Africa鈥檚 immense wealth in mineral and natural resources has powered its economy for generations. But the world is moving rapidly to a more sustainable, less resource-intense future.

As we celebrate Africa Month the question is: can African economies adapt to ensure the continent can thrive and prosper well into the next century?

Africa produced听more than half the world鈥檚 diamonds in 2020, with countries such as Botswana and SA continuing their leading role in the global diamond market. In the 1970s SA alone produced two-thirds of the world鈥檚 gold, a legacy that continues, though the country has been overtaken by China, Australia and, closer to home, Ghana.

The continent isn鈥檛 endowed only with abundant legacy resources such as diamonds and gold. Many of the minerals needed to power next-generation technologies are also abundant in Africa.

The Democratic Republic of Congo alone accounted for nearly two-thirds (63%) of the world鈥檚 cobalt in 2019. Its production of lithium 鈥� a crucial manufacturing component of smartphones, laptops and electric vehicles 鈥� is expected to grow from 40,000 tonnes in 2023听to nearly half a million tonnes by the end of the decade.听However, Africa鈥檚 resources are finite. African countries will eventually have to move away from their reliance on resource extraction to power their economies.

Some experts听already suggest the world has reached peak gold production and that the volume of gold produced per year will decline from now.听This is bad news for a continent that heavily relies on the revenue generated by its natural resources.听A UN report says听Africa鈥檚 mining sector contributed nearly 7% of the continent鈥檚 GDP in 2017. Minerals represented 62% of exports in 2019.

But what if Africa was already endowed with a natural resource to beat all others, one that can end the continent鈥檚 reliance on digging for wealth and power its economy through innovation, ingenuity and productivity?

What if the continent’s abundance of youthful talent could be mobilised?听Africa鈥檚 population will grow with astonishing speed throughout this century. While populations in more developed regions stagnate and decline, Africa鈥檚 youthful population thrives. From 2020 and 2050 1.2-billion people are expected to be added to Africa鈥檚 population. By 2100, UN data predicts that the continent鈥檚 population will reach 4.3-billion,听more than three times more than now.

Bear in mind that the revenue gap is not due to technical limitations on realising the effect of the next wave of technological innovation 鈥� artificial intelligence, connected devices, intelligent enterprises 鈥� but rather a lack of skilled talent to implement and manage these technologies.听It’s therefore not a stretch to say Africa鈥檚 greatest natural resource is its talented, youthful workforce.听A study by Gallup found that digital听skills generate $18.5-trillion in annual economic value, or 12% of global GDP. The same study found that advanced digital workers have higher rates of job satisfaction and feel more secure in their jobs than less digitally-able workers.

Mobilising the youthful workforce through rapid and extensive digital skills development holds the key to unlocking the continent’s vast economic potential.听African countries should invest some of the revenue generated from their natural resources in building digital skills capacity. Infrastructure such as 5G internet and extensive mobile coverage is essential, especially in countries where legacy fixed-line infrastructure is lacking.

A government-led national digital skills strategy should be a priority for every education department all over the continent.听Public-private partnerships that enable collaboration between governments and the corporate sector can help focus efforts, ensuring that any digital skills development initiatives meet real-world business needs and produce talent that can easily be absorbed into the formal economy.

Private sector organisations can partner with social enterprises and non-profit organisations that build or enhance digital skills. 麻豆原创鈥檚 partnership with the Siyafunda Community Technology Centres, for example, has benefited 30-million youth and adults through digital programmes at 240 centres.

Organisations should also champion their own digital skills development efforts to ensure they have access to work-ready digital skills. The 麻豆原创 Skills for Africa training programme delivered nearly 2,000 work-ready graduates in 22 African countries, with a 95% employment rate post-graduation.

Efforts at expanding access to digital learning opportunities should also continue. For example, Africa Code Week has provided basic coding training to 14.6-million African youth in 48 countries. And with a girl participation rate of 47%, the initiative has also made great strides in enabling digital learning opportunities for all who can benefit.

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How could you describe your career path in few words?

I would describe it as both a pilgrimage and a long term investment. The pilgrimage speaks to the journey of my career 鈥� it has taken place over several decades and always traveling to reach a purpose 鈥� the next thing to learn, or the next exciting role, the next challenge 鈥� interwoven with family life and personal development. It has been an exciting and rewarding career. The long term investment speaks to the fact that it required me putting in a great deal of effort, time, growing my skills, often making sacrifices 鈥� this was the investment! I started out as an application developer in the insurance industry, and have been fortunate to work for several of the world鈥檚 leading ICT companies in various capacities. These have included sales, HR, business development and, more recently, as Managing Director for Cisco Africa and 麻豆原创 Africa. I truly believe that the skills I learnt in those very early days as a programmer 鈥� solving problems, listening, collaborating 鈥� have helped me navigate through my career.

