07042018 - Investigate your ministers
Vanguard Newspaper 07 April 2018
Vanguard Newspaper 07 April 2018
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Our youths are not t developed eloped to<br />
meet t global employment<br />
demand—OGUNMOLA<br />
Eyitayo Ogunmola is the Country Director, Utiva, a social entrepreneur, project manager with<br />
special interest in projects developments. He had worked in the United States, South Africa<br />
and had supported more than 20 projects across 4 countries, also implemented government<br />
institutional strengthening programmes, international development frameworks, TVET and<br />
tech projects.<br />
In this interview with Nosike Moses, he said how Utiva is connected to youth community,<br />
helping young people in our tertiary institutions to transit from school to jobs. Excepts:<br />
What is the mission of Utiva in Nigerian<br />
economic environment?<br />
Honestly, this is an exciting time to work in<br />
Nigeria and also a good time to be part of the<br />
social impact investing community. If you are<br />
not part of the change, you may need to be<br />
changed. We are connected to the youth<br />
community, and our work is to help young<br />
people in our tertiary institutions transition<br />
from school to jobs. If you think about the<br />
number of students in Nigerian tertiary<br />
institutions today and the rate of graduation,<br />
you’d understand why we do what we do. If<br />
you look at the numbers, you’d be amazed.<br />
The first problem we are solving is the<br />
disconnect between the tertiary institutions and<br />
the job market. I was a part of a research in<br />
2016 on the future of work in Sub-Saharan<br />
Africa, and there is a component of the research<br />
outcome that is quite amazing: 96% of Nigeria<br />
educational institutions believe they prepare<br />
students for work, yet only 9% of Nigeria<br />
business leaders say today’s college graduates<br />
are prepared for work. So, our work is quite<br />
focused on redeveloping the students for the<br />
job market. We are so connected to the job<br />
market and we also understand what the needs<br />
are. We currently have 20 leading entrepreneurs<br />
and HR managers on our practice leadership<br />
and a faculty of about 60 people who are HR<br />
managers, professionals, entrepreneurs etc. So,<br />
our core is to develop young people for jobs.<br />
We have a 1 year and 4 months learning<br />
pedagogy and approach. All focused on one<br />
thing; which is to rebuild the competence of<br />
these young people for the future of work. And<br />
our approach is to help our students acquire<br />
the top 8 skills that employers globally want<br />
to recruit for.<br />
As the Country Director of Utiva, how do<br />
you see Nigerian business climate?<br />
To be honest, this is a harsh environment.<br />
Those operating in this climate can attest to it.<br />
But to be less emotional about this, I also think<br />
the Ease of Doing Business ranking says it all.<br />
We are ranked 145th of 190 participating<br />
countries in the world. So, you know how we<br />
are ranked globally. In Sub-Saharan Africa,<br />
we are number 21 of 48. And Rwanda is second,<br />
Kenya is third and<br />
South Africa is 5th.<br />
So, to be modest, we<br />
are an emerging<br />
economy with some<br />
basic things to figure<br />
out. One of the<br />
challenges is access to<br />
talent in Nigeria. Of<br />
course, there are other<br />
factors like<br />
inconsistent policies,<br />
access to electricity<br />
and bad roads. Yet, I<br />
like to think that<br />
business is about 3<br />
fundamentals:<br />
Product, People, and<br />
Processes. Most<br />
entrepreneurs have<br />
good products and<br />
processes, but access<br />
to good people is quite a challenge.<br />
There is human capital shortage in<br />
Nigeria. You think I am wrong? Talk<br />
to Human Resource managers. And<br />
that is what I care so much about.<br />
How do we help more young people<br />
become competent for the job market.<br />
Is education in Nigeria today truly<br />
an all round development for<br />
Nigerians?<br />
Let’s say a few things at this point.<br />
It’s also important to see education a<br />
bit differently from academics or<br />
schooling! When you go to school to<br />
study Chemistry, you are in school for<br />
the academics. But when you develop<br />
<strong>your</strong> character, leadership, morals,<br />
ability to work with others, ability to<br />
debate, think critically and analyse<br />
social situations etc, you are in<br />
education. So, education is<br />
developing <strong>your</strong> innate capacity to<br />
solve social and societal challenges.<br />
Now, the reality here is the Nigerian<br />
educational system doesn’t develop<br />
us for that space. We did a little study<br />
among 1500 students and 82% agreed<br />
that their lecturers come late to class<br />
and yet do not apologise for doing so.<br />
Campari strengthens trade relation, rewards distributors<br />
Despite some factors militating business<br />
operations in Nigeria, Campari has<br />
