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According to Kanka-Malik Natchaba, the Head of Togo&#8217;s Presidential Delivery Unit, Togo&#8217;s National Development Plan will bring economic transformation through industrialisation, value addition and social inclusion. CNBC Africa&#8217;s Christy Cole caught up with him on the side-lines of the Togo-EU Economic forum for a progress report on the National Development Plan.

Togo’s plan for economic transformation

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Jyrki Katainen, the Vice President at the European Union Commission for Jobs, Growth, Investment, and competitiveness says one of the main pillars of the European Union&#8217;s External Investment Plan is to mobilise investment by de-risking private sector lending in high-risk sectors and countries. CNBC Africa&#8217;s Christy Cole caught up with him on the side-lines of the Togo-EU Economic forum and he shed more light on the EU&#8217;s commitment to Africa.

Assessing the EU’s plan to boost investment in Africa

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The European Union and Togo are linked by history and united by common desire says Faure Gnassingbe the President of Togo. In a speech kicking off the ongoing Togo-European Economic Forum, he spoke about the ways African countries can develop sustainably.

Maiden Togo-EU economic forum begins in Lome

By <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/j-t-odonnell/">J.T. O’Donnell*</a> 



With over 500 million profiles and counting, LinkedIn is currently the largest online professional networking website. An <a class="" href="https://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/outside-voices-careers/articles/2017-05-05/how-headhunters-use-linkedin-to-find-talented-candidates">estimated 95 percent of recruiters use LinkedIn to find candidates</a>, so a strong profile is a must-have if you’re looking to add more <a class="" href="https://www.workitdaily.com/whats-an-interview-bucket-list/">job interviews to your 2019 bucket list</a>.



Over the past few years, job seekers have grown increasingly sophisticated in their efforts to land a dream job. Instead of being at the mercy of job boards and reading through hundreds of boring descriptions, smart job seekers are identifying employers that match a very specific&nbsp;<a href="https://youtu.be/wj-TckhdbrU" class="">set of criteria</a>&nbsp;that perfectly aligns with their interests.



Luckily, this has been easier to do thanks to a new LinkedIn feature, which is going to be every job seeker’s secret weapon.The new hastagging tool



Just recently, LinkedIn has quietly been rolling out “LinkedIn Hashtags,” a new feature that allows users to add relevant hashtags to the content they post. This may seem like no big deal, especially because Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and even Youtube have that very same feature. But in today’s world of transparency, employers are starting to realize that posting content about what it’s like to work at their companies is an effective technique for attracting the top talent.1:36‘Bar Rescue’s’ Jon Taffer: How to nail a job interview



Hashtagging content on LinkedIn also allows job seekers to find their dream employers much faster.



READ: <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/02/this-1-new-linkedin-feature-can-help-you-find-your-dream-job.html">These 7 top-rated apps will make you smarter, calmer and healthier in 2019</a>



Let’s say you’re looking for a company that will allow you to bring your dog to work. Instead of Googling “dog-friendly workplaces” (where you’ll mostly find companies that have only been written about), you can search for perks like ”#dogfriendly” or ”#freelunch” in LinkedIn’s content feed and find ones you wouldn’t have otherwise known existed.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://fm-static.cnbc.com/awsmedia/chart/2019/0/2/LinkedIn%202.1546457908801.jpg" alt=""/></figure>



(Image via LinkedIn)



What’s important to note about this technique is that it allows you to look beyond the traditional factors like salary and healthcare benefits. After all, job seekers today — millennials, especially — have expressed that&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gallup.com/workplace/236477/millennials-work-life.aspx" class="">there is more to a dream job than a big paycheck</a>.How to best optimize your search



To get the most out of&nbsp;<a href="https://youtu.be/wj-TckhdbrU" class="">LinkedIn Hashtags</a>, there are a few things to keep in mind.



First, understand that it’s a relatively new feature that companies are just starting to utilize, so be patient. The search results will get more robust over time. Second, don’t use too many hashtags at once. Narrow them down to two or three tops. Lastly, try creating a set of searches that you can do consistently. Running the searches a few times each week will give you fresh content to look at.



Finding your dream employer <a class="" href="https://youtu.be/-1umUFfIicY">requires a very proactive approach</a>. It’s not going to fall into your lap overnight! Luckily, LinkedIn’s new tool can make it easier for you to be much more strategic in your 2019 job hunt.



*This article first appeared on CNBC: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/02/this-1-new-linkedin-feature-can-help-you-find-your-dream-job.html and is republished with its permission

Searching for your dream job? This new LinkedIn tool could help you find it in 2019