What was your most challenging experience and it has changed your mindset?

I have had many challenging experiences during the course of my career. Some challenges re-enforced my mindset, but more often than not, I had to step back, recalibrate and change the way I think about situations. In almost all cases, the challenges have related to people dynamics. People are complex and there is not one single way to manage engagement that is effective with everyone鈥檚 mindset, personality traits or communication style. 鈥疘n my leadership roles, I have learnt that building the skills to engage with people, whether employees, customers, partners or other stakeholders, is pivotal to ones鈥� own success and to the success of the business. It is through people engagement that I have experienced my greatest sadness and greatest joy.

When you get surprised by unusual or uncertain context, what do you think?

After the initial shock, I think 鈥痶o myself 鈥淏reathe!鈥�. And after that pause, I become very curious and look at the situation with interest and wonder. I ask myself questions, and then I seek to find the answers and understand the context, then look for the opportunity. I believe it is key to dealing with uncertainty and surprises, especially in our world鈥痶oday.

Based on your experience, what鈥檚 the key success factor for a female leader / manager?

In my experience, it has been to positively leverage who I am and my unique traits, many of them being feminine traits like empathy, creativity and collaboration. More importantly, to recognise that whilst I am female, I lead many human beings. They all have their differences, strengths, weaknesses, uniqueness 鈥� keeping this at the fore in my leadership style has been key to me being able to do my job effectively. I know that our collective differences make us stronger, so being respectful of what everyone brings to the business is important. 鈥疘鈥檓 always aware that while I am a woman in a senior leadership position within the tech industry, in leadership we all carry huge responsibilities regardless of our demographics. This means that working hard, staying relevant, keeping connected and delivering strong results, cannot be underestimated for any leader.

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Yesterday, almost 200 countries celebrated听, a global day declared by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) on 8 April 2011, to encourage young women to pursue careers in information and communication technologies (ICT).

Hundreds of events took place worldwide, aimed at inspiring a new generation of girls to explore the exciting opportunities offered by an ICT career, says the ITU.

In light of this year鈥檚 theme, 鈥淒igital skills for life”, local firms reaffirmed their commitments to help more girls in SA break into the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)-related fields, through digital skills training, which lies at the heart of the future of work.

According to the United Nations, adolescent girls and young women in low- and middle-income countries听听on $15 billion in economic opportunities due to gaps in internet access and digital skills, relative to their male peers.

Local firms 麻豆原创, Cisco and Anglo American say they are doing their part to upskill girls in digital skills, to co-create a better digital future to enable young women to have full, equal and meaningful participation in Africa鈥檚 digital economy.

Software giant 麻豆原创 says it has helped upskill over 150 000 girls in SA through the听, which forms part of its Africa Code Week (ACW) skills training initiative.

The project is ramping up efforts to reach one million girls in previously disadvantaged and underserviced communities of SA in the medium-term.

鈥淪iyafunda CTC aims to help overcome the low rate of internet penetration by providing critical and affordable ICT, 4IR [fourth industrial revolution] and business skills training that covers a number of critical domains required for all work environments of today,鈥� explains Cathy Smith, MD of 麻豆原创 Africa.

鈥淎cademically, there have been huge improvements in participants鈥� school performance, and many students trained through Siyafunda CTC pursued careers in technology after completing their matric.鈥�

Other 麻豆原创 programmes focused on upskilling girls across Africa include an introduction to data science, digital literacy classes 鈥� end-user computing, school holiday programmes, web development bootcamps, and coding and robotics for girls, it says.

Over the past seven years, close to 14 million pupils and teachers from 48 African countries have been empowered with digital skills through ACW, with 49% of participating pupils being female, notes Smith.

The initiative is looking to add more female participants in future.

According to the UN, women and girls are 25%听听than men to have sufficient knowledge and digital skills to use technology. This robs girls of crucial opportunities. While girls do as well as boys in science in most countries, such as SA, women occupy less than one-third of positions in the technology sector globally, it notes.

