to cut it\nany longer.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A recent\nsurvey of business leaders by the World Economic Forum in South Africa says\naround 42% of the core job skills required today are set to change\nsubstantially by 2022. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We know the\nchallenge, but what are we going to do about it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is\nimperative to have a holistic approach to close the digital skills gap. We need\nto focus on reskilling our workforce through development that is personalised,\nmulti-modal and built on data. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Educational journeys that are tailored to experience level, skills and career aspirations will be the key to success. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To fuel those journeys, private companies should take a cue from the emerging knowledge economy \u2013 they should take advantage of an ecosystem of partners to expand their access to content and leverage innovative learning technologies for their existing and future markets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The IBV study recommends that those journeys be delivered through experiential learning. The course material must come to life within organisations through new ways of working, agile teams and hands-on practice served up in the flow of work. But it\u2019s not just employees who should benefit. Maintaining a dynamic and diverse workforce involves upskilling potential employees too \u2013 women, youth, recent graduates and school leavers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we\nshare our knowledge freely, we create both corporate and public good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around half\nof Africans are under the age of 25. This presents an enormous opportunity for\ntech companies to equip young Africa with the digital skills necessary and\nprepare them for today\u2019s job market. Empowering people means growing economies,\nas well as a healthier and more productive population. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

IBM\u2019s\nonline learning platform, Digital-Nation\nAfrica<\/a> is one example of how big corporates can help close the\nskills gap across the continent. The cloud-based online self-paced learning and\ninnovation platform is designed to empower Africa\u2019s youth to develop their\ntechnology and innovation skills and address three major gaps:  skills, innovation\nand Jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That said,\nno one company can tackle upskilling African youth on its own. Partnerships are\nthe fuel that will drive the continent\u2019s development forward. The IBM Skills Academy<\/a>,\npart of the IBM\u2019s university programme, is an example of collaboration with\nmore than 340 universities across Middle East and Africa to focus on skills and\ncareers that are in high demand in today\u2019s market. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

IBM has\nalready used its learning platform to power public-sector efforts in upskilling\nthe workforce. IBM has also collaborated with both Egypt and Morocco\u2019s Pathways in\nTechnology (P-TECH)<\/a> , to empower African youth with new skills for\ntoday\u2019s sought-after jobs. That includes \u2018new collar\u2019 jobs, where having the\nright skills matters more than having a specific degree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Africa\u2019s greatest\nresource is its youth and the continent\u2019s entrepreneurial spirit \u2013 born of\nnecessity \u2013 is now ready to leapfrog towards a better future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is underway, and the surging high-tech, sharing economy is transforming jobs, policies, industries and entire economies as we witness our digital and physical worlds continue to merge. Takreem El Tohamy, General Manager, IBM Middle East and Africa, looks at how you can empower Africa\u2019s youth to leapfrog towards a better future. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":30429,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4950,328,10675,13,262],"tags":[496,386,389,11839,424,1002,3850,11840,1124,11842,11841,11838],"class_list":["post-30426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analysis","category-features","category-thought-leadership","category-top-stories","category-used","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-digital-transformation","tag-digital-nation-africa","tag-egypt","tag-fourth-industrial-revolution","tag-ibm","tag-ibm-skills-academy","tag-morocco","tag-p-tech","tag-pathways-in-technology","tag-takreem-el-tohamy"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30426"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30426\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30437,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30426\/revisions\/30437"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}