<figure><img decoding="async" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240075/original/file-20181010-72121-1cn15os.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="File 20181010 72121 1cn15os.jpg?ixlib=rb 1.1" /><figcaption>A significant number of South Africans can’t find jobs and scrounge for a living on the sidelines of the economy. 
Shutterstock</figcaption></figure>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/alan-hirsch-170889">By Alan Hirsch</a>, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-cape-town-691">University of Cape Town</a>
Nearly a week has passed since South Africa’s <a href="http://jobssummit.co.za/">2018 jobs summit</a>. The two-day gathering produced some useful agreements between the social partners: government, organised labour and business (essentially, big business).
This was the fourth jobs summit in 20 years. The frequency of attempts to find a solution to the country’s unemployment problems isn’t surprising given that South Africa has one of the <a href="https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2018-09-03-more-adults-not-working-than-working-in-south-africa/">highest jobless rates</a> in the world. The unemployment rate has increased from under 22% in 2008 to the current rate of <a href="https://ewn.co.za/2018/07/31/sa-unemployment-rate-rises-to-27-2-in-q2">27.2%</a>.
But the record on delivering results has been mixed, to say the least.
The <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/1998-05-29-threats-to-job-summit">first jobs summit</a> in the post 1994 era was held in 1998 when Nelson Mandela’s presidency was nearing its end and amid a developing country debt crisis. It achieved very little. The next one – <a href="http://www.polity.org.za/article/mbeki-growth-and-development-summit-07062003-2003-06-07">the 2003 Growth and Development Summit</a> – achieved significant agreements. But these were poorly monitored and implemented.
Six years later in 2009 social partners agreed on a <a href="https://pmg.org.za/committee-meeting/10717/">framework</a> to respond to the global financial crisis. In spite of the measures introduced by agreements reached at the gathering, South Africa <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09765239.2014.11884980">lost</a> nearly a million jobs.
Undoubtedly the outcome of the recent summit is positive. Job-saving elements of the 2009 agreement have been revived. There are forward-looking commitments such as finance for the black industrialist scheme and a focus on the export of manufactured products. There are initiatives for small business support, technical training and a mechanism for the absorption of <a href="http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/print-version/jobs-summit-2018-10-04">graduates into the economy</a>.
But perhaps the most important outcome was that a Presidential jobs council will be established to <a href="https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_documents/Jobs_Summit_FrameWork_Agreement.pdf">monitor progress</a>.
As welcome as these developments are, the agreement doesn’t explicitly acknowledge that there might be some fundamental issues in the approach to development and job creation in South Africa. In a <a href="http://www.effective-states.org/wp-content/uploads/working_papers/final-pdfs/esid_wp_105_hirsch_levy.pdf">paper just published</a> Brian Levy and I identify what these might be.
We argue that the <a href="http://www.effective-states.org/wp-content/uploads/working_papers/final-pdfs/esid_wp_105_hirsch_levy.pdf">implicit social compact</a> of the 1990s laid a poor foundation for job creating growth in South Africa. Our view is that unless South Africa revisits the implicit and explicit deals struck at that time, the chances of making serious inroads into unemployment are remote.
But is South Africa in the kind of crisis as Mauritius was in 1968 and Ireland in 1988, where key social players were forced to review the social compact and work together towards a coherent developmental model? And do the social partners have strong enough leaders to arrive at suitable agreements?
These are the questions excitingly raised by the outcome of jobs summit, and should, in our view, be the preoccupation of the President’s jobs council.
<h2>The 1990s compact</h2>
An elite bargain over the country’s economic framework formed an essential part of the foundation for a democratic South Africa. The context of the bargaining process included the capitulation of the communist block, economic stagnation in most African countries, and a relentless campaign by the white South African business community for government not to intervene in the economic framework.
There was the threat of flight of capital and white citizens who were virtually monopoly owners of wealth and key economic skills and networks. What emerged was an apparently strong commitment to market-opening reforms.
The result is well known. The economic policies emphasised what was then called “getting the prices right and what we call &#8220;disciplining reforms”. This included: trade and financial liberalisation, fiscal restraint, tougher competition laws and a conservative mandate for the central bank.
Conversely, policies lacked on the side of interventionist mechanisms that were effective in some more successful developing countries. These included support for industrial innovation, cluster development and industrial policy which would have encouraged domestic investment in job creating growth.
Policy choices weren’t the only problem. Key players in the economy were pursuing new agendas as their options had broadened with the end of South Africa’s economic isolation and the repression of apartheid.
<a href="https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/3350068/aghion_southafrica.pdf?sequence=2">South African corporations</a> were focused on narrowing their South African operations and spreading their activities and assets abroad. While they cast off some non-core assets, the corporations remain extraordinarily powerful.
At the same time, the trade unions used their bargaining power with government to strengthen worker rights. All labour laws had to go through the newly formed National Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC) and could not go through until all parties were happy. The result was that big business, which always dominated the business delegation, agreed to labour laws that they could manage with their sophisticated human resource departments and because of the choices they could exercise. However, these laws were not all easy to implement for small and medium companies.
In addition, the reformed industrial training system was poorly designed which set back industrial training for many years.
The market opening reforms combined with the labour reforms achieved very little in the way of supporting dynamic investment and innovation. So, the elite pact that emerged reflected what powerful stakeholders were prepared to agree too – not a coherent package derived from carefully thought out trade-offs.
Compared with outcomes of more successful social pacts like Mauritius in the late 1960s and Ireland in the late 1980s, South Africa’s social compact failed. And over time commitment to the elements of the compact waned.
<h2>In a different world</h2>
In a different world, perhaps, had South African elites agreed on a clear developmental model and had they strived for suitable strategies, the outcome might have been very different. There would have been a much stronger emphasis on the more interventionist kinds of supportive industrial policies.
It’s not too late. More recently, industrial policy has formed part of the approach of government as seen in major initiatives in several sectors.
Informed analysts in South Africa are now asking “Where is growth going to come from?” Skilled people are streaming out the country as they did in Mauritius in the 1960s and in Ireland in the 1980s. Could it be that this is the moment for a coherent, developmental social compact?<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/104591/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/alan-hirsch-170889">Alan Hirsch</a>, Professor and Director of The Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-cape-town-691">University of Cape Town</a>
This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africa-wont-create-jobs-unless-it-settles-on-a-new-social-compact-104591">original article</a>.