In addition, SA is experiencing a large-scale shortage of ICT skills. According to the latest ICT Skills Survey, the country lacks at least tens of thousands of ICT professionals, which is exacerbated by the increasing number of local ICT firms looking for talent overseas.

鈥淲ith the correct investment in skills development, Africa’s economy could build the world’s future tech workforce, bringing untold economic and social benefit to the continent and its citizens,鈥� notes Smith.

础苍听听230 million jobs in Sub-Saharan Africa will require digital skills in 2030, according to a report by the International Finance Corporation.

To prepare for these future skills, networking giant Cisco says it aims to support almost 40 000 girls to enter the STEM fields in SA, through the Cisco Networking Academy鈥檚 latest (2022) cohort of students.

Cisco Networking Academy was established 25 years ago, to provide IT courses, learning simulators and hands-on learning opportunities in cyber security, networking, programming and the internet of things, through partnerships with learning institutions.

鈥淐umulatively, of our 189 000 students globally, we have over 82 000 students in South Africa and 46% female participation locally,鈥� notes Altaaf Hamid, senior manager: global partnerships at Cisco Corporate Affairs.

鈥淚n the last fiscal year alone, we had 61% female participation. Additionally, over half (51%) of the 1 127 instructors in South Africa who are teaching Networking Academy courses are female.鈥�

Since the introduction of the Cisco Networking Academy in Sub-Saharan Africa, more than one million people have been trained and upskilled in the region, it points out.

Anglo American says it rolled-out a comprehensive ICT programme across 109 schools around its mining operations in South Africa last year, to give thousands of learners the skills they need enter the digital job market.

Recently, 35 girls from the first cohort of the pilot graduated from the Anglo American ICT programme, which provides youth from the mining company鈥檚 host communities with tech skills.

鈥淭he aim of this programme was two-pronged. The first was to create awareness and a pathway for learners in our host communities to learn and access skills and training related to the future of work,鈥� says Zaheera Soomar, global lead for听education听and community skills at Anglo American.

鈥淭he second was to ensure our schools are adequately supported as we embed ICT into them. Based on its success, the programme will increase its intake to 120 learners this year, coming from communities close to Anglo American鈥檚 operations in Limpopo, North West and Northern Cape.鈥�

The Anglo American ICT initiative has set targets such as ensuring over 50% of participants are female; over 90% of learners (girls and boys) aged five meet the minimum requirements for school readiness; 90% of grade three learners pass with at least 50% in numeracy and literacy; and 75% of grade six learners pass with at least 50% in mathematics and English first additional language.

Huawei SA, LG SA, GirlCode and Africa Teen Geeks are also among the organisations that have committed to train more South African girls in STEM, to enable the next generation of female leaders to enter the field.

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In her talk, Smith touched on tech skills in Africa as the world continues to transform digitally. One of the interesting points uncovered in the report by Smith is the fact that the continent is facing an IT skills shortage, thanks to the recycling of skills and the rapid growth of digital transformation.

“What has been happening, in reality, is that we are seeing a recycling of skills between all the major players across Africa. I’m sure many people that are working in the ICT industry will resonate and acknowledge the fact that most IT professionals will have worked with at least two or three vendors in their careers.

“So we are not seeing enough investment and focus on bringing new capabilities into the ICT industry. This is because customers typically want to have experience working on their business or on new projects. Now, it is no doubt and we have absolutely seen that there is plenty of academically qualified IT professionals who will have good academic backgrounds,” Smith said.

The 麻豆原创 leader mentioned that the skills challenge also presents an opportunity for the continent. She said that filling the gap starts with leveraging our youth. She explained:

We have an opportunity not only to inject new skills and create a higher level of sustainability within the ICT industries across the African continent.We also have an opportunity to really create a new set of revenue streams for many other economies on the continent and to avoid challenges with huge unemployment amongst our youth by creating generating services on the continent.

Change management

Smith also touched on change management. She explained that change management means the impact of the change organisations make when it comes to technological transformation.

“The importance for us around change management is so high, the priority of recognising it as a skill and as a key component to digital transformation is fundamental for customers achieving the value that they were promised in digital transformation.

“If we go on to the new world of work, so when we talked about change management, of course, we recognise that people struggle with change, right? It’s not something that is easily embraced. It’s not something that even though many people are in the ICT industry they will easily adapt to the new world of work in lots. It’s creating lots of tension across different industries

“For a continent that is rapidly transforming through the accelerated adoption of digital technologies, ensuring effective change management could greatly improve outcomes and equip organisations with new capabilities to drive growth and innovation,” Smith said.