continued to encourage its distributors with<br />
numerous awards. Last weekend witnessed<br />
the 2018 Campari Nigeria Trade Partners<br />
Award at Raddisson Blue, Ikeja where the<br />
comedy duo of Tee-A and MC Abbey spiced<br />
the event with exhilarating comic relief.<br />
Brand ambassador for Campari, Tu Baba<br />
was joined on stage by Rude Boy of the P-<br />
Square fame during his live performance.<br />
Speaking on behalf of the host company,<br />
Brian Munro to a select gathering of<br />
customers and trade partners, the<br />
Marketing Manager, Brian Munro<br />
Limited, Nkechi Nwachukwu, said that the<br />
award is an opportunity for us to celebrate<br />
our trade partners who have been loyal with<br />
our brand and did exceptional<br />
performances despite the tough economic<br />
situation witnessed last year. “We are very<br />
delighted to celebrate their success and<br />
achievement.<br />
Over twenty-five major distributors<br />
received awards for their outstanding trade<br />
efforts and loyalty. Notably among the<br />
winners are Amadi Theresa Nnedia of<br />
Verchi Stores, Ndubisi Dennis Onyeananu<br />
of Uzems Aba and Chogozie Anagwu of<br />
Chigotex royal link limited who aside the<br />
trophies presented to them also went home<br />
with the sum of 2,821,514 NGN; 3,264,080<br />
NGN and 7,596,446 NGN respectively.<br />
In his reaction, the star prize winner<br />
Chogozie Anagwu of Chigotex royal link<br />
L-R Rilwan Shofunde, Brand Mgr Campari, Pamela Zincke, Trade Marketing<br />
Mgr Campari West Africa, Ndubisi Dennis Onyeananu of Uzems Aba(winner),<br />
Amadi Theresa Nnedia of Verchi Stores (winner), Paul Wilson, MD Brian Munro<br />
Ltd, Chogozie Anagwu of Chigotex Ltd (winner), Nkechi Nwachukwu,<br />
Marketing Mgr BML and Bola Lofindipe, National Sales Mgr BML<br />
limited said that this recognition from<br />
a worthy and reliable partner like<br />
Brian Munro makes me feel on top of<br />
the world. Over the years, they have<br />
consistently inspired and provided the<br />
remarkable support required for a<br />
stronger partnership.<br />
The Brand Manager, Campari<br />
Nigeria, Rilwan Shofunde, added that<br />
our strong belief in fostering a fortified<br />
partnership with our major<br />
distributors is a continuous<br />
journey that we are committed<br />
to. The attestation made today<br />
by major distributors today<br />
further reiterates the respect and<br />
value for a worthwhile<br />
relationship with our esteemed<br />
trade partners. Campari is a<br />
smoothly blended liqueur<br />
exclusively distributed by Brian<br />
Munro Limited in Nigeria.<br />
SATURDAY Vanguard, APRIL 7, 2018—41<br />
So what do we have here? We have students graduating from<br />
schools where their tutors and role models get late to classes<br />
and meetings, and yet take no responsibility. You now know<br />
where our lack of character and attitude come from. This is<br />
just a little component of those problems. There must be an<br />
intervention. And that is what we represent.<br />
What do you think of the unemployment rate in the country<br />
today?<br />
Yes, unemployment rate in Nigeria is quite high. Depending<br />
on the figure and the source you are quoting from, though.<br />
Most of the figures out there are scary. Nigeria’s National<br />
Bureau of Statistics (NBS) pegs the unemployment rate at<br />
14.2%( 2016 last quarter). The rate increased to 18.80 percent<br />
in the third quarter of 2017 from 16.20 in the previous quarter.<br />
So, we are currently playing around 18.80%. The numbers<br />
keep rising! It’s like yeast. I like to think about this in some<br />
basic way. Do we have challenges in Nigeria that businesses<br />
need to solve? Yes. Do we have business opportunities here in<br />
Nigeria? Yes. How many Micro, Small and Medium<br />
Enterprises do we have in Nigeria? According to the Nigeria’s<br />
National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), we have about 33 million<br />
MSMEs in this country. The next question is how many young<br />
people are skilled and competent to help these businesses grow?<br />
How many small companies out there can boast of employing<br />
a young graduate with top skills to support their growth? What<br />
values does a graduate of Botany bring to the job market? We<br />
need to retrain!<br />
Do you think the average Nigerian graduate is employable?<br />
No! The answer is quite easy to jump at. Majority of young<br />
graduates in Nigeria are not employable. It’s that simple! It’s<br />
either we accept it or not. I work with students in schools and I<br />
see the gap. They are not developed for the job market. And I<br />
often debate that the reason we have the universities and<br />
polytechnics is because of the job market. Final!!! These<br />
institutions are built to help people get a life after school. It’s<br />
either you want to get a life as an employee of a value driven<br />
enterprise, or you want to create one. Unfortunately, we are<br />
training people who will fear the lecturers, memorize old text<br />
books and follow music stars on instagram. We need to get it<br />
