Firm urges state to leverage on market research to bridge skill gaps

Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi visits Huawei Kenya's stand at the commemoration of 60 years of Kenya's diplomacy. [Courtesy] The government has been urged to localise solutions that can help bridge skills gaps in the job market. Huawei Kenya Media Director Khadija Mohamed said many models aimed at bridging the gaps have not been effective because they are not tailored to fit the local market. Speaking at a private sector dialogue panel during the commemoration of Kenya's 60 years of diplomacy at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre KICC, Khadija said the government should leverage market research and development to find solutions for its youthful population. "All we are saying is that solutions that are working in the USA or China are not necessarily going to work here, and there the government must seek more partnerships with the private sector in localising the solutions," said Khadija. According to Khadija, the private sector has the ability to lend capital to the government in terms of skills. This can be achieved through supporting the youth to have capacity building and training that will help them to see the outside world and experience the work environment in international organisations. "For instance at Huawei, we have the ICT academy that offers training to university students who get exposure to the outside world at the end of the programme. We later guide them on how they can come up with solutions tailored for the locality's needs," said Khadija. She said Huawei's management training programme each year brings 30 students from various universities across the country who are then placed in various programmes. After the training, Khadija said the students are offered an examination and those who excel are either retained by the firm or recommended to their partners for absorption. "In our experience of implementing these two programmes, many students have mastered the theory work. But after training, they are now able to relate with real work-life while leveraging on technology to hasten the way of doing things," she said. Huawei Kenya Media Director Khadija Mohamed speaks at the private sector dialogue panel during the commemoration of Kenya's 60 years of diplomacy at KICC, Nairobi. [Courtesy] Her sentiments were echoed by Centum CEO James Mworia who said leveraging on technology to fill the existing gaps is key to increasing the number of people in employment for the government to meet its tax obligation. "The economic base of a country is the projection of its national power which is driven by the private sector. It is therefore upon the government to come up with policies that enable the private sector to expand its reach," said Mr Mworia. He said the government should not only focus on its primary products but partner with the private sector in new areas that can attract more investments while expanding markets for real economic transformation. Mworia said the government has however been getting it wrong by entering trade agreements with foreign entities without involving the private sector. "How can we sign trade agreements with other countries and leave out the private sector? what we must understand is that Kenya still has small markets to scale and we must then focus on the EU and US markets which will offer a great opportunity for us to access the global market," said Mworia. Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing'oei said the private sector dialogue presents an opportunity for the government to look ahead on how to partner with the private sector to run its global agenda. "The economy cannot grow without the expertise of the private sector. It is only through sectoral private sector networks that the government of the day leverage on to access the global market while advancing its economic diplomacy," said Sing'oei.

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