Other findings from the report

When it comes to South Africa in particular, the country is faced with the challenge of retaining skilled tech workers; whereas Kenya and Nigeria (the other two countries where 麻豆原创 conducted its research) are struggling with attracting top talent.

Kenya on the other hand remains optimistic about skills opportunities, while its counterparts in the research are less hopeful. The report mentions: “Only 53% of Kenyan organisations expect to experience a skills gap in the next year, compared to 80% of Nigerian companies and 73% of South African organisations.”

South Africa places greater value on digital transformation skills compared to Nigeria and Kenya. Digital transformation skills were cited by 70% of South African companies as an in-demand skill, compared to only 33% of organisations in Kenya and Nigeria.

A positive takeaway from the report for South Africans is that the country faces little difficulty in attracting talent. The lack of tech skills in Nigeria and Kenya has had a negative impact on its companies.

麻豆原创’s full report can be read听.

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The aim is to bring a handpicked selection of purpose-driven social enterprises into the world’s largest procurement network, Ariba. By providing greater visibility of social enterprises, Procurement with Purpose encourages organisations to divert some of their spend toward social enterprises.

One such social enterprise is Collectively Conscious, a corporate conscious gifting business that was founded by Kath van den Berg and Kylie Chevallier out of a passion to help drive sustainability within society.

“We chose corporate gifting in line with the broader trend toward conscious gifting, which focuses on taking time to consider gifts for people instead of simply giving anything for the sake of it,” says Kath van den Berg. “It’s about acting consciously to provide an ethical, sustainable gift that is aligned with the values of our clients.”

After an extensive process of researching and networking with people in the field, van den Berg and business partner Chevallier saw an opportunity in conscious gifting, especially within a corporate environment where making a difference is a key differentiator.

“We consider products that are making a positive social or environmental impact,” explains van den Berg. “Products can be made with reclaimed or recycled materials, reused goods, or products that provide some form of social upliftment, empowerment or upskilling within communities. There are a lot of ways to make a positive impact.”

A stringent process is applied to potential new suppliers to better understand their business and the impact they make before Collectively Conscious adds them to their supplier list. “Each supplier must adhere to our values,” says van den Berg. “Luckily, there are so many local suppliers that make beautiful products while also creating positive impact.”

The products that van den Berg and Chevallier offer provide corporates with an opportunity to make a positive difference with every gift they give. 鈥淲e all need to start thinking and acting more sustainably for the benefit of the planet and future generations,鈥� says van den Berg. 鈥淏y offering a curated gifting solution that captures the sustainability values of corporates across the country, we can make a positive environmental and social impact with every gift.鈥�

Cathy Smith, Managing Director at 麻豆原创 Africa, lauds the work of the social enterprises that form part of Procurement with Purpose, saying social impact requires more than just a clear sense of purpose. “I have long held the belief that motivated, purpose-driven entrepreneurs can make a significant impact and drive change both in their work environment and the world at large. Thanks to the amazing work by Kaunain and Mathiba for bringing incredible social enterprises such as Collectively Conscious into our Ariba procurement network, 麻豆原创 customers can now more easily purchase sustainable goods and services from social enterprises that are making a real, positive impact in the world.”

For more information about Collectively Conscious, please visit

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Cathy Smith, Managing Director at 麻豆原创 Africa, says there is an urgent need to invest in skills development and training to ensure Africa can capitalise on its youth dividend. “More than half of the world’s population growth between now and 2050 will take place in Africa, where 1.3-billion people are expected to be born by mid-century. With the correct investment in skills development, Africa’s economy could transition away from its reliance on natural resources to build the world’s future tech workforce, bringing untold economic and social benefit to the continent and its citizens. However, as our research reveals, African organisations still face some difficulties with attracting, retaining and upskilling suitably skilled tech workers.”

The research was conducted among organisations in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Negative impact due to lack of tech skills

The ‘Africa’s Tech Skills Scarcity Revealed‘ report found that a lack of skills is having a negative effect on the continent’s digital transformation efforts.

Four in five organisations surveyed reported some negative effect from a lack of tech skills, with 41% reporting that employees are leaving due to the pressures they experience as a result of understaffing. Other consequences include not being able to meet client needs (reported by 46%), reduced capacity for innovation (53%), and losing customers to competitors (60%).