What South Africa needs to do to create jobs

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The Gartner Symposium and IT expo Africa is driving digital transformation and shaping the future of IT and business. The event hosts more than 25 African and global solution providers to uncover new ways to approach digital challenges. Joining CNBC Africa for more is Vice-President of Research and Chairman of the Gartner Symposium, Brian Burke.

Quantum computing will be a game changer for industries in the next few years, here’s why

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Artificial Intelligence has the potential to double South Africa&#8217;s economic growth according to Accenture analytics. According to research businesses that operate in sectors such as manufacturing through to agriculture will benefit the most from adopting Artificial Intelligence. Joining CNBC Africa for more is Hans Zachar, Managing Director, Accenture.

Understanding the impact of artificial intelligence on SA businesses, jobs

Justina Crabtree
Source: <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/18/ethiopian-airlines-flies-to-eritrea-buys-stake-in-eritrean-airlines.html">Ethiopia has resumed flying to the &#8216;North Korea of Africa&#8217; after a 20-year break</a>
<ul>
<li>Ethiopia&#8217;s national carrier is to start flying to its neighboring reclusive state of Eritrea as relations rapidly warm between the two countries after decades at loggerheads.</li>
<li>The transport link provided by Ethiopian Airlines helps landlocked Ethiopia pursue its goal of becoming a regional manufacturing hub as it attempts to grow its economy and provide jobs for a large, young population.</li>
<li>Eritrea is known as one of the most secretive — and least developed — countries in the world.</li>
</ul>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cdn.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/18190231/105336424-1531894657173gettyimages-150420592.1910x1000.jpg" alt="" height="1000" width="1910" data-licensor-name="Jenny Vaughan | AFP | Getty Images"/>
Flag carrier Ethiopian Airlines is to resume flights to the reclusive East African state of Eritrea on Wednesday, marking the end of a 20-year hiatus.
Ethiopian Airlines will also buy a 20 percent stake in Eritrean Airlines, according to a tweet Tuesday by Ahmed Shide, Ethiopia’s communication minister.
The newly-resumed transport links are the latest step in speedy 
rapprochement 
 between the two former foes in the Horn of Africa region. Earlier this month, Ethiopia and Eritrea declared an end to the state of war that had existed between them since 1998.
The Eritrean embassy in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa was re-opened Monday, following a visit over the weekend by Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki, who was received by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. The weekend prior, Abiy was in the Eritrean capital of Asmara.
Abiy, 41, has spearheaded swift reforms since taking power in April, following a 
political crisis 
 in which his predecessor resigned amid mass anti-government protests. Abiy ended the Ethiopian government’s self-imposed state of emergency 
two months early 
 and has opened up sectors of the heavily state-controlled economy to private investment.
Ethiopia is positing itself as a regional manufacturing and export hub, achieved through its 
China-style, state-led development model 
. The country has seen double-digit economic growth as recently as 2017, although approximately one-third of its inhabitants live below the poverty line.
Eritrea, meanwhile, is known as one of the most secretive — and least developed — countries in the world.
Now that flights have resumed, Ethiopian and Eritrean passport holders will be able to travel between the two countries and &#8220;be granted a visa by the respective authorities on arrival,&#8221; Fitsum Arega, Abiy&#8217;s chief of staff, tweeted last week.
“The perception that Ethiopia offers more substantial economic opportunities could lead to substantial migration (by Eritreans),” Pat Thaker, editorial director for the Middle East and North Africa at analysis firm Economist Intelligence Unit, told CNBC.
But Ethiopia, the second most populous nation in Africa, is not exactly an economic paradise, with an unemployment rate of over 17 percent, according to the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) estimate for 2012. Over 60 percent of Ethiopians are under 24.
“Comparisons with Asia’s manufacturing-led boom are, at least as yet, premature,” said a note by Capital Economics in May.
Ethiopia’s manufacturing sector accounted for just 4 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) in 2015, comparable to Ghana and less than that of Kenya or Nigeria, the note said. This leaves it well behind emerging Asian tigers such as Thailand and Vietnam.
In addition, “There is a clear risk that an influx of large numbers of relatively poorly-skilled Eritreans could cause tensions by increasing competition for jobs in sectors such as construction or tourism,” Thaker said.
Eritrea borders the Red Sea and presents Ethiopia with the opportunity to diversify its access to ports, which it has been developing across the East Africa region.
The secretive nation is a former province of Ethiopia, seceding in 1993. Border tensions between the two countries flared up between 1998 and 2000 and had remained unresolved until this month.
Providing a new travel option for Eritreans could also impact the European migrant crisis. Eritreans form one of the largest groups of people crossing the Mediterranean Sea.
But it is Isaias’ potential to reform Eritrea that holds the greatest sway over this pattern, said John Ashbourne of consultancy Capital Economics.
“The country has been referred to as the North Korea of Africa, so a lot would have to change before people there saw a brighter future elsewhere,” he told CNBC via email.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cdn.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/18190235/105336429-1531894844890gettyimages-998533488.1910x1000.jpg" alt="" height="1000" width="1910" data-licensor-name="Stringer | AFP | Getty Images"/>

