Rosie Ebe-Arthur
Africa must urgently rethink how it develops and manages talent if it is to turn its youthful population into a competitive economic advantage, MTN Group Board Member Rosie Ebe-Arthur has warned.
She said rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI), automation and other emerging technologies were fundamentally changing the workplace and making workforce development a strategic issue that could no longer be left solely to human resources departments.
Ms. Ebe-Arthur made the observation at the Global Conference on Human Resources Africa (GCHRA), where she spoke on the theme, “The Boardroom Lens on Talent: Aligning People Strategy With Global Business Priorities.”
She said the ability of organisations to execute their business strategies increasingly depended on whether they had the right skills and capabilities within their workforce.
According to her, AI had evolved rapidly from a technology associated largely with innovation projects into a tool capable of performing tasks such as writing computer code, drafting contracts, screening job applicants and influencing information presented to corporate boards.
Citing the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs research, Ms Ebe-Arthur said many of the skills currently required in the labour market were expected to change significantly by 2030.
She therefore urged boards to treat workforce capability as a major business risk, alongside liquidity, cybersecurity and regulatory compliance.
She argued that companies that failed to anticipate changes in skills requirements risked undermining their own transformation programmes.
She said the company’s workforce needs had changed significantly from three decades ago, when engineers were primarily required to build telecommunications networks and agents to sell airtime.
Today, she said, MTN required data scientists, cybersecurity specialists, digital product managers and professionals capable of managing sophisticated digital platforms, including mobile money.
She said MTN would continue to identify areas where AI and automation were likely to affect its operations and deliberately prepare its employees for emerging opportunities.
Ms Ebe-Arthur said such forward-looking workforce planning was essential if businesses were to remain competitive while ensuring that employees were equipped to participate in the jobs of the future.
By Prince Fiifi Yorke