The Ghana Digital Centres Limited (GDCL)has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with ZAK Media Consult for the convention, execution and sustenance of a National Digital Job Forum, to create sustainable jobs for the teeming youth in the country.
The MoU provided a framework for the GDCL and ZAK, with support from both public and private sectors towards the successful organisation of the National Digital Job Forum scheduled for April 26, 2022.
The forum aimed at engaging key stakeholders in Ghana’s technology ecosystem to discuss the relevance of digital jobs in Ghana, and develop strategies to make Ghana the global destination for digital jobs.
Speaking at the signing ceremony in Accra on Tuesday, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO)of GDCL, MrKwadwoBaahAgyemang, said the forum was designed to support the government’s vision of creating one million jobs through the Ghana Cares ObaatanpaProgramme to address the youth unemployment by providing access to local and international digital job opportunities.
“I know that according to the world economic forum: Robotics, Artificial Intelligence will create 58 million jobs to decimate middle-class careers: World Economic Forum. Thanks to the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the World Economic Forum predicts nearly 60 million extra jobs will be created by 2022.
“Further to that, Ghana alone will offer nine million digital jobs and nearly $4 billion in revenue potential through 2030. It is critical to note that the key drivers of demand for digital skills vary across sectors and in the formal and informal economy,” he added.
He said digital technology allowed actors in the agricultural sector to get better information thereby improving productivity, adding that “they also need digital skills to access insurance, savings programmes, and credit to buy equipment.”
Mr Agyemang noted that, demand for digital skills was also likely to increase in industrial sectors because technology could help mitigate the dangers of physical jobs.
“Tools such as online videos and text messaging can support training and communication on the job. The services industry has the highest anticipated levels of digital skills requirements,” he said.
He expressed optimism that, the signing of the MoU with ZAK Media Consult would add value to the two institutions and produce synergies that would result in achieving shared goal of making Ghana a global digital jobs hub.
The CEO of ZAK Media Consult, Mr Prince M. Zakaria, said the digital transformation would provide companies with a huge opportunity to get better and faster at innovating, leading to major changes in work and organisational processes.
“New levels of freedom in terms of how companies and employees operate will allow people to work more flexibly and with more individual choice and responsibility,” he added.
BY VIVIAN ARTHUR