right before 2025 otherwise we will be less competitive as a<br />
nation.<br />
We were a part of a research that engaged about 5000<br />
employers in 2016 and we discovered that employers of labor<br />
want to recruit for 8 major skills. So, our reality is that regardless<br />
of what you study in school, you must have these skills as values<br />
you are bringing to the company.<br />
What solutions would you proffer to the issue above?<br />
Whatever solution we are proposing, it must be holistic and<br />
multi-faceted. So, I will mention a few here. First, we need to<br />
reconstruct the institutions so that it has a big connect and<br />
relationship to the job market. Again, I must re-emphasise the<br />
need for the universities to communicate with the job market<br />
to understand what they want. That is one thing we have been<br />
able to figure out. Our practice leads are leading entrepreneurs<br />
and professionals in the job market. We always try to understand<br />
what they want. Second, we need to reconstruct our learning<br />
approaches and curriculum to speak to what is valuable. It’s<br />
no use teaching someone what is never going to be valuable!<br />
We need to identify the gap and train to fill those.<br />
Travelstart marks six years of operating in Nigeria<br />
T<br />
ravelstart, Africa’s leading<br />
online travel agency, marks its<br />
six years of doing business in Nigeria.<br />
The Nigerian operations which<br />
started in 2012, quickly surpassed its<br />
other established markets in<br />
Namibia and Kenya, highlighting the<br />
huge demand for a tech-based<br />
solution for travelers in Nigeria.<br />
Since launched, Travelstart has<br />
catered more than half a million<br />
Nigerians and significantly grown its<br />
extensive affiliate network.<br />
Country Manager, Travelstart<br />
Nigeria, Philip Åkesson says the<br />
company is committed to making<br />
travel easier and more affordable for Travelers across the<br />
continent. According to him, “We’re strongly focused on<br />
meeting our customers’ needs within the aspects of price,<br />
payment choices, trust and customer service.”<br />
Travelstart maintains a consistent focus on simplifying ticket<br />
purchasing process and offering customers the chance to<br />
book their flights online.<br />
“In Nigeria, the company additionally offers a walk-in<br />
service which allows customers build a human connection<br />
with the company. We recognise the importance of omnichannels<br />
and that is why we offer our customers platform<br />
flexibility depending on their comfort with technology. Our<br />
walk-in customer service further improves the trust for the<br />
brand as our agents work with customers to make their<br />
booking,” Åkesson said.<br />
According to an economic impact assessment of travel and<br />
tourism by the World Travel & Tourism Council, the total<br />
contribution of the travel and tourism industry to Nigeria’s<br />
GDP was ¦ 5,124.3bn (4.7% of GDP) in 2016 and is forecasted<br />
to rise by 4.0% pa to ¦ 7,507.7bn. The travel industry’s total<br />
contribution to employment in Nigeria, including jobs<br />
indirectly supported by the industry, was 4.5%. This is expected<br />
to rise 3.6% per annum to 2,598,000 jobs (4.2% of total) in<br />
2027.<br />
Dana Air Boss bags excellent<br />
leadership, best CEO of the year Awards<br />
THE Managing Director/Chief Executive officer of Dana Air, Jacky<br />
Hathiramani, has been conferred with the Platinum Excellence<br />
Leadership Award by the Association of Northern Nigerian Students<br />
(ANNS), in Lagos.<br />
The Meritorious Leadership Award is coming less than a week after<br />
the Dana Air boss won his 3rd Best CEO of the year award, at a<br />
colourful event organised by industry watchdog, Nigerian Aviation<br />
Awards (NIGAV).<br />
The award, according to the association, is in recognition<br />
of Hathiramani’s exceptional track record of “performance,<br />
exemplary leadership style, creative contribution to the development<br />
of the Aviation industry, promotion of youth welfare and avowed<br />
nationalistic humanitarian service and Corporate Social<br />
Responsibility of his conglomerate.”<br />
In his response, Hathiramani thanked the association for the honour<br />
bestowed on him and reiterated his commitment to working with<br />
relevant agencies and stakeholders on programmes that will improve<br />
the Aviation industry and that of the travelling public. He also pledged<br />
to continue to promote the welfare of the youth.<br />
Jacky has won two CEO of the year awards in the Nigerian Aviation<br />
industry and one at the Ghana Aviation awards 2016, where he won<br />
same award for ‘’bringing to Nigerians and Ghanaians, an aviation<br />
service that combines the best elements of legacy carriers – worldclass<br />
onboard service, superior on-time performance coupled with<br />
the latest technology (online services) and operational efficiency of<br />
new age carriers, which has seen Dana Air become one of Nigeria’s<br />
leading airlines,’’ said the Ghana Aviation Award committee.