Nearly all organisations expected to experience a tech skills -related challenge in 2023. More than two-thirds (69%) also said they expect to experience a skills gap in the year ahead. According to the data, the top skills challenge for African organisations is attracting skilled new recruits, although in South Africa the retention of skilled employees narrowly edged out attracting skills as the top challenge.

Co-creating a new world of work

In response to the ongoing tech skills challenges, organisations are taking bold steps to ensure they have access to the correct tech skills. Forty-one percent said that upskilling of existing employees would be a top priority in 2023, while 40% said the same about reskilling employees.

“Companies are also adopting technology tools and flexible work practices to ensure they can attract, retain and mobilise the correct mix of tech skills,” says Smith. “Seven in ten organisations currently use a human capital management or employee experience tool, while nearly half (45%) of companies were open to remote work, although most want employees to be in the office at least some of the time. This new workplace dynamic will require leaders to co-create new models for work, with constant collaboration with employees to ensure alignment with company objectives and culture.”

The ‘Africa’s Tech Skills Scarcity Revealed‘ report further found that the most in-demand skills include cybersecurity and data analytics (63%), developer and industry skills (49%), and digital transformation skills (48%). More than two-thirds (69%) cited technical skills as an important attribute when recruiting, while 66% said industry-specific skills were important to them.

Change management gap persists

The change management skills so essential to successful digital transformation were not highly prized among the companies surveyed, revealing an opportunity for smarter investment in specific skills to improve the outcomes of initiatives. Only 18% of companies cited change management as an in-demand skill.

“Studies have shown that fewer than a third of digital transformation projects succeed, partly due to the fact that only 34% of change management projects are clear successes,” says Smith. “For a continent that is rapidly transforming through the accelerated adoption of digital technologies, ensuring effective change management could greatly improve outcomes and equip organisations with new capabilities to drive growth and innovation.”

Other key findings from the report include:

• Kenyan organisations are more upbeat about their skills prospects than Nigerian or South African organisations:

Only 53% of Kenyan organisations expect to experience a skills gap in the next year, compared to 80% of Nigerian companies and 73% of South African organisations.

• Kenyan organisations are more likely to expect employees to work in the office all the time:

37% of Kenyan organisations want employees in-office full-time, compared to 23% of organisations in Nigeria and only 13% of South African ones.

• The top tech skills challenge for African organisations is attracting sufficiently-skilled new recruits, except in South Africa:

Organisations in Kenya and Nigeria cite attracting skilled new recruits as their top tech skills challenge in 2023, but in South Africa the top challenge is retaining skilled tech workers.

听South African organisations place a greater premium on digital transformation skills:

Digital transformation skills were cited by 70% of South African companies as an in-demand skill, compared to only 33% of organisations in Kenya and Nigeria.

• Nigerian companies are experiencing the impact of a lack of tech skills to a greater extent:

All Nigerian companies surveyed said they’d suffered a negative impact due to a lack of tech skills, compared to 60% in Kenya and 78% in South Africa.

麻豆原创’s ‘Africa’s Tech Skills Scarcity Revealed鈥� report is now available to assist African organisations with understanding the current state of tech skills challenges. For more information and to access the full report, please visit .

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Faced with a sharp downturn in global economic growth, continued disruption to global supply chains from the pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine, and continued labour market instability, businesses will have their hands full in 2023.

However, for leaders navigating the turbulent waters ahead, it helps to keep an eye on some of the main risks lying in wait.

While there is no blueprint for how to successfully deal with the following three issues, I believe greater awareness of the task ahead may help leaders develop suitable strategies to ensure businesses and their employees can stay the course in the coming months.

In 2023, the number one task for businesses is learning to adapt to three significant forces shaping the landscape, namely:

1 Dealing with uncertainty and disruption

The challenging economic climate and ongoing uncertainty is calling for greater efficiency across markets and industries.

According to , world output growth is expected to slow to 1.9% in 2023, down from an estimated 3% in 2022. And no economy is immune: GDP growth in the US is expected to be a paltry 0.4% and only 0.2% in the EU. The outlook for developing countries is no better.

For leaders, this instability will force greater focus on keeping the business in balance. Constraints on the global supply chain will require greater investment into technologies that can increase end-to-end visibility, greater predictability and efficiency.

Leaders also need to acknowledge that there is no return to pre-pandemic conditions. Consumer habits have fundamentally changed. The way people purchase products, seek information, and engage with brands will continue to evolve. To meet these challenges, leaders need to improve their ability to deal with uncertainty and disruption.

