Managing Director of Absa Bank Ghana, Abena Osei-Poku has dispelled the myth that the transition to digital technology is leading to perpetual job losses. She said whilst the tectonic shift to global digitalisation is affecting jobs, it is also creating new streams of employment for the benefit of the working population.
Speaking at the 21st Graduation ceremony of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), Abena Osei-Poku charged the graduating students to make value-addition a non-negotiable aspect of their career lives.
She said the transformative power of digitalisation is eroding labour intensive and repetitive jobs; however, new areas of responsibility and new industries are being discovered for cognitive non-routine tasks and creating several thousands of new and exciting opportunities.
“Digital technologies have introduced opportunities in Digital marketing, robotics, Mobile App development, Customer Experience, and the like. The model employee of the future is the one who gets out of their comfort zone, seizes the opportunity, and delivers value to their organisation. You may make mistakes but that is a part of it. Remember, however, to learn from them quickly, grow, remain relevant and add value wherever you find yourself,” she said.
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The graduation ceremony, which was on the theme, ‘Digitalisation and Employment in a changing world’, was held at the forecourt of GIMPA’s Greenhill campus. Using concrete examples and profound anecdotes, Abena Osei-Poku inspired and admonished the students to look beyond their degrees and pick up new skills, upgrade old ones and become lifelong learners if they want to thrive as employees or entrepreneurs.
“In the skills revolution, the ability to constantly evolve one’s skillset will bring opportunities. Today, the average life span of a young graduate in most companies is less than 10 years. With the Hybrid working model made possible by technology, the blurring of locations opens opportunities to work from anywhere and for entrepreneurial activity.
You only now require a handset and an Instagram account to be the model entrepreneur. So whilst I encourage you to look for jobs, explore the opportunity to innovate, create and start your own businesses and take advantage of the ability to scale quickly with technology,” Abena Osei-Poku added.
The graduation ceremony was chaired by the Chairman of the GIMPA Council, Kofi Darko Asante and host of attendees including, Vice Chancellor, Professor Kwaku Bonsu; Council Member, Professor Stanley Coffie; and GIMPA Secretary, Julius Atikpui.