Ethiopia has resumed flying to the ‘North Korea of Africa’ after a 20-year break

South African precious metals producer Sibanye-Stillwater confirmed on Wednesday that it had laid off more than 2,000 gold miners as it shuts its loss-making Cooke shafts where illegal mining syndicates have plagued its operations.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft wp-image-44345 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/mining_sibanye.jpg" alt="South Africa's Sibanye Gold bids $294 mln for Aquarius Platinum" width="450" height="272" />
Layoffs are a thorny political and social issue in South Africa, where the jobless rate is close to 28 percent and labour groups including the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) are allies of the ruling African National Congress (ANC).
The NUM, which plans to hold a rally on Wednesday to protest the job cuts, announced the retrenchments on Tuesday.
“Unfortunately it was not possible to define realistic arrangements to operate Cooke 1,2 and 3 on a profitable basis,” Sibanye said in a statement.
Sibanye has said it aims to not produce unprofitable ounces and that it expects a loss this year of at least 4.6 billion rand ($325 million) compared with attributable earnings of 3.7 billion rand last year due to of impairments and restructuring.
The company initially said that 2,025 workers would be laid off at Cooke while 1,350 elected voluntary separation packages. A spokesman later said around 165 of the job cuts were at its Beatrix West mine. The company has almost 59,000 employees.
The miner said it would keep Beatrix West running and that it would “remain in operation for as long as it makes a profit, on average, over any continuous period of three months.”
It had previously shelved plans to cut jobs at some of its platinum mines and said on Wednesday that transfers and other measures enabled it to preserve 3,282 jobs.
Sibanye said three months ago that layoffs were in the pipeline as it embarked on restructuring talks, mandated by law, with unions and the government.
The Cooke operations 80 km (50 miles) west of Johannesburg have been the centre of illegal mining activities, hitting profit margins because of security costs and lost ore. The shafts also experienced a violent wildcat strike in June.
Illegal gold mining has plagued South Africa for decades, with bullion pilfered from disused and operating mines, and Sibanye has vowed to clear illegal miners from its shafts by January.
South Africa has produced over a third of the gold ever mined but the industry is in decline with shafts plunging to depths of up to 4 km and costs soaring.
According to Chamber of Mines data, the gold sector employed 116,500 miners in 2016, down 35 percent from 180,000 in 2004.
($1 = 14.1351 rand)
<div class="Attribution_attribution_o4ojT" data-reactid="56">
Editing by Kim Coghill and Jason Neely
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S.Africa’s Sibanye confirms over 2,000 layoffs at gold mines

By: Statistics South Africa
The results of the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) for the third quarter of 2017 released by Statistics South Africa today, indicate that employment grew by 92 000 in Q3:2017, however this was offset by an additional 33 000 job-seekers during the same period, resulting in a stable unemployment rate of 27,7%.
<div id="attachment_21569" style="width: 535px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-21569" class="wp-image-21569 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/welding__manufacturing.jpg" alt="Manufacturing key to alleviating unemployment" width="525" height="350" />South Africa&#8217;s employment grew by 92 000 in quarter three of 2017.</div>
The growth in employment was mainly driven by Finance and other business services industry which grew by 68 000, followed by Community, social and personal services (56 000) and Transport (34 000). All other industries reported employment growth quarter-to-quarter except Manufacturing, Construction and Agriculture which declined by 50 000, 30 000 and 25 000 respectively.
The official unemployment rate remained unchanged quarter-to-quarter at 27,7%, however this is still 0,6 of a percentage point higher compared to the same period last year. The largest decline in the unemployment rate was recorded in Free State (down by 2,6 percentage points), Limpopo (down by 1,7 percentage points) and Mpumalanga (down by 1,6 percentage points).
The expanded unemployment rate which includes those who wanted to work but did not look for work increased by 0,2 of a percentage point in Q3: 2017 to 36,8%.
The less educated are more likely to be unemployed. Those with education level of less than matric contribute 57,4% of the unemployed with unemployment rate of 32,6%.
The youth (aged 15-34) remain vulnerable in the labour market.  Youth (15-34 years) unemployment rate was 38,6% which is 10,9 percentage points above the national average. However, youth unemployment rate registered a decline of 0,6 of a percentage point quarter-to-quarter. Of the 10,3 million young persons aged 15-24 years, about 30% were not in employment, education or training.

