Human capital report that Kenyan varsities need to read carefully

The Economic Forum’s Human Capital Report 2015 came out two weeks ago. According to the rankings, Kenya is placed position 101 out of 124. It was preceded by a number of African countries like Zambia and Cameroon. Why should that worry you?

It is because human capital is the importance of people in a business or an organisation. Your people are the real contribution to the growth and development of your business.

Human capital is an intangible asset and it cannot be handled the same way as the other aspects in an organisation.

This is because it is the employees who actually own their human capital instead of the organisation. Any expenditure on your employees’ training is, therefore, not an expense but an investment.

In this respect, education provides the skills people need to thrive in any new sustainable economy. A strong education system broadens access to opportunities, improves health, and bolsters the resilience of communities — all while fuelling economic growth.

By some estimates, almost half of today’s professions could be automatable by 2025. Speculation about what will replace them ranges from predictions of unexpected opportunities to forecasts of large-scale unemployment as machines displace most human labour.

The paradox of it all is that when financial policymakers attempt to promote economic growth, they almost invariably focus on looking for new ways to unleash capital. Now, this approach may have worked in the past.

In a future of rapid technological change and widespread automation, the determining factor — or crippling limit — to innovation, competiveness, and growth is less likely to be the availability of capital than the existence of a skilled workforce.

When today’s students graduate, they’ll be asked to fill the jobs of tomorrow—ones we can’t even imagine now. And they’ll be asked to tackle problems like climate change and global poverty.

Unfortunately, too many schools in this country aren’t preparing the next generation to meet these challenges and seize these opportunities.

A survey of Fortune 500 companies shows that the most valuable skills an employee can have in the twenty-first century are teamwork, problem solving, and oral communication.

Students who have mastered these skill sets — including an academic mindset and self-directed learning— can set their own goals, adapt to new circumstances, accept feedback, and persevere.

The children of the future will need schools to make a difference, more so than at any time in the past. We must inspire and galvanise our children, encourage them to become individuals who challenge themselves, who look outside the box, who socially network and think.

Above all, as Kenyans, we must help our children become people who are determined to succeed, relish challenge and seek solutions wherever they may originate.

Talent is hard to find and even harder to replace because the demand for talented people is permanent and relatively high. CEOs of global institutions believe that to acquire and develop “talent” will be one of the top challenges for growth in the future.

The most successful companies and the most successful countries will be those that manage human capital in the most effective and efficient fashion: investing in their workers, encouraging workers to invest in themselves, provide a good learning environment, and, yes, include social capital as well as skills and training.

Unlocking Kenya’s latent talent, and thus its full capacity for growth, requires us to look beyond business cycles and quarterly reports.
The future is full of potential, but only if we are smart enough — and courageous enough — to grasp it.

Mr Waswa is a management and HR specialist and managing director of Outdoors Africa. E-mail: [email protected]