Upskilling Exporters & Reskilling Manufacturers in Africa

By Naseem Javed*

New African leadership is emerging, influenced by global pandemic recovery, optimizing entrepreneurialism to new heights while creating upskilling of exporters and reskilling of manufacturers. The question is how to create tidal waves of change on a large national scale. Today, nation-by-nation, mobilization of entrepreneurialism on digital platforms of upskilling exportability and reskilling manufacturers is a new science and an art.

The Difficult Questions: How to start such mandates,when 50% of frontline teams already need ‘upskilling’ while 50% of the back-up teams need ‘reskilling’ so what is required to open constructive discussions leading to workable and productive programs? Each stage challenges competency levels and each stage offers options to up skill for better performances. Talent gaps need fast track closing and global-age skills need widening. This is all about embracing global age skills, and by passing old lingering systems and thinking.

The future economies will start by getting NationalExport Promotion Agencies, Chambers of Commerce, Trade Associations and midsize economic developments department heads to engage in bold and open regular debates. The arrival of Virtual leadership and Zoomerang culture is a gift from pandemic recovery, acquiring mastery. Today, impact is now forcing institutions to become active accessible players to deliberate wisdom from the comfort of their homes round the clock events.

New mandates appearing; globally speaking offices losing their centrality, now it is more about intellectual deployment and execution of ideas with live virtual based execution bringing diverse groups of decision makers from faraway places all on one digital platform.  All big and small organizational structures either Public or Private Sector enterprises both must deliver super speed execution and efficiencies on digital platforms. The world of 200 nations, 10,000 cites and 5,000 cultures are all almost accessible based on the intensity of digitization. Top frontline management must pass tests to ensure new special demands on skills and thinking capable to deploy a master agenda. Creating powerful flat meritocratic-based organizations is the new challenge. Collaborating with global nations with high quality exportability is the new demand. Deeper studies are mandatory. Pandemic with new wisdom arrived like a message in a bottle on the shores of collective humankind goals, now shaking down gigantic physically visible economic structures, exposing invisible debt structuring, challenging illusionary successes and depleted progress of humankind.

Become Innovation-crazy: Complex problem solvers emotionally bonded to innovative thinking, almost crazy observing and analyzing problems seeking automated solutions with extreme scalability. Ask questions, search for light under the sun and acquire understanding of darkness in a darkroom. Innovation is all around us, we have to learn to see it. Magic hidden in our inquisitiveness needs strength to deny status quo and demand change. Love your surroundings, acquire training on self-discovery to become like diamond-grinding on skills; all rounder, multifaceted, highly focused but reflective in all directions, tough, crystal clear, valuable and shiny, not just any stone, but a diamond always grinding to perfection.

National Mobilization of SME:  Identify 1000 to 100,000 small and midsize entrepreneurs within a nation, and create a national agenda to quadruple their performance on innovative excellence and exportability. Deploy digitization of top national trade associations and chambers of commerce to upgrade to excellent digital platforms so that their entire membership can skate nationally and globally displaying their goods and services.  Study how Expothon is placing 25,000 SME+MFG on digital platforms of "upskilling", we will add another 100,000 and soon take it to one 1,000,000. This project is a global example and working model that we hope to engage 50 selected groups from the current pool of 11,000 Chambers and 100,000 Trade Associations. 

Special Event Series: Expothon is also planning a “Special Senior Level 3-Hour-Webinar-Workshop-Serie” to create detailed and pragmatic discussions with powerful debates on specific solutions.  The "National Mobilization of SME via Upskilling on Exports" calibrated for the selected 100 Chambers and 100 Special Trade Association heads across the world and gatekeepers of commerce of selected countries.

The rest is easy. 

*Naseem Javed is a corporate philosopher, Chairman of Expothon Worldwide; a Canadian Think tank focused on National Mobilization of Entrepreneurialism Protocols on Platform Economy and exportability solutions now gaining global attention. www.expothon.com  email: nj@expothon.com

*Culled from November Issue of Pan African Visions Magazine