The HEC African Network, a network of African students at HEC School of Management, is organizing an event that will bring together leading international speakers, African recruitment firms, African students, alumni and professionals from Europe.

“It is undoubtedly true that Africa today is one of the fast growing economic centres in the world and generating the interest of foreign companies”, says Hamza Idrissi of HEC and one of the event organisers.

HEC, the Paris-based business school has been ranked first by the Financial Times for the second year in a row from a pool of the top 60 graduate business schools in Europe. Following the success of the 2007 African Week, the African Network is organising the 2008 event with a focus on the development of the Africa through the emergence of strong capital markets.

“Our network promotes African culture, businesses and entrepreneurs interested in investing in Africa through the organization of different networking events and presentations on campus,” explains Idrissi.

“Through this initiative, we are dedicated to strengthening the ties between students, alumni, and African business professionals and to providing career opportunities and leadership development.”

African Week will include a range of events including presentations from leading recruitment firms in Africa, a wine tasting event with wines and drinks from Africa and an art exhibition. The Culture Day will also feature a movie night, food, African dancing and drumming.

The organizers also plan to host a number of conferences over the week focused on investment opportunities in Africa and African Capital Markets.

The HEC Annual African Week takes place at HEC Campus (Jouy en Josas) on the week of 17 March 2008. For further information and registration:  http://www.hecafricannetwork.org/africanweek2008.htm

Angola’s Ministry of Public Administration, Employment and Social Security (MAPESS) hosted a job fair in August in the southern Huila province.

The objectives of the fair, the first of its kind in Huila, were to attract companies interested in hiring new workers and to provide opportunities for the creation of micro-enterprises. The event was also intended to promote small-scale income generating activities, place recent graduates in the job market, and explain current labor law, employment and training opportunities.

November 2005

London Careers Event brings African professionals seeking careers in Africa with over 25 African national and multinational companies.

Finding effective methods to bring Africans outside Africa into contact with employers within Africa is critical to addressing the technical and managerial skills shortages facing African countries.

While traditional recruitment specialists and consultants offer a useful service, an increasingly successful approach has been through the use of recruitment events designed to bring national and international companies in Africa together with African graduates and professionals living outside the continent.

A recent recruitment event held in London by Careers in Africa attracted over 6,500 applicants with more than 500 African graduates and professionals seeking careers in Africa with multinational corporations, intergovernmental organisations and leading African companies attending the event.

Careers in Africa has been running its international recruitment events for three years, and the number of African companies that participate has increased from 11 companies in the first year to 27 companies at the April 2005 event.  According to its Managing Director, Rupert Adcock, the company has placed almost 2,000 professionals into Africa in recent years. 

To be considered for the Careers in Africa events, successful candidates must have an excellent academic track record (to at least undergraduate degree level), fluency in English, French or Portuguese, outstanding intellectual and interpersonal skills and work authorisation for at least one African country.

Adcock’s passion for Africa stems from his involvement in ‘Windows on Work’, a 1997 initiative helping exiled South Africans find a career path back to the new South Africa.  This was followed by ‘African Managers’, a pan-African recruitment initiative for graduates in Europe looking for careers across Africa.  Today the UK-based company which, in addition to its British management, is staffed by nationals of South Africa, Kenya, Angola, Tanzania and Benin, is developing pan-African recruitment initiatives for Africans across 39 countries on the Continent.

“We are hoping to place over 500 people as a result of the Careers event,” says Adcock. 

For someone who has helped to facilitate more than 1500 careers across the African continent over the past eight years, this seems eminently achievable.

Ghanaian Returnee tackles the Challenge of Changing Ghana’s Recruitment Culture

When Kwame Ofori-Kuragu returned to Ghana from the UK in 2006, the 35-year old Project Management graduate took with him an idea that had long been in the planning.  Frustrated by the recruitment practices he has observed in his home country, Ofori-Kuragau intends to hold a series of job fairs as a springboard to a new kind of recruitment agency designed to offer employers in Ghana access to both choice and quality.