Quarterly Labour Force Survey – SA employment grew by 92 000 in Q3

By: Aviwe Mtila
Job creation, which has escalated to an alarming all-time high of 27 per cent, and small business development top the list of South Africa’s spending priorities.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-10289 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/employment.jpg" alt="Job creation is driven by demand" width="1310" height="873" />
This is contained in the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS), delivered by the country’s Finance Minister, Malusi Gigaba, in Cape Town this afternoon.</div>
The MTBPS states that Cabinet approved a Mandate Paper in August to guide the spending choices of national government. It further states that this was done to strengthen alignment of the national budget, the medium-term strategic framework and the National Development Plan (NDP) during the remaining term of the current administration.
The proposed seven expenditure priorities are as follows:
<ul>
<li>Job creation and small business development</li>
<li>Youth development</li>
<li>Infrastructure expansion and maintenance</li>
<li>Land reform, smallholder farmer and agriculture development</li>
<li>Comprehensive social security, education and skills</li>
<li>An integrated plan to fight crime</li>
<li>Advancing the national interest in the Southern African Development Community, throughout Africa, and through participation in the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) bloc and the Indian Ocean Rim Association.</li>
</ul>

SA’s 27% unemployment tops spending priorities-MTBPS

Arnoux Maré | Innovative Staffing Solutions
“South Africa’s unemployment rate of 27.7% in the second quarter of 2017 is the highest since 2003. This translates into 6.18 million unemployed, a figure that can only be reduced through sustainable development, which is underpinned by quality education,” says Innovative Staffing Solutions MD, Arnoux Maré.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-120392 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/TEI-Diversity.jpg" alt="" width="1535" height="1024" />
&nbsp;
Maré says although South Africa is the second largest economy in Africa and has made significant strides over the past decade, it continues to be one of the most unequal societies globally.
Gini index estimates from the World Bank rank South Africa as the most unequal country in terms of income distribution. Statistics South Africa reports that the richest 20% of the population account for more than 65% of consumption while the bottom 20% account for less than 3%.
“This situation is exacerbated by an education system that is characterised by a high drop-out rate of high-school learners and a curriculum that does not deliver the knowledge and skills young people need to enter the job market,” he continues.
This scenario is likely to be compounded in the years ahead as the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution – characterised by fast-paced technological progress combined with other socio-economic and demographic changes – requires a different set of skills from the workforce.
Maré adds the root of unemployment is not only due to a lack of jobs, but also to a poorly educated and unskilled workforce.
“In some instances, corporate South Africa is unable to fill various positions with adequately skilled people. While there is an obvious shortage of skills in highly skilled professions such as engineering, accounting and finance, there is an even greater dearth of skills in the semi-skilled job arena.”
He proposes that one way for companies to address the skills gap is to outsource their skills requirements to an organisation such as Innovative Staffing Solutions, which handles workforce requirements on behalf of its clients.
“At Innovative Staffing Solutions, we contractually employ our clients’ staff on a permanent basis. This means we take over a client’s drivers, hospitality workers or farm workers by reinstating them as permanent ISS employees, but they continue to work for said client. In exchange, employees receive benefits they may not have received previously, while the client’s work force needs are carefully managed, such as, finding suitable staff and dealing with disciplinary issues.”
“Key to what we offer our clients is ensuring outsourced people are part of a process of continual learning and growth. We focus specifically on upskilling people working in the unskilled and semi-skilled sectors, creating opportunities for further education, on-the-job training, mentorship programmes and promotion.”
The outsourcing approach allows a business to concentrate on its core business while its outsourcing partner focuses on fulfilling the company’s workforce requirements. “Few responsibilities stretch businesses as thin as the hiring and firing process. While it may seem simple on the surface, finding the right employees can be taxing on many different levels. Getting help with these challenges not only impacts positively on the bottom line (with a saving of up to 60% on operational costs), it helps business owners to focus on the more entrepreneurial aspects of their businesses and less on the back-office daily operational matters,” says Maré.
His company keeps itself updated on scarce skills trends to help inform human resource planning and development for its clients. “We have an in-depth understanding of the employee management landscape. We keep ourselves abreast of the regulatory environment and develop solid relationships with trade unions and other relevant bodies such as the Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs).”
“This is a powerful way in which corporate South Africa – through companies such as ourselves – can help address the skills shortage. If our clients no longer require the services of the outsourced staff members, they will not find themselves out of work.  They will be placed at another client or upskilled for a different opportunity. This makes for a sustainable workforce that is assured of continued employment coupled with acquiring new, and often more relevant, skills. By moving them into new roles, opportunities are thus created for more people to enter the job market and to further benefit from improved proficiencies,” concludes Maré.

Getting to grips with the skills shortage challenge

By <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ruth-hall-263828">Ruth Hall</a>, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-the-western-cape-1018">University of the Western Cape</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/dzodzi-tsikata-365479">Dzodzi Tsikata</a>, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-ghana-1965">University of Ghana</a>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ian-scoones-117123">Ian Scoones</a>, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-sussex-1218">University of Sussex</a>

Colonialism brought large-scale farming to Africa, promising modernisation and jobs – but often dispossessing people and exploiting workers. Now, after several decades of independence, and with investor interest growing, African governments are once again promoting large plantations and estates. But the new corporate interest in African agriculture has been criticised as a “<a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03066150.2011.559005">land grab</a>”.

Small-scale farmers, on family land, are still the mainstay of African farming, producing <a href="http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/est/Investment/Agriculture_at_a_Crossroads_Global_Report_IAASTD.pdf">90% of its food</a>. Their future is increasingly uncertain as the large-scale colonial model returns. 

To make way for big farms, local people have lost their land. Promises of jobs and other benefits have been slow to materialise, if at all.

The search is on for alternatives to big plantations and estates that can bring in private investment without dispossessing local people – and preferably also support people’s livelihoods by creating jobs and strengthening local economies. 

