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Gibson Nyikadzino
Correspondent
The modern world driven by innovation is in demand of outstanding people, both young and old, who can consecrate themselves through acquiring unique skills to ensure their appetite for survival and sustenance is satisfied in this era of economic competition.
With how interconnected the world has become, the movement of goods, services and people are now frequent occurrences in which available jobs in huge corporates and by exciting business start-ups are now a reserve and preserve of exceptional personnel.
This is so to increase output, perfect product quality and ensuring there are dependable and reliable experts in the workplace.
President Mnangagwa last week advised university students against having pride in acquiring academic certificates yet suffering a skills deficiency as they live in an era that is demanding skills that advance the elasticity of their minds to become problem solvers.
The domain in which the young graduates are now operating in is developing more unforgiving demands, for skills.
Attending college is therefore key, but also helpful in giving outcomes that will separate the wheat from the chaff in the job market.
Everyone has the potential to acquire an academic qualification. Being a journalist or a teacher is not a special skill, unless there are new elements one is putting like critical thinking in story interpretation for the journalist or improving the way the teacher delivers lectures for the students.
Having a qualification in journalism without skill is like a tale told in oral tradition, it remains inconsistent each time it is told anew.
Research studies that have been undertaken in Africa and Europe in the journalism field have concluded that there is a drop in the quality of news and this has been a result that the some qualified journalists have not acquired any new skills in interpreting events besides knowing the basic elements that come with the five “Ws” and an “H.” As the world is moving quickly towards big technological advancements, the level of abilities necessary to adapt are now more significant than awareness of mere talents. Because education is outcome-driven, young students should not have limited understanding of skills and abilities, for their demand in future employment are a necessity.
Why we need skills
The context in which Zimbabwe’s transformation is being modelled requires skilled personnel in all sectors. Agriculture has ceased to exist in its traditional sense but now is re- organised in the context of it being a sustainable practice.
Small-scale farmers are becoming experts in horticulture and market-gardening initiatives through Government’s plan to ensure there are projects happening to improve livelihoods at community level.
Not only are these small-scale holders having enough for subsistence, but have also found overseas markets to export surplus and generate foreign currency for the country. Grand national projects involving road construction and infrastructure development in the Manhize area or the renovation and upgrade of the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport or the Beitbridge Border Post, besides being led by contractors, have been and are being undertaken by skilled personnel from the country’s local universities.
Besides academic qualifications, the country is demanding highly skilled personnel in all sectors to have a tremendous rise in terms of development indicators and meet the targets of making Zimbabwe attain an upper-middle-income economy status by 2030.
Harnessing skills can improve lives of people because a poorly educated and unqualified people, the world over, limit their country’s capacity to produce, grow and innovate.
This is what the Second Republic is keen to avoid but determined to have the qualified people unselfishly invest their knowledge and skills to change their lives and those of others.
Low skills perpetuate poverty
and inequality!
It is in these contexts that we need to see the world from Zimbabwe’s or Africa’s vantage points and have context specific home-grown solutions.
Zimbabwe has the capacity to becoming a skills hub for the region and the continent, churning innovators that can compete globally and make own start-ups only when right minds harness right skills for right jobs.
Importance of innovation hubs
Substantial efforts have been made by Zimbabwe on measures to significantly contribute to the country becoming a hub for tech innovation into the future.
This is so because the innovation economy is proving to be a disruptor and opportunity for many people in various business sectors.
The New Dispensation birthed the initiative to have innovation hubs at universities and also have private sector businesses establish some.
Innovation hubs are the starting point of establishing long-term, strategic advisory and advocacy relationships with policy-makers.
This makes innovation hubs the thesis for the effectiveness of government’s deliberate policies in promoting and sustaining the local tech industry. As a result, many technology innovation hubs are developing impactful, locally relevant civic tech solutions to pressing commercial and social issues. As a result, a large number of technology innovation centres are creating civic technology solutions with a local focus that are effective and relevant to today’s most urgent business and societal problems.
Reflectively, little has been spoken about a Zimbabwean son of the soil named William Gwata. He is the man who invented the sadza cooking machine, the Gwatamatic, which has become useful in some institutions. But the challenge is not that little is known about him or his invention, but that his idea was not popularised and supported, back then.
With the need to protect the creations of the mind, it is important to establish that Gwata had the patent to his innovation.
What we know of Gwata today is that he has also managed to think about other ideas and innovations. There are dangers associated with having innovations that are not institutionally supported and funded. If Gwata’s innovation was supported and mass production had been done, many livelihoods would have been improved in Zimbabwe and beyond.
He would have brought foreign currency into the country. The role of Government is to provide an enabling environment and not only bankroll inventions. Businesses, likewise, should also complement the sustainability of innovation hubs by funding ideas that can generate mutual interests for the innovator and the market.
That is the essence of venture capitalism. No time for excuses
There are no people who should bank on luck to survive in this post-industrial world.
Survival is now based on how an individual or a nation want to do things better and in a unique way. Some ideas may not fit being in the technology innovation hubs, but skills such as public speaking and the ability to debate are useful.
Being unique is about how one presents their ideas and implement what they have learnt by using different skills. It is a skill to interpret events and package them as news. It is also a skill to think critically and interpret reality using various explanations.
Those who only want to go to university to get the qualification, and not use education to hone and harness new skills are either unprepared to post-university life or are not ready for to face the realities of the world. Today artificial intelligence (AI) is being touted to be a sphere that will change the future of work. Of course, it will not affect some entirely, but the wave is unstoppable hence the need for university students and those in workplaces to think critically. More so, critical thinking is a vital skill that should not be neglected by all people because it helps one to think creatively or “outside the box” and stops individuals from becoming narrow.
The biggest demand in the world today is having a triad of education, skills and the ability to think critically. If one does not possess these, they may be unlucky and miss lucrative career opportunities.
It is acknowledged that there is a lot in life that is not taught in schools. People get basic education in school, formal or informal, but life skills are harnessed by how this education is applied. Those in need of skills either shape up or ship out! No one in the job market is ready and willing to listen to excuses.
Online Reporter