Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered what he called “total support” for Africa, including in the struggle against terrorism and extremism. The speech was read out at a summit in the Black Sea resort of Sochi by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to his African counterparts…Russia’s help, often in exchange for access to raw materials, also comes with a promise that there will be no meddling in a country’s internal affairs or lessons on how to run an election. However, Russia’s military expeditions to Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have helped protect the junta leaders there, but have failed to make much progress in the fight against Islamist militants. Nonetheless, the Kremlin is trumpeting about these new-found friends, with foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova saying the conference had dashed Western hopes for Russia’s isolation. (BBC)
ESG Investing
ESG stands for environmental, social, and governance. ESG investing refers to how companies score on these responsibility metrics and standards for potential investments. Environmental criteria gauge how a company safeguards the environment. Social criteria examine how it manages relationships with employees, suppliers, customers, and communities. Governance measures a company’s leadership, executive pay, audits, internal controls, and shareholder rights.
Empowering Workforce for African Industrialization
The global economic landscape is undergoing profound shifts, marked by sustained low growth, trade fragmentation, rising fiscal deficits, and geopolitical tensions. These trends pose challenges as well as opportunities for Africa to harness its young and dynamic population to drive industrialization. Empowering the workforce through education, policy reforms, and international cooperation is critical for transforming these challenges into engines of sustainable economic growth.
Global Economic Trends and Their Impact on Africa
The global economy is currently in a phase of sustained low growth, with real GDP growth rates stagnating. Data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF, 2024) reveals that advanced economies are slowing, and the effects ripple across developing nations. De-globalization and trade fragmentation have compounded these issues, reducing the effectiveness of trade as an engine of economic growth.
In Africa, these global dynamics are magnified by local structural challenges. The African Transformation Index 2023, an essential measure of economic restructuring, highlights improvements in productivity across key sectors, particularly manufacturing and construction. However, disparities persist, with agriculture lagging in productivity despite its significant role in employment. Addressing these sectoral imbalances is key to ensuring equitable and sustainable growth.
Productivity and the Potential of Africa’s Workforce
Productivity trends in Africa show promise but also underline the need for focused interventions. Data from the African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET, 2023) indicates that although manufacturing and construction sectors have experienced notable productivity increases, experiences a decrease after 2012. Agriculture and services also require targeted development strategies. These disparities limit Africa’s ability to fully capitalize on its demographic dividend—a phenomenon where a youthful population drives economic growth.
East and Southeast Asia offer valuable lessons for Africa. Between 1970 and the early 2000s, up to one-third of these regions’ economic growth was driven by their demographic dividend. Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, China’s population has grown steadily, the population quality has improved significantly, and people’s life has achieved a leap forward. This success stemmed from investments in education, healthcare, and economic reforms, which enabled a young, healthy, and skilled workforce to enter industries that significantly boosted productivity. Africa, with its similar demographic profile, has the potential to replicate this success if it prioritizes workforce empowerment.
Key Stakeholders in Workforce Empowerment
The successful empowerment of Africa’s workforce requires a collaborative approach involving education systems, governments, and industries. Education plays a central role in this process, as it equips individuals with the skills needed for evolving economic demands. For example, vocational training programs such as the Luban Workshops, supported by China-Africa cooperation, have emerged as effective models for linking education with employment. These programs train African youth in technical skills directly aligned with industry needs, fostering a workforce capable of contributing to both local and global economies.
Governments also have a critical role to play in creating a conducive environment for job creation. Policies that encourage local entrepreneurship and attract foreign direct investment (FDI) are essential. By prioritizing emerging industries and fostering innovation, governments can stimulate sectors with high job-creation potential.
Industries, as the end users of workforce capabilities, are suggested to align their operations with broader development goals. Establishing industrial hubs and integrating small and medium enterprises (SMEs) into larger value chains can create sustainable employment opportunities. Industries are also advised to collaborate with educational institutions to ensure that training programs produce job-ready graduates.
International Cooperation: Experiences from China-Africa Collaboration
Under the guidance of the principles of China’s Africa policy-sincerity, real results, affinity, and good faith which was outlined by Chinese President Xi Jinping, China-Africa practical cooperation has achieved fruitful results. China-Africa cooperation offers a blueprint for enhancing workforce development through international partnerships. Traditionally focused on investment and trade, this collaboration has evolved to include capacity-building initiatives.
One notable example is the shift from simply offering jobs to talent development. Luban Workshops and other vocational training programs help African countries to teach young people practical, industry-relevant skills. This approach not only addresses the immediate needs of industries but also equips individuals with lifelong skills, ensuring long-term employability.
Moreover, these partnerships emphasize industrial transformation. By introducing advanced technologies and management practices, Chinese enterprises are helping African industries transition from low-productivity activities to higher-value operations. This transformation is particularly evident in sectors like manufacturing, where technology transfer has significantly boosted productivity.
A skilled and adaptable workforce is essential for overcoming the challenges of low economic growth and geopolitical uncertainty. As demonstrated by the China-Africa partnership, capacity-building initiatives can yield mutual benefits, equipping African workers with the skills needed to thrive in a rapidly changing global economy.
Policy Suggestions for Workforce Empowerment
The Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) which was successfully held this September not only draws up a new blueprint for China-Africa cooperation, but also injects strong impetus into the modernization of the Global South. To fully realize the potential of its workforce, I suggest Africa to adopt a multi-faceted strategy, including leveraging its demographic dividend, expanding vocational training programs, and fostering innovation and entrepreneurship. Education systems should emphasize STEM fields and technical training to produce graduates with skills aligned to industrial needs. Strengthening collaborations between academia and industry is also crucial for bridging the gap between education and employment.
Urban planning is suggested to incorporate industrial strategies to ensure that urbanization translates into job creation. This involves in developing industrial parks and clusters within cities to provide employment opportunities for urban populations. Governments are advised to further support workforce empowerment by offering incentives for businesses that invest in skill development and job creation.
To summarize, empowering Africa’s workforce is not merely a response to current challenges but a proactive strategy for driving industrialization and economic transformation. By learning experiences from Asia, leveraging international partnerships, and fostering collaboration among key stakeholders, Africa can turn its demographic potential into a powerful engine of growth.
In an era of uncertainty, workforce empowerment stands out as a definitive priority. Africa’s young population represents its greatest asset, and investing in their development will unlock unprecedented opportunities for industrial and economic success. By prioritizing education, policy reforms, and international collaboration, Africa can build a workforce that not only meets the demands of today but also shapes the industries of tomorrow.
We look forward to China and Africa jointly implementing the outcomes of the FOCAC Beijing Summit, further empowering workforce for African industrialization, and working together to build an all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era.
Jinjie Wang is Research Assistant Professor, Deputy Secretary-General of National School of Development, Institute of South-South Cooperation and Development, Center for African Studies, Peking University
Communicating effectively
More often than not, managers and business owners do not communicate effectively with their workers. It’s important that communication with staff doesn’t only occur around negative instances but positive achievements need to be communicated as well.
Communication and feedback is the key to a successful working environment, and helps to engage staff and reduce turnover because people learn, opportunities are created for professional and personal development, it boosts morale and loyalty and it provides insights into how your business is running.
We often make mistakes in the way we communicate with staff and such mistakes include but are not limited to:
- Only ever giving negative or redirecting feedback.
- Sandwiching negative feedback in between two positive feedback messages – the person will only hear the good.
- Storing up 12 months of feedback and dumping this on employees in one meeting.
- Being insincere when giving positive feedback.
- Not being direct enough or honest enough – fluffing around the issues.
- Yelling, screaming or getting emotional.
- Communicating in an inappropriate forum – for example email, publicly, hallway conversations.
- Making it personal – it’s not about you, so focus on the receiver.
- Being unprepared and trying to ‘wing it’.
Try these effective communication techniques instead:
- Be balanced – provide positive and negative feedback when it’s due.
- Be direct and honest – provide truthful feedback.
- Be timely in your feedback and communication as it happens – don’t put it off.
- Have a script so you can practice and prepare what you’re going to say – be specific and use examples.
- Be prepared and don’t match behaviour – you’re the manager and you need to display a calm approach.
- Always communicate face-to-face – so much is lost in translation when you shoot off emails.
- As a general rule – praise in public and criticise in private.
- Focus on the facts – have all the right information and evidence if possible, and use examples.
Below follow examples, guidelines and tools to communicate effectively around specific issues:
- Constant lateness
An employee is constantly late to work. You’ve spoken to them informally, but now you want to speak to them in a more formal setting. To solve the problem, you should organise a meeting with your employee, go through the actual dates and times they were late – be specific, ask them if there’s a reason why they’re continually late – listen and give them a chance to speak, document the conversation to place in their file, give them a copy and ask them to agree to try to be on time in future.
- A job well done
An employee has completed a major project and you want to give them positive reinforcing feedback. To give great feedback, you should organise a meeting with your employee, gather all the information about the project, be generous and specific with feedback, explain how their contribution has benefited the business, be prepared and be sincere – practice if you need to.
- Dealing with redundancy
You’ve had a downturn in work and need to make an employee redundant. To best support the employee, you should organise a meeting with your employee, prepare a formal letter to help structure the conversation, be prepared for the employee’s adverse reaction, listen to the employee if they want to vent or voice how they’re feeling, don’t avoid the situation if they get emotional, be professional – don’t promise things you cannot commit to.
- Staff not working well together
Your team are having issues communicating with each other. You need to get them together to outline your expectations about how you want them to work together. To deal with this issue, you should organise a meeting for the whole team, ask the team to voice their frustrations in a constructive manner, document team responses and try and come up with fixes or recommendations, get the team to agree on an action plan, act as a facilitator for the session, but don’t take over or railroad outcomes, document the outcomes in your action plan – and make it happen.
Try and implement the above suggestions and you will experience how effective communication helps in dealing with issues that bother you. Prepare for conversations well, explain the issue as clear and objective as you can, listen with the intention to understand and finish with clear follow up steps.
Ton Haverkort
Source and further reading: BusinessVictoria
