Social enterprise, Talents in Africa and KGL Foundation have joined forces to train 50 young people in useful skills for remote working under the Youth Employment Pathway Development Initiative (YEPDI).

The training seeks to educate young people on the relevance of the ‘gig economy’ which has enormous potential in enabling youth in Africa to rise out of poverty.

YEPDI is an employability accelerator programme being implemented by Talents in Africa with support from KGL Foundation to address the high rate of youth unemployment.

Recent estimates suggest that 600 million jobs would have to be created over the next decade to meet youth employment needs.

According to the Internship Coordinator at Talents in Africa, Alfred Amekudzi, “Young people can be prepared for successful jobs in several sectors with the aid of this accelerator programme that focuses on teaching them a wide range of consulting skills and also about the gig economy and transferable skills.”

The term “gig economy” refers to a labor market where temporary or freelance work is more common than permanent employment. As more people choose the flexibility and independence that gig labor offers. This sort of work has grown in popularity in recent years and holds the key to the future of work according to many in the development and employment sector.

However, young people may not have the same resources or expertise as older employees, making it difficult for them to navigate the gig economy.

YEPDI is seeking to bridge this gap by assisting young people seeking employment in the gig economy through the provision of guidance and training required to thrive in this space.

Priscilla Oppong Da-costa, an administrator from KGL Foundation admonished beneficiaries to prioritize transferable skills as a main area of concentration. These skills include abilities like collaboration, problem-solving, leadership, and communication that may be used in a range of careers and industries. “Young people might be better prepared to adjust to additional responsibilities and problems as they occur by honing these skills,” she said.

The project lead, Joseph Zotoo, also stressed that the programme has concentrated on teaching employability skills that are particular to the gig economy besides transferrable skills.

These include learning how to efficiently manage one’s time and workload, embracing a growth mindset, knowing online productivity tools, branding and marketing oneself, working productively online and bargaining rates and terms with clients, among other skills.

The Youth Employment Pathway Development Initiative, which emphasizes educating young people about the gig economy and transferable skills, is an avenue for youth to adapt to the fast-changing labour market to find their place.

The KGL Foundation is dedicated to building a stronger and more inclusive Ghana. They believe the only way to do this is for Ghanaians to invest in Ghanaian-led solutions, and turn inward to uplift each other rather than relying on foreign aid and international NGOs.

As a result, they are in a unique position to have access to resources that they pour into supporting and uplifting beneficiaries; from the grassroots to the private sector such as Talents in Africa, where we focus on helping young people identify their talents and ability, search for jobs, upsell their skills, and ultimately land their dream job.

As well as connecting candidates to employers who use our proprietary tools to search, filter, and communicate with the best talents.