Economic growth lies in development of human capital

How can Kenya strategically invest in its human capital to rightly position its self for the Fourth Industrial Revolution?

The Global Human Capital Index released by the World Economic Forum ranked Kenya at position 78 out of 130 in 2017, up from position 120 in 2016.

The report used four indices to determine the scores of different countries, which were Capacity, Deployment, Development and Know-how.

Our jump to the top 100 spot was attributed to the country’s strong educational quality and our sizeable medium-skilled employment sector.

However, while we scored 60 per cent and 53 per cent respectively on the capacity and development sub-indexes, leading countries such as Norway and Finland were north of 85 per cent on both.

So despite our education being described as strong, the scores point to critical areas of focus that, if we are keen to still remain an investor attractive destination, we urgently need to invest in.

Human capital development has been described as a main harbinger of the future work place. Many leading economies are transitioning towards putting more investments in the potential of their workforce.

Hence, instead of being apprehensive about the disruption that may be brought on by technological disruptions and automations, they are recalibrating their education systems, and reviewing their core processes to match future needs of the global markets. This is what we, as a country need to prioritise.

READ: Youth unemployment threatens Kenya's role as regional powerhouse

A 2017 Executive Briefing on The Future of Jobs and Skills in Africa indicates that Kenya only captures 58 per cent of its full human capital potential compared to countries such as Mauritius at 67 per cent, Ghana at 64 per cent and South Africa 63 per cent, adding that 30 per cent of employers in Kenya are citing inadequately skilled workforces as a major constraint to business expansion.

Hence, part of revamping our education for the future should factor in the aspect of inclusivity and equity. One of the main reasons we are not benefitting as much as we could from our demographic dividend is because many young people are locked out of quality education.

Gaining education for the sake of getting any job might be easy enough for some, but for most, gaining quality education that renders one’s employability and talent as useful for future jobs is next to impossible.

To turn this around, we can focus our primary interventions in education in revamping our Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET) sector.

In Kenya, there have been progressive steps towards achieving our economic goals with focus on the symbiosis between TVET development and industrialisation.

It is crucial that we develop long-term policies anchored in Vision 2030 and our economic sustainability goals, to secure the progress being jump-started through such initiatives.

Phyllis Wakiaga is CEO,Kenya Association of Manufacturers.