Two possible models stand out. 

<a href="https://boydellandbrewer.com/africa-s-land-rush-pb.html">Contract farming</a> is often touted as an “inclusive business model” that links smallholders into commercial value chains. In these arrangements, smallholder farmers produce cash crops on their own land, as ‘outgrowers’, on contract to agroprocessing companies.

Then there is growth in a new class of “<a href="https://boydellandbrewer.com/africa-s-land-rush-pb.html">middle farmers</a>”. These are often educated business people and civil servants who are investing money earned elsewhere into medium-scale commercial farms which they own and operate themselves.

So what are the real choices and trade-offs between large plantations or estates; contract farming by outgrowers; or individual medium-scale commercial farmers? 

These different models formed the <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03066150.2016.1263187">focus of our three-year study</a> in <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03066150.2016.1259222">Ghana</a>, <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03066150.2016.1260555">Kenya</a> and <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03066150.2016.1276449">Zambia</a>. Evidence suggests that each model has different strengths. For policy makers, deciding which kind of farming to promote depends on what they want to achieve. 

<h2>Plantations are ‘enclaves’</h2>

Our cases confirm the characterisation of large plantations as being “enclaves” with few linkages into local economies. They buy farming inputs from far afield, usually from overseas, and in turn send their produce into global markets, bypassing local intermediaries.

Plantations are large, self-contained agribusinesses that rely on hired labour and are vertically-integrated into processing chains (often with on-farm processing). They’re usually associated with one major crop. In Africa, these started with colonial concessions, especially in major cash crops such as coffee, tea, rubber, cotton and sugarcane. Some of these later became state farms after independence while others were dismantled and land returned to local farmers. 

Many plantations do create jobs, especially if they have on-site processing. Plantations may also support local farmers if they process crops that local smallholders are already growing. For example, we found an oil palm plantation in Ghana that buys from local smallholders, giving them access to processing facilities and international value chains they would otherwise not reach. 

But, typically, plantations have limited connections into the local economy beyond the wages they pay. Where production is mechanised, they create few jobs, as we found in Zambia: the Zambeef grain estate employs few people, and most of these are migrants whose wages don’t go into the local economy. And the jobs that are created are invariably of poor quality.

The main story is that plantations take up land and yet often don’t give back to the local economy. In the cases we researched, all the plantations led to local people losing their land. For instance, the establishment and later expansion of the 10,000-hectare Zambeef estate led to forced removals of people from their cropping fields and grazing lands.

There are some benefits from plantations and estates. But, given more than a century of bad experience, it may be time to concede they seldom – if ever – live up to their promises.

<h2>Contract farming brings benefits for some</h2>

Contract farming has a <a href="http://www.fao.org/uploads/media/FAC_Working_Paper_055.pdf">long history in Africa</a>, dating back to colonial times. As with plantations, these arrangements were largely for the major cash crops, including cocoa, cotton, tobacco and sugarcane. 

Contract farmers are smallholders who enter into contracts with companies that buy and process their crops. Sometimes members of outgrowers’ households might also get jobs on larger “nucleus” estates run by the companies. Whether or not they benefit, or get mired in debt and dependence, depends entirely on the terms of these contracts. Our study looked at contract farming in Ghana’s tropical fruit export sector, in French bean production in Kenya and in sugarcane farming in Zambia. 

Contract farming has been hailed by some as the “win-win” solution, enabling commercial investment for global markets without dispossessing local farmers. Farmers farm on their own land, using their own family labour, while also accessing commercial value chains – rather than being displaced by large farms. But we found that this is not necessarily the case. Crucially, there are different kinds of arrangements that determine who benefits. 

In Kenya, <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03066150.2016.1260555">contract farmers</a> are poorer than most farmers around them. For them, farming on contract provides a crucial livelihood, especially for poor women, who cultivate French beans for the European market and combine this with seasonal jobs on big farms.

In one <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03066150.2016.1276449">Zambian</a> block scheme all outgrowers gave up their land to Illovo, a South African company that grows sugarcane. The company pays them dividends. Here, the landowners, typically the old patriarchs, benefit from cash incomes. Young people lose out: they neither inherit the land nor control the cash incomes. 

Contract farming clearly provides one effective avenue for smallholders to commercialise. It means, though, that smallholders take on both the risks and the benefits of connecting to commercial value chains. 

<h2>Medium-scale farming: a promising option</h2>

Between the large plantations and the small contract farmers is another model: medium-scale commercial farms owned by individuals or small companies. We studied areas where medium-scale farms were dominating: mango farmers in Ghana, coffee farmers in Kenya and grains farmers in Zambia. While this kind of medium-scale farming also has colonial origins, the past two decades have seen massive growth in new “middle farmers”. Many of them are male, wealthy, middle-aged or retired, often from professional positions.

The medium -scale commercial farming model has a lot to offer. We found that they create more jobs and stimulate rural economies more than either big plantations or smallholder contract farmers. Yet cumulatively, such farms may threaten to dispossess smallholders, just as the big colonial and more recent plantations and estates have done. 

The push behind the explosion of the “middle farmers” in the countries we studied has been investment by the educated and (relatively) wealthy. In <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03066150.2016.1259222">Ghana</a> in particular, we found, their expansion has displaced smallholders. Cumulatively, even modest-sized farms have led to substantial dispossession and reduced access to land. 

