11 Sep 2014

Human capital is a key driver of success and sustainability for any organisation including governments, the chief executive officer of Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority (BOCRA) has said.

Speaking at a three-day Southern African Human Capital Development and E-Learning workshop in Gaborone, Mr Thari Pheko said in view of this, all organisations needed to harness the best human talents available.

Mr Pheko, who was elated that Botswana managed to host this workshop through Botswana Fibre Networks (BoFiNet), informed delegates from SADC countries that experience taught that successful organisations were those which valued, developed, engaged, motivated, rewarded and retained their best performing human capital.

These organisations usually competed with one another to recruit the best university and business school graduates, and the most enterprising and promising talents, he said. They took care of talented employees and gave them space to exercise their creativity, he added.

He called on organisations in the region to see the need to urgently grow and enhance their human capital, noting that business trends showed that many companies in the region were expanding to take advantage of the emerging growth opportunities.

“Our region needs talented individuals who understand our cultures and societies, and yet possesses a global orientation. I see this workshop as the right forum for delegates to discuss how best our region can attract and nurture more talents among the young generations who, in turn, can create more opportunities for our enterprises and prosperity for our countries,” he said.

Mr Pheko said Botswana has made major investments in education, lifelong learning and talent development. He said the country has prioritised ICTs as an engine of growth for the economy.

He also mentioned that human resources researchers have established that human capital and talent is characterised by three general principles that human capital and talent can be nurtured. “People make consistent improvements when they are developed in a systematic and deliberate way,” he said.

The other principle shows that organisations take a broad view of human capital and talent; they recognise that domain expertise is important and organisations need specialists in fields relevant to their business, he added.

The last principle is that talented individuals must feel a sense of responsibility to the community, adding that within their own fields, they have to help nurture the next generation of outstanding achievers. Ends