In 1998, inspired by requests from the fellow Ghanaians he met while studying in the UK, Ofori-Kuragu established Leaders for Tomorrow.  The organisation aims at mobilising and helping to develop the human, financial and infrastructure resources that are critical to Ghana’s development.  Citing the organisation’s mission as “to promote a culture of excellence in the Ghanaian business community and to provide World Class Human Resource and Management Consulting Services”, Ofori-Kuragu now intends to provide a service placing graduates into internship and work placements as well as to source permanent jobs for young Ghanaians, both in Ghana and in the Diaspora. 

The organisation’s first venture in this area will be to hold a Job Fair for graduates at the Ghanaian University of Science and Technology, located in Ghana’s second city, Kumasi.

Speaking to ReConnect Africa, Ofori-Kuragau explains, “We are planning three job fairs; in Kumasi, at the University of Ghana and at the University of Cape Coast.  We want to create a platform for some of the best employers to interact with some of the best candidates entering the job market in the year to come.” 

Ofori-Kuragu sees the job fairs as a means for students to find out about job opportunities and halting the flow of educated young people leaving the country.  “The lack of information and access to employment impacts to a large extent on the brain drain in Ghana”, he says.  “If people don’t get jobs straight after school or university, they are tempted to travel.” 

Compounding a lack of access to available job opportunities is the widespread practice of nepotism.  In his view, the reliance of many companies on recruiting extended family members or through social contacts often results in poor and biased job hiring decisions by employers.

“One of our key challenges is to break the traditional approach to recruitment in Ghana – putting an ad in a paper or taking people on through word of mouth,” he says.  “We also need to change the tradition of nepotism when, if you don’t know someone, you aren’t likely to get the job.  We want to break the current culture of recruitment by showing them a different way to recruit and by presenting real opportunities for them.  The job fair provides a one-stop shop and saves companies launching their own fairs or paying for costly recruitment.”

Ofori-Kuragu concedes that job applicants also need to change their attitude and his discussions with employers in Ghana have highlighted the fact that many graduates lack the key competencies employers need.  Job applicants are often unable to demonstrate communication, teamwork, analytical, strategic and leadership skills, while employers cite a lack of commercial awareness and personal drive in many young graduates who apply for jobs.

Ofori-Kuragu and his team are planning a series of workshops and seminars for job fair participants to help develop these skills and to better prepare them for today’s job market. “As a means to add value and to better meet the needs of industry and the companies we hope will participate, we will hold the first series of workshops in the third week of August.  These will put participants in better stead with potential employers and help to distinguish them from other entrants into the job market.”

Ofori-Kuragu believes that greater objectivity in identifying talent will ultimately benefit employers and their businesses.  “On the employers’ side, we believe that this approach will present a bigger pool of talent to fish out the best candidates.  If you just employ those who approach you directly, you don’t know what else is out there.”

The Job Fair will also be an opportunity for students to learn first-hand the requirements of some of the best employers in Ghana.  The two day events will be held on the various university campuses. “We will be inviting students from the universities, especially all the final year students” says Ofori-Kuragu.  “Because it is happening on campus and run in partnership with the student bodies and university authorities, we will have a good pipeline of students.”

Linking the Job Fair to Ghanaians living outside the country is critical to Leaders for Tomorrow’s vision.

“We want to present a window for people abroad who can’t be at the Fair and want to return home.  We are looking at ways to attract the resumes of Ghanaians abroad that are looking for opportunities to re-settle and work in Ghana.  We want Ghanaians abroad to contact us and register with us so that we can put their needs forward.  Students on campus in Ghana do not need to register but should bring their CVs to the fair.  Companies working in Ghana can register to participate or express their interest in students and we will be providing space on site for interviews during the fair.”

For further information about the forthcoming job fairs, contact Kwame Ofori-Kuragu on: info@leaders-of-tomorrow-inc.com

ReConnect Africa’s careers coach Helen Dupigny recently celebrated 10 years of delivering her award-winning Career Development Programme with an Awards evening that brought together former participants, industry representatives and a special celebrity.

