Deepening The impact of skill acquisition and entrepreneurship development – A Panacea for graduate unemployment

The number of graduates that are ushered into the labour force yearly is higher than the available opportunities. Countries around the world have grappled with this economic pandemic for a long time and despite seeking out solutions on how to combat joblessness amongst graduate, the issue of unemployment still persists. In this article, we shall […]

The number of graduates that are ushered into the labour force yearly is higher than the available opportunities. Countries around the world have grappled with this economic pandemic for a long time and despite seeking out solutions on how to combat joblessness amongst graduate, the issue of unemployment still persists.

In this article, we shall be discussing on how skill acquisition and entrepreneurship development has helped to provide alternative solutions for graduate unemployment.

What is Unemployment?

Unemployment can be defined as the lack of available jobs for a graduate, especially that they are willing to work but there are no opportunities to apply themselves. Unemployment amongst youth, has led to the increase rate of crimes such as kidnapping, theft, drug trafficking, money ritual killings, cybercrime and other social vices.

The stigma of unemployment, has deeply affected most graduates around the world.

The painstaking task of applying for a job everyday that ends in futility, has become a menace to entry level job seekers. Most young graduates, will prefer to use the get rich quick solutions or migrate out of their countries for better solutions than dwell in a stagnant job application situation.

What are the two major causes of graduate unemployment?

Mismatched Academic Qualifications: Some of the qualifications acquired in the university by entry level graduates, do not match the relevant skills in the current labour market. Most of the degrees have become obsolete or have either evolved.

Unfortunately, we still have to deal with theoretical approach rather than seeking practical solutions.

Lack of skill acquisition: Most universities, hardly engage students with skill acquisition learning. These students end up graduating with little or no skills. Employers in the labour market would always go for entry level candidates with the relevant skills and the only way a graduate can gain employment is when they equip themselves with skills that are currently in demand.

How Skill Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development Can Become The Gateway To Graduate Employment

What is Skill Acquisition?

Skill acquisition is the acquiring of relevant industry specific skills through vocational training. A skilled worker can either acquire skills through formal or informal education.

In recent years, skill acquisition has played a vital role in capacity building of young graduates in many countries. A lot of graduates, have been able to create meaningful employment for themselves through skill and entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship development, helps to foster innovation, growth and transformation in both rural and urban communities by empowering young graduates with skills that can help them carve out a niche in their field.

Many countries, have started partnering with top industry leaders to help them with graduate unemployment rippling effects on the economy through mentorship programs such as Small and Medium Entreprises (SMEs) seed funds programs, graduate tech bootcamps and university practical work integration internships.

Skill acquisition training in Nigeria, has been in existence since 1986. The military government of General Ibrahim Babangida introduced it in 1986, in order to  improve the standard of living but as time passed, the focus on skills declined due to the high rate of theory based education.

These days, the demand for skills has increased because the availability of white collar jobs, have gradually declined. We live in a technological driven world today and most businesses are leveraging their strategies to meet up with global tech trends.

The skills in demand are data entry, data analysis, language translation, writing skills, video editing and typing skills etc.

Both skill acquisition and entrepreneurship education can foster budding entrepreneurs through the creation of new products and services for consumers. Graduates can get funds from loan schemes after participating in the vocational training to start up their own business.

Skill acquisition and entrepreneurship development will make a graduate become more self-reliant.

Governments should encourage more graduates who are willing to put in the work to become entrepreneurs, to engage in informal apprenticeship programs.

Skill acquisition and entrepreneurship development can arise when unemployed graduates attend career fairs and network with specific industry individuals that will mentor them.

Conclusion

Unemployment destabilizes economic growth and it harbours frustration amongst graduates because of their inability to find available jobs. The causes of unemployment which circles around mismatched qualifications and lack of skills acquisition cannot be far-fetched.

Skill acquisition and entrepreneurship development can always lead to growth of startups, new innovative developments and capacity building of graduates.

Countries should  always partner with right industry leaders. Vocational training internships should be compulsory for university undergraduates. Grants and loans should be offered to budding graduate entrepreneurs.

Identifying with skills and entrepreneurship can lead to many youth participating in developing favourable economic policies that will yield more revenue for the government.

Emmanuel Otori is a Business Development Specialist with over 10 years of work in helping small and medium entreprises achieve sustainabanability. He is the Chief Executive Officer at Mangrove Technologies Ltd