29 Jul 2018

First Lady, Ms Neo Masisi has encouraged young professionals and job seekers to work on being innovative, agile and continuously seek training in various disciplines in order to have a multifaceted skill set adequate to face the challenges of the modern workforce.

Giving a keynote address at the Botswana Careers Roundtable (BCR) in Gaborone on July 27, an occasion also graced by President Mokgweetsi Masisi, the First Lady impressed on her audience the need to be dynamic in the modern working world.

Noting that unemployment is a common phenomenon across the world, with highly educated young people struggling to find gainful employment, Ms Masisi said there were several factors that presented both challenges and opportunities for the modern workforce, which require dynamism from young professionals.

She said technology had developed at a rapid rate, allowing transactions such as mobile banking, the purchase of consumer goods and immovable asserts such as property to be done online, eliminating the need for workers to be physically involved.

“We all know why technology is the future; it is fast, dependable, error-free, able to transact across the world at any time and is dependable. All these services are easily accessible to anyone and do not require many employees to transact as it was the case before. Technology is going to become more disruptive to job security in the future,” Ms Masisi said.

She thus observed that the skills set requirement for the future would be different and more dynamic as a result of the disruption technology has caused across various sectors of the job market.

Ms Masisi further noted that there had been an increased labour migration, as globalisation and socio-political factors cause people to migrate, with 64 per cent of the 260 million migrants across the world being workers.

“I am happy that Botswana has invested heavily in its people, and as a result many are highly skilled and would be sought after, but we still remain a country where few of us have taken the bold step of stepping into the international job market. I cannot overemphasise the fact that international exposure is important to anyone who seeks to be the best version of themselves,” Ms Masisi said.

The rise in young workers’ involvement in micro-entrepreneurship, which the First Lady noted was referred to by the youth as ‘side hustle’ is something to be encouraged, Ms Masisi said, since it allowed young employees to make additional funds though small enterprises or service provision outside of their formal workplace.

Ms Masisi also encouraged young professionals to take advantage of the rise of flexible study arrangements and online courses, which she said had made it easier to increase skills.

Acting chief executive officer of Stanbic Bank Botswana, Mr Samuel Minta said they had agreed to give their continued backing of the event since empowering the youth amounts to investing in the future of the country.

BCR managing director, Mr Biggie Tangane and head of strategy, Ms Caroline Modise explained that the careers roundtable was conceived as a means of providing mentorship to young professionals.

On the night, the First Lady and various corporate leaders took turns over three sessions of round table discussions with young professionals, sharing skills development ideas and providing career guidance. ENDS