In 1996, Helen Dupigny, a Sierra Leonean based in London, decided to take time out from lecturing within a Further Education college to reflect on her career direction and personal and professional goals.

After considerable introspection that she broke down into six steps of thinking and planning, Helen realised that the approach she had taken to identifying her skills and addressing the constraints to her self-development, could also work for others.  Inspired to share her learning, she created the Six Step Career Development programme.

Within two years, Helen succeeded in gaining approved centre status from Edexcel, a leading examinations organisation, and accreditation of the programme as a BTEC Award course. In 1997, Helen received the Candace Business Woman of the Year Award for the Career Development Programme.

A job fair in Ghana – Career Destinations - is set to bring Employers, Professionals and Training providers together in Accra

By Tina Boadi

From February 16th to 17th, the Accra International Conference Centre will play host to the first ever “Career Destinations”job and recruitment fair. Organised by Citi 97.3fm with partners TV3, Ernst & Young, and the Business and Financial Times, this event is set to provide a much needed platform that will bring together job seekers, professionals, employers and training providers.

The ever increasing pool of graduates in the country has created a challenge for employers tasked by their organisations to identify the real cream of the talent pool, while the time involved in effectively selecting talented and well-deserving candidates can be onerous.

According to Samuel Attah-Mensah, Managing Director of commercial radio station Citi FM, key sponsors for the event, Career Destinations will offer employers a managed solution to identifying and selecting from a large talent pool.

“We are encouraging people who are interested in participating to post their CVs on our website.  The screening process will be overseen by Ernst & Young, Ghana and applicants will be matched to a range of job opportunities with our participating employers.”

For organizations that take part, Career Destinations will bring together a diverse selection of motivated and eager candidates that include graduates, undergraduates, people looking to change careers and Ghanaians resident outside the country. The pre-selected candidates will be scheduled for one-on-one interviews with the recruiting corporations

For candidates, Career Destinations can offer an ideal opportunity to meet potential Ghanaian employers genuinely seeking talent to fill their vacancies.  The organizers are planning additional services, which will include seminars on skills development and presentations by training providers, giving further information and support to job seekers.  Those attending can also take advantage of one-on-one advice from CV specialists and expert advisors offering guidance with career choices.

Participating companies include Zenith Bank, SG-SSB, Guinness Ghana, Coca-Cola, Fidelity Bank and Areeba.

For further information: Email: info@citifmonline.com

As the Africa Club at London Business School prepares to host its 6th annual Africa Day, ReConnect Africa speaks to co-President of the Africa Club, Gbenga Olatunji, about the forthcoming event.

With the theme ‘The African Century: Transforming the Continent of Opportunity’, the London Business School’s Africa Club will be launching Africa Day 2007 in London on May 26th.

The Africa Club at the London Business School is a student-run organisation that brings together London Business School students, alumni, and professionals from around the world who share an interest in Africa. Through its ongoing speaker series, business and cultural trips to Africa, evening business dinners and other events, the Club aims to provide networking opportunities and career support for current students and alumni and to promote African interests at London Business School through educational events for the entire academic community.

The Africa Club also provides a source of support for prospective students from Africa to the London Business School and works to raise the profile of London Business School in Africa and amongst professionals around the world.

The Club’s flagship event is its annual Africa Day which, in 2007, will take place on May 26th at London’s City Hall. For co-President Gbenga Olatunji, this event represents the highlight of the Club’s activities.

“Africa Day is London Business School Africa Club's main event each year,” he explains. “The conference's general goals are to promote investment and business opportunities in Africa, provide a platform for exchanging ideas within the African and Diaspora communities in London as well as giving visibility to successful Africans and African businesses.”

Olatunji and his co-President Miranda Hall have worked with a committed group of fellow students to create an exciting and challenging conference.

“The theme of this event is built around our belief that leadership is the key requirