Internship; The Employment Model that’s Transforming Africa’s Labour Force

There is an urgent need to address the issues with youth employment in Africa. With an uprising in internships, labor force’s recruitment and talent placement strategies are rising to global digital standards. The need to provide as many recent graduates with the opportunity to acquire digital skills has prompted organizations into offering internship employment on a rolling basis.

The future of Nigeria is hinged on the development and participation of young people. Hence, they must be equipped to become quality resources who will proffer viable and sustainable solutions to Africa’s developmental challenges. According to the World Bank, 2.4 billion added population by 2050 would join the working population and could potentially drive between 11% and 15% GDP growth on the continent.

The success of Industry 4.0 adoption at the micro- and macro-level will be greatly influenced by the workforce’s availability of the necessary skills and competencies. Additionally, the workforce’s credentials and skill level will significantly influence how innovative and competitive an organization is. In contrast, a lack of the necessary skill set will cause performance to suffer and organizations to become less competitive.

Unemployment is likely to be one of Africa’s major unresolved problems. This issue has been substantially exacerbated by elements including the skill gap between the workforce and industry standards, the prevalence of low-skilled labor, and insufficient educational attainment. A severe lack of professionals with the necessary Industry 4.0 skill set existed in Africa. This made it necessary to adopt internships in order to sooth the skills requirement of a digital economy.

While Industry 4.0 has the potential to increase unemployment through the loss of manual and repetitive jobs that can easily be automated, internship offers the prospect of opportunities for quality and productive employment, by enhancing skills development among Africans.

The growth of Africa’s digital sector has pushed organizations into reconsidering the importance attached on internships. The process is fast becoming the mainstay of acquiring professional skills necessary to function in startups and traditional businesses in Africa.

The rapid growth of technology has led to new skill requirements, which has increased the need for a rapid reaction to provide the necessary skills. The internship approach has served as a tool for easing Africa’s skills shortages. This concept offers a workplace and values capacity building program, giving interns the tools they need to add value to their organizations.

While the business sector is contributing, African education ministries may need to reevaluate their internship policies because the current ones omit important professional perspectives. Making internships a requirement for graduation from postsecondary schools is a good place for ministries to start.

In order to promote equitable development and fight poverty, the South African National Development Plan, for instance, places a high priority on job creation, school quality improvement, and skill development. The President of South Africa had noted that one of the difficulties the country has is producing jobs in his 2019 State of the Nation address. He added that by improving training in the educational system, the government hopes to respond to the changing skills needs as well as the skills needs of the future.