Business Has Critical Role To Play In Unemployment Crisis In West Africa

West
Africa is on the rise, with Nigeria showing resilience and diversifying its
economy following a recession and Ghana enjoying stellar GDP growth of 8.5% for
2017.

Now, the
challenge is to sustain this growth into the future and use it as a way to
improve the lives of the region’s people – especially the youth.

Though
economic growth is positive, the reality is that many recent graduates and
school leavers are struggling to find employment. In Ghana, only 10% of school
leavers  find work within the first year, while 7.9 million youths  in
Nigeria remain unemployed. Harnessing the creativity and productivity of these
young people is not only important for social upliftment, but also for building
a skills base for the future and spurring consumer spending.

With high
competition for jobs and few opportunities in the workplace, Small & Medium
Businesses have a crucial role to play in equipping these young people with the
skills and knowledge needed in the workplace. As the sector that provides the
most employment opportunities in Nigeria and the largest contribution
to Ghana’s GDP, small businesses can be the mentors and training grounds
that these young people so desperately need.

Many
business leaders are eager to hire young people with experience but few are
willing to provide that experience, for reasons including cost, time and the
perception that young people are unmotivated and lack loyalty.  But
imagine the difference we could make – especially at grassroots level – if
every business offered a learnership or internship to one student.

No
experience = no job

Every
company can help to build West Africa’s workforce of the future by creating
opportunities such as internships and learnerships for the youth.

Here are
some reasons to consider doing exactly that:

Yes,
there’s a chance that the graduates might leave after they’ve been upskilled
but if you don’t provide opportunities for development, they’ll look for it
elsewhere. Through learnerships, you’re also directly contributing to the
skills pool of the country, which has a knock-on effect on job creation and
economic growth.

Nigeria
offers two employment-related tax incentives: work experience relief and
employment relief, both offering exemption from CIT of up to 5% of profit.

It’s
cheaper to train and retain existing team members than it is to hire new ones.
Learnerships and internships not only provide an opportunity to identify and
develop talent; they also boost your team’s confidence and increase job
satisfaction and loyalty.

How can
any business expect to win market share among the youth – who already represent
significant spending power and who will be the customers of the future – if it
doesn’t hire young people? 

Young
people bring a new energy and optimism to any business, adding diversity,
different perspectives, 21st Century skills, and new values and
experiences to the workplace.

 Businesses often lament the fact
that the education system does not produce work-ready graduates yet they are
the solution to that challenge. And with the youth making up the majority of
unemployed people, we can all play a small part, to collectively make a massive
difference.