2 Finding the perfect balance in leadership

The past few years have been especially tough on leaders. Coming to grips with the ‘new normal’ has meant a complete realignment of how to deal with customers, how to manage employees, how to enable remote and hybrid work environments, and how to deal with unprecedented change.

These challenges have taken their toll on leaders, as can be evidenced by the recent resignation of New Zealand prime minister, Jacinda Ardern. Leaders, exhausted after several years of disruption and non-stop crisis management, may experience burnout, reducing their leadership capacity and putting additional pressure on organisations trying to navigate turbulent waters.

This year, leaders will need to dig deep, balancing empathy toward employees with the increasingly pressurised requirements of running a business.

This will demand higher levels of collaboration and co-creation, with the optimal leadership approach bringing in different perspectives to build policies and processes that can ride the waves of change while driving the business forward.

However, leaders will need to extend that same empathy to themselves. Leading organisations through turbulent times requires superb fitness and high degrees of physical and mental wellbeing. Much like the pilot of an airliner needs to put on their own oxygen mask before helping passengers during an emergency, so too must leaders take care of themselves to ensure they can stay the course and lead the business through adversity.

3 Helping employees find sure footing in the new world of work

Nowhere has the disruptive effect of the past few years become more visible than in the way we work. Since 2020, nearly every business on the planet has had to radically change their workplace models to accommodate remote and hybrid work.

As pandemic pressures ease, there are growing calls for a return to full office work among businesses. Companies that have seen their cultures diluted, their teams scattered, and their office buildings standing empty will be hungry for a return to the office.

However, employees are unlikely to sacrifice the gains achieved over the past few years. Employees have seen during the lockdown periods that they can remain productive and achieve the desired outcomes outside the confines of corporate headquarters. Why sit in rush-hour traffic for hours only to get to an office to perform tasks that could just as easily be done from home?

This year, leaders will need to embrace a consultative approach and co-create the new world of work with regular input from employees. An openness to shorter workdays, a reduced work week, hybrid and remote work models will give leaders the flexibility to meet employee demands, which must to be balanced with the business’ own interests.

There is no handbook for leaders to follow in 2023 that will allow them to successfully navigate the looming challenges. Instead, successful leaders will need an approach that provides opportunities for co-creating the ideal work environment, one that can withstand the disruptive forces of change while mobilising employees behind common goals that drive the business toward success.

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The US and other developed markets are facing a more obvious foe 鈥� 鈥渢he great resignation鈥� as it has been dubbed. Post pandemic, many people are taking stock of their lives and realising that in the relentless pursuit of career success, they have lost perspective on what really matters. Hours spent behind laptops and steering wheels on long commutes have required sacrifices in other areas of their lives 鈥� family, friends, fitness, hobbies, and happiness.

The forced pause in the frenetic day to day activity created by the lockdowns gave people time to reflect and to see a different possibility for their lives. This, combined with a reality check on their own mortality, led many people to say: 鈥渋t鈥檚 not worth it鈥�. Afterall, a missed school prize-giving ceremony or a significant birthday too busy to celebrate, are moments that can not be recaptured. Throwing caution to the wind, many have simply resigned from seemingly good jobs in the pursuit of something more meaningful, leaving employers with a void they are finding difficult to fill.

In Africa, I believe the situation is different, driven mainly by our enormous unemployment rates and a significant slowdown in economic growth. While people may have shared the same reflections as their counterparts in the developed world, they simply do not have the luxury of throwing caution to the wind. A sense of security is keeping them anchored in their jobs. However, the work flexibility forced by the lockdowns, has set a new expectation amongst employees – one that is not easily reversible.

I view this as the silent war or the rise of the so-called 鈥榪uiet quitting鈥�. In many respects it is a more dangerous foe 鈥� stealthy and destructive. Employees, many exhausted by the long-term effects of the pandemic and often having given more than double the time commitment to their demanding jobs, are also saying: 鈥渋t鈥檚 not worth it鈥�. However, they are voicing this sentiment more subtly 鈥� in the reluctance to come back to the office even part time, and in the reluctance to take on more responsibility than defined by their job scope.

鈥淨uiet quitters鈥� are plodding through their day jobs and, by and large, delivering on expectations. However, they are often disengaged and disconnected from the organisation and its shared purpose. At first glance this may appear relatively harmless, but the long-term effects are disastrous for organisations and for employees.