Their informal employment patterns mean poor working conditions and few permanent jobs. But, unlike the plantations, these farms are well connected with the local economy. Building on social networks, these “middle farmers” often buy inputs and services from local businesses. At least some of their produce is sold into local markets. 

<h2>Winners and losers</h2>

While policy choices are of course political, they can and should be informed by research about the implications of these different pathways of agricultural commercialisation. What is clear from our research is that different kinds of commercial farming will have different effects on the economy. It’s not just about efficiency. Ultimately, it’s about who wins and who loses.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/76355/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important" />

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ruth-hall-263828">Ruth Hall</a>, Professor, Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-the-western-cape-1018">University of the Western Cape</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/dzodzi-tsikata-365479">Dzodzi Tsikata</a>, Associate Professor, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-ghana-1965">University of Ghana</a>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ian-scoones-117123">Ian Scoones</a>, Professorial Fellow, Institute of Development Studies, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-sussex-1218">University of Sussex</a>

This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-pros-and-cons-of-commercial-farming-models-in-africa-76355">original article</a>.

Op-Ed: The pros and cons of commercial farming models in Africa

By Alwyn Scott | NEW YORK
GE Power, a division of General Electric Co, has signed a services deal with Algerian utility Sonelgaz SPE valued at more than $3 billion, the largest services agreement ever for GE Power and one that creates hundreds of jobs in Algeria, GE said on Monday.
Under the 20-year contract with the subsidiary of Sonelgaz, GE will train more than 1,000 workers in Algeria and create about 300 jobs through its Algerian suppliers and its own operations there, Steve Bolze, chief executive officer of GE Power, said in an interview.
The agreement builds on GE&#8217;s growing footprint in Algeria, where it has had a presence for four decades. GE Power, based in Schenectady, New York, signed a $2.7 billion deal with Sonelgaz SPE in 2013 to supply large gas turbines and related technology to nine power plants in the country.
In 2014, GE signed a $400 million agreement to build an industrial complex to produce gas and steam turbines under a joint venture with Sonelgaz called General Electric Algeria Turbines. The complex is due to come on line next year, instead of 2017 as originally planned, Bolze said. It is due to deliver its first turbine in 2019.
GE was able to expand the latest deal after its acquisition of Alstom&#8217;s power and grid businesses in 2015. &#8220;The service agreement, and digital, will cover the total plant, everything from the gas turbines to the rest of the equipment,&#8221; Bolze said.
The agreement calls for GE to provide long-term maintenance and operations services for 10 power plants in Algeria.
GE also will install gas technology upgrades that increase the plants&#8217; power output by 420 megawatts and will deploy its industrial internet software applications using its Predix operating system, GE Power&#8217;s second-largest such agreement, it said. The agreement is expected to save Sonelgaz $2 billion in gas costs over 20 years, GE said.
The agreement also positions GE for work with Sonelgaz on maintenance and operations services in other parts of Africa.
GE will use its ALGESCO joint venture with Sonelgaz to repair turbines and set up a repair center. GE will also use Sonelgaz affiliate MEI to make replacement parts for GE turbines, GE said.
(Editing by Chris Reese and Jeffrey Benkoe)

GE Power’s $3 bln deal creates hundreds of jobs in Algeria

Duncan Miriri | NAIROBI
Kenya&#8217;s KCB Group, the country&#8217;s biggest lender by assets, said it has offered employees voluntary early retirement in a bid to save 2 billion shillings ($19.36 million) each year.
KCB, which also operates in five neighbouring countries, had already said it would cut an unspecified number of jobs, mainly due to technological changes and the capping of commercial rates in Kenya last September.
Kenya has been a global pioneer in technological innovations in finance, launching the M-pesa mobile phone cash transfer system a decade ago and the first mobile phone-based bond last month.
The cost of the proposed buyouts, which are being offered in line with local laws, will take a year and a half to recover, KCB said on Thursday.
Staff have a month to apply, and the group plans to complete the exercise in the middle of June, sources at KCB told Reuters.
KCB said the cuts would help it align its staff with a banking industry that had &#8220;been dimmed by legislative and regulatory reforms&#8221;. It also said technological changes were now attracting non-traditional firms into the sector.
The government set a commercial interest rate limit of 400 basis points above the central bank rate, which stands at 10 percent. The cap, which also set a minimum deposit rate, has curbed bank earnings and private sector credit expansion.
The government argued lending rates were too high, a position opposed by banks who argued the cap could lead to credit rationing.
($1 = 103.3000 Kenyan shillings)
(Reporting by Duncan Miriri; Editing by Alexander Smith)

