Tag: skills development

Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and Industrial Development Zones (IDZs) play a vital role in promoting economic growth, attracting investments and driving industrialisation in Africa. As the world embraces rapid technological advancements, it is crucial for SEZs and IDZs to adapt and adopt technological change to remain competitive and foster sustainable development.

Learnerships are an essential resource to future-proof your business. Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) is only effective in meeting its goals if the transformative ethos of the legislation is embraced. If B-BBEE is approached with a begrudging compliance mindset, merely ticking boxes, it will fail.

Since President Ramaphosa signed the Employment Equity Amendment Bill into law on 12 April 2023, there has been significant commentary - from positive to strongly negative - of the impact the amendments may have. Much of it has referred to Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) changes when there have in fact not been any amendments in terms of B-BBEE.

Workforce training, while essential for upskilling, can cause operational downtime which affects the company’s bottom line. However, this is easily countered with the introduction of on-demand online training. This gives workers the flexibility to attend their training sessions without impacting their work schedules.

Imagine that you’re updating your CV or LinkedIn profile. When listing your skills, would you be able to state that you are ‘proficient in the use of ChatGPT3’? This revolutionary Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool was launched in November 2022, so knowledge workers have had several months to teach themselves to use it, and to understand its many capabilities and limitations. 

Daring to dream is the greatest skill that a learnership can teach. South Africa faces a unique dilemma – we have the highest youth unemployment in the world, yet there is a shortage of skilled people to fill positions in many sectors. Businesses want workers who can hit the ground running, yet matriculants don’t have the skills or the understanding of the work environment to make the required impact.

Over the past few years, the world has seen a massive wave of digital advancement – especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The ways in which we engage with others and our work have been permanently altered. Digital innovation has become a real necessity.

Even with South Africa almost 30 years into its democracy, Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) 'Fronting Practice' is still a widespread practice that significantly undermines the creation of a more equal and prosperous South African society.

The 2022 Gen Next report reveals what feels like unprecedented chaos as an ongoing theme experienced by the youth of South Africa. Youth unemployment, a shrinking economy, load shedding, looting and lockdown restrictions are but several contentious issues the youth were dealing with when the research study was infield.

Read our exclusive cover story titled METAVERSE MIGRATION – ARE VIRTUAL SKILLS IN REALITY NEEDED? by Mic Mann, Co-founder and CEO, Africarare, as well a host of other topical management articles written by professionals, consultants and academics in the October/November 2022 edition.