One of the hallmarks of highly competitive businesses is the dedication of employees to perform their tasks and go above and beyond by meeting additional demands and driving innovation. Companies with a strong workplace culture rely on employees to step up at important moments and bring projects to a successful close. This drives competitiveness and growth. It is also a two-way street with employees having opportunities to shine, to take on stretch assignments, to learn and grow, to build social capital within the organisation.

History has shown us that there are no true winners in war. The only way to successfully navigate through the new normal, and find a win-win solution, is collaboratively. First, leaders need to acknowledge that there is no blueprint for success. The answers lie somewhere between the very real needs of employers and the equally real desires of employees. Success in 2023 and beyond will rely on strong leaders who encourage open dialogue, build trust, collaborate and are willing to fail fast and try again. The successful new world of work will be co-created by employers and employees. It will be one that balances productivity and innovation with enabling employees to thrive in all facets of their lives.

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But social impact requires more than just a clear sense of purpose. It requires concerted action to redirect resources and effort toward activities that hold the greatest potential for positive impact. When those actions are a central part of your day-to-day operations, the likelihood of sustained success is much greater.

An ongoing initiative by two enterprising South African 麻豆原创 employees continues to inspire me about the potential for purpose-driven employees to drive true change both in their immediate work environment and society at large.

Striking gold with local social enterprises

A few years ago, Kaunain Nurani and Mathiba Phokungoane realised they shared a common interest in making a positive social impact and started seeking ways in which to bring that purpose to life.

The two launched Procurement with Purpose, an initiative that seeks to make it easier for 麻豆原创 Africa and other organisations to purchase goods and services from social enterprises that look beyond pure profit and actively seek to address societal problems.

At its core, Procurement with Purpose brings a handpicked selection of qualifying social enterprises into the world’s largest procurement network, Ariba. It increases the visibility of the social enterprises and encourages organisations to divert some of their spend toward these social enterprises, for example for end-of-year gifts, or IT and HR services.

Not just any social enterprise can join: the initiative purposely seeks social enterprises that are aligned to our organisation鈥檚 guiding values. One social enterprise, for example, trains girls for a career in technology, which aligns to 麻豆原创’s focus on encouraging greater female participation in Africa’s digital economy.

The program has been a resounding success: all five social enterprises that currently form part of the Procurement with Purpose initiative have benefited from increased visibility and greater opportunity to supply goods and services to 麻豆原创 and other global organisations. The five-million-plus organisations that use Ariba for their procurement needs benefit from access to trusted social enterprises that can help them bring to life their own corporate impact initiatives. The intention now is to widen that base and continue to look at opportunities to find local social enterprises that can provide the daily services required to run the 麻豆原创 business. For example, all our coffee in our South African offices is now procured from 鈥淚 Love Coffee鈥� 鈥� a Cape Town based social enterprise that supports the deaf community.

This brings me to one of the biggest leadership lessons from the success of Procurement with Purpose: that motivated, purpose-driven employees can make a significant positive impact provided they work in an enabling environment, and that not every impactful initiative needs to be corporate-led.

Multiplier effect of social impact

Corporate social impact has been a growing concern for global businesses over the past decade. According to one report, the percentage of companies listed on the S&P 500 that published a corporate social responsibility report grew from only 20% in 2011 .

There’s good reason: are motivated to purchase from companies that are committed to making the world a better place, while 93% of employees believe .

In order to build a successful business that can grow its customer base and attract top talent, purpose needs to feature highly in the corporate agenda. In a Harvard Business Review study, 58% of organisations that have a clear and strong sense of purpose .

As the Procurement with Purpose initiative reveals, one of the most significant opportunities for organisations to enhance their social impact and drive true positive change is to augment their supply chains with social enterprises.

Social impact through smarter spending

In 2020, 麻豆原创 introduced the ‘5 & 5 by 25‘ concept, which formalised the company’s global commitment to direct 5% of its addressable spend to social enterprises and 5% to diverse businesses, with 2025 as the deadline.

This forms part of the company鈥檚 goal of being both an enabler 鈥� through providing the necessary technology infrastructure and strategic insight 鈥� of greater sustainability and social impact, as well as an exemplar in terms of the way 麻豆原创 itself conducts its work.

At its core is the understanding that, as a business that not only commands sizeable annual spend but also powers many of the systems that support and enable global commerce, we could make a lasting positive impact by simply changing a few of our own processes.

For example, the Ariba network is the largest procurement network in the world, facilitating $3.75-trillion in trade by 5.3 million organisations per year – more than double the commerce of Amazon, Alibaba and eBay combined.

By increasing access to and visibility of social enterprises on Ariba 鈥� as Procurement with Purpose has done 鈥� we can encourage organisations across the globe to direct some of their spend toward social enterprises to drive greater social impact.

Most importantly, when a business is clear on its purpose and consistent with how it lives up to that purpose, it empowers employees at all levels of the organisation to bring that purpose to life in their own way. And as Kaunain and Mathiba has proven, this holds immense benefits for employees, organisations, social enterprises and society at large.

The post Empowered Employees Walk the Talk on Social Impact appeared first on 麻豆原创 Africa News Center.

According to Cathy Smith, Managing Director at 麻豆原创 Africa, the cooperation project has helped unlock the immense youth talent dividend in several African countries. 鈥淎frica is one of the world鈥檚 most exciting and dynamic continents, with vast unlocked potential for innovation, digital transformation and prosperity. However, without access to the correct skills, much of this potential will remain locked away from African enterprises and undermine our global competitiveness. This makes projects such as our collaboration with GIZ and our industry players so vital to the continent鈥檚 digital transformation ambitions.鈥�

The project is part of the Special Initiative on Training and Job Creation and the develoPPP program that the Deutsche Gesellschaft f眉r Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH implements on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

The aim was to jointly create jobs for highly-qualified personnel in the African IT sector over the course of three years, from 2019 to 2022. Participants came from 16 African countries: Morocco, Nigeria, Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia, Ghana, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Mozambique, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Mali, Angola and Tanzania.

Three-year project produces huge talent dividend

Over the three-year period, a total of 621 young professionals graduated, of which more than 40% were women. 听More than 530 graduates secured employment following the training. Participants were trained as 麻豆原创 Associate Consultants and were immediately employable within the 麻豆原创 partner and customer ecosystem.

Key highlights from the partnership include:

• Nearly all (98.6%) participants have successfully graduated from the programs
• A total of 537 jobs in the digital economy were created for African youth
• A total of 24 classes – or cohorts – were completed within the three-year timeframe.

Alp Geckalan, Head of the Digital Skills Center for EMEA South at 麻豆原创, says: “This collaboration shows how digital skills can change people’s lives and contribute to the digital transformation of countries and economies. We are thankful for the collaboration with GIZ and are proud to have been able to jointly create positive change in the lives and careers of so many talented young people.”

Graduates sing program鈥檚 praises

Since its launch in 2012, the 麻豆原创 Young Professionals Program has graduated more than 1 730 youths in Africa across 22 countries. This is nearly half of the total global graduates of the program, which is offered on the continent under the umbrella of 麻豆原创 Skills for Africa.

The 2-3 month program covers a unique enablement plan that includes 麻豆原创 software functional/technical knowledge and certification with key focus on 麻豆原创鈥檚 latest innovations as well as soft and future skills training. It targets bright graduates from universities 鈥� all of whom are unemployed or underemployed nationals of the country where the program is offered.

According to Adesola Akorede, a Nigerian graduate, the program has changed her professional and personal life. “I have been able to apply my new skills in my professional life with great results. By virtue of the program, I was able to gain employment with WYZE Consulting, and I am forever grateful for the opportunity.”

Mohamed Tahar Seddik Attia, a graduate from Algeria, says he cannot recommend the program highly enough. “This is more than just a program where you learn to use 麻豆原创 systems. It’s a place where you push your limits, discover new ways of thinking, learn essential skills in the business world and meet amazing people.”

For Ugandan graduate Lebson Nasasira, the program led to a chance at a dream job. “The program was pretty intensive and I had to learn completely new concepts that took me out of my comfort zone. However, thanks to the program, I now have a distinct advantage over my peers in terms of my knowledge, communication skills and hands-on experience with digital transformation.”

Smith adds that the development of Africa鈥檚 youthful talent pool ranks among the continent鈥檚 top priorities to ensure growth and prosperity throughout the 21^st century. 鈥淎s this hugely successful collaborative partnership has shown, public and private sector companies can combine forces to great effect to equip talented young graduates with the correct skills and make an immediate and sustained positive impact on Africa鈥檚 digital economy.鈥�

The post More than 530 Jobs created Through 麻豆原创 Collaboration to Power Africa’s Digital Economy appeared first on 麻豆原创 Africa News Center.