Industrial vocational training and the development of Africa are two inseparable concepts.
In sub-Saharan Africa, industrial vocational training is essential for adapting to an economy in full transformation, with on the one hand industrial projects that are developing in all African countries and on the other, the advent of new technologies that influence and transform all traditional professions in all sectors of activity, especially industrial ones.
According to a study by Frost & Sullivan, in 2019, professional continuing education firms in sub-Saharan Africa had generated 1.98 billion dollars and the trends are expected to rise sharply due to the emergence of industrial development projects and programs in sub-Saharan Africa since 2020 and an increasingly growing youth demographic.
In recent years, we have seen that several training firms specializing in business and organizational management are being created in sub-Saharan Africa. The continent’s need for training in all areas is growing. The geopolitical situation requires it. But what about technical training firms? There are many more general training courses (marketing, finance, management, supply chain & logistics) than training and certifications in specialized industrial professions (IRATA, BOSIET, etc.).
It is therefore essential to transfer skills to sub-Saharan Africa by relocating professional technical training in the region. The immediate relocation of professional technical training in Africa could be beneficial for industrial companies and local economies. There is currently a need for countries to develop industrially. Industrial projects are coming one after the other quickly, foreign, and local investments are increasing. It is therefore essential today for everyone to invest in industrial vocational training projects. A short-term benefit would be the strengthening of the capacities of populations and professionals, but also a reduction in dependence on foreign labor in African infrastructure projects.
For example, the construction of a gas pipeline in sub-Saharan Africa requires profiles with very advanced technical skills in both the exploration and operation and maintenance phases.
However, we must adopt a long-term vision because in the short term, it might seem interesting to develop training programs in these technical professions in abundance to catch up with the rest of the world. But it would be wise to proceed in stages. The markets are not yet sufficiently developed, it would be beneficial to have centralized management by country to avoid a too rapid inversion of the supply and demand curve. The operational needs related to these professions are not excessively repetitive. In addition, the structure of training and certifications could constitute a risk for the employability of the workforce. For some, these are certifications that are renewable annually and for others, work-study training.
In this case, it would be necessary to properly assess the absorption capacities of the reinforced or created profiles according to the missions. These profiles could be professionals already in activity or students at the end of their training.
We therefore risk finding ourselves with a lot of trained labor facing projects that will have cost minimization objectives. Supply will supplant demand, the projects in their temporal evolutions will be at maintenance stages and no longer at design stages, which will have the effect of reducing the budgets for service provision.
To illustrate our point, still in the case of the construction of a gas pipeline, the project will need significant industrial welders in the start-up phase. But after the design of the gas pipeline, its operation will lead to a maintenance stage. Maintenance will not require the same number of welders as the design and therefore this surplus of welders will have to be assigned elsewhere. This will lead to an inversion of the welder supply curve compared to the demand for welding needs on this gas pipeline.
In Africa, one in two people is under 25.
According to Maslow’s pyramid, the most basic need is the physiological need. This need is expressed differently for this category of population by the need to obtain a decent job. And the need to create jobs for this growing population is a major challenge for government administrations in African countries as well as for businesses if we want to one day be able to catch up with our technological and industrial delay on the rest of the world and make Africa a major player in the global economy. And industrial vocational training represents an important lever of this ambition. Investing in industrial vocational training is therefore an important solution to consider now since Africa’s industrial development is underway.
But is the importance of these economic development objectives worth the urgency of promoting an immediate and broad opening of the industrial vocational training market?
______________________ Thierry-Arnaud AMON-AKA is an entrepreneur and former supply chain manager with over a decade of experience in optimizing logistics and operational efficiencies. With a degree in International Trade from CSI Polytechnic, he began his career in the corporate sector, where he developed expertise in supply chain & procurement strategies. In 2022, Thierry-Arnaud transitioned to entrepreneurship, founding ABYSSA GROUP with a mission to develop sustainable industrial practices in Africa. His work focuses on empowering local communities through innovative supply chain solutions & vocational trainings that enhance productivity and create economic opportunities. A passionate advocate for sustainability in local industry development, Thierry-Arnaud mentors young entrepreneurs, sharing knowledge and fostering collaboration to drive meaningful change. Residing in Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire, Thierry-Arnaud enjoys playing basketball and traveling and remains committed to inspiring future generations to embrace innovation and sustainability in their pursuits. amonakathierry@gmail.com abyssagroup@gmail.com www.linkedin.com/in/thierry-arnaud-amon-aka
EduTimes Africa, a product of Education Times Africa, is a magazine publication that aims to lend its support to close the yawning gap in Africa's educational development.