KCB begins job cuts to counter technology and Kenya rate cap

Jessica Wa&#8217;u | CNBC
A new report from UBS estimates that artificial intelligence (AI) technologies could create an economic value of about $1.8 trillion to $3 trillion in Asia by 2030. But that value comes at a cost, with an estimated 30 million to 50 million jobs in Asia at risk of displacement in the medium to long term.
Financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, retail and transportation, are the sectors likely to bear the brunt of job losses, according to UBS Global IT Analyst Sundeep Gantori. Speaking with CNBC&#8217;s &#8220;Street Signs,&#8221; he said jobs in traditional sectors that are predictive and routine in nature will be affected.
So in preparation for the future, he advised that job seekers target roles requiring personalization or creativity.
<blockquote>&#8220;Focus on creativity jobs&#8230; entrepreneurship jobs, arts&#8230; and maybe sports,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We have to go back to those old days where arts are valued. So maybe that&#8217;s the future.&#8221;</blockquote>
While some jobs may become irrelevant, AI will also create new categories of jobs elsewhere, Gantori said. Data scientists are expected to get a leg up in the future, with UBS describing data as the &#8220;fuel&#8221; that powers the AI engine.
The firm also recommended investing in research and development-intensive companies related to AI, such as healthcare and advanced engineering.
The report pointed to Asia being a late entrant in the AI world, lagging behind a solid ecosystem in the U.S. But expect that gap to narrow as governments put more money into data sciences and machine learning, he said. Capital flows into AI-based start-ups are also expected to increase as the relevant talent pool in Asia grows.
Gantori said, &#8220;By 2025, we think that the talent in India and China together will exceed what we&#8217;ll have in the U.S. At the same time, the region generates a lot of data, which is very handy in AI.&#8221;

How to keep a job in a world of AI? Get creative

On 10 March, the metered taxi drivers took to the streets of Johannesburg and severely impacted traffic to and from O R Tambo International Airport. They were protesting the ride-hailing app Uber which they say is ‘stealing their jobs’. They state they had exhausted all avenues in government as their appeals for the government to use force, failed; it was, therefore, time for them to take matters into their own hands and use their own force instead to prevent voluntary trade between Uber and its customers.
The government started to regulate metered taxi prices shortly after the 2010 World Cup when they imposed a fee of R15 per kilometer, and this regulation has never been repealed. Seeing an opportunity in the market, Uber moved in, and the metered taxi drivers are upset because Uber can provide a better, cheaper and more easily accessible service than they can.
While the taxi drivers are in favour of government using force against their competitors, they do not enjoy falling victim to that force. Sadly, this is the nature of government protection. Different groups will always vie for the power that government protection gives them, because then they do not have to compete so hard on an open market with others who might provide a better service. To demand that government steps in and rigs the market against one competitor is not justice, it is not fair and it is not moral. You cannot demand government protection without recognising that that same protection will restrict your job prospects as well, perhaps not immediately, but definitely in the future.
The metered taxi drivers have a legitimate concern, but they are focusing their frustration on the wrong target. Price controls always entrench one group over another – all too evident from how the government tried to control business under Apartheid socialism. The taxi drivers would be able to compete with Uber if they could charge the price they thought best. The market, made up of their passengers, would provide reliable information when what they offer is either accepted or rejected and steer them in the right direction to better their service even more. The drivers ought to be protesting the amount of power government holds over their industry and the price controls it imposes. They should not be attacking a competitor that has a right to enter the market and try its hand at running a profitable business.
Contrary to popular belief, and perhaps that of the taxi drivers, no one has a right to a job. A job is a voluntary contract into which you enter either with an employer or a customer. You fulfill your side of the agreement by providing a service in exchange for reward from the other party. No-one is compelled to provide you with a job. An employer, just like a customer, has a right to use their resources as they see fit. It is immoral to demand that they do x with their time, money and other resources, simply because you or anyone needs or demands it. This is a moral argument. To say you have a right to a job means that you are prepared to use force when you deem it necessary to force people to act in a way you want, or to give their money to you whether they wish to or not. It is claiming that your needs, whims and desires have precedence over their free will. To argue in this way will lead, one day, to you being displaced when the next powerful group succeeds in using government power to force you to make way so that they can operate without having to compete with you.
Uber drivers, just like the metered taxi drivers, are working people, trying to make a living and put food on the table for their families. Through Uber, they just happen to provide an easily-accessible, cheap service that customers voluntarily choose to use. Uber drivers are not moustache-twirling barons who reside in cigar smoke-filled rooms.
As in any industry, not just the taxi industry, government should not have so much power that one group can use it against another. The power should be in the hands of the customer who will decide which service is the better.
Author Chris Hattingh is an intern at the Free Market Foundation. The views expressed in the article are the author’s and are not necessarily shared by the members of the Free Market Foundation.

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jobs

Togo’s plan for economic transformation

Assessing the EU’s plan to boost investment in Africa

Maiden Togo-EU economic forum begins in Lome

Searching for your dream job? This new LinkedIn tool could help you find it in 2019

What South Africa needs to do to create jobs

Quantum computing will be a game changer for industries in the next few years, here’s why

Understanding the impact of artificial intelligence on SA businesses, jobs

Ethiopia has resumed flying to the ‘North Korea of Africa’ after a 20-year break

S.Africa’s Sibanye confirms over 2,000 layoffs at gold mines

Quarterly Labour Force Survey – SA employment grew by 92 000 in Q3

SA’s 27% unemployment tops spending priorities-MTBPS

Getting to grips with the skills shortage challenge

Op-Ed: The pros and cons of commercial farming models in Africa

GE Power’s $3 bln deal creates hundreds of jobs in Algeria

KCB begins job cuts to counter technology and Kenya rate cap

How to keep a job in a world of AI? Get creative

Op-Ed: S.A taxi drivers call for higher consumer prices

News Tips

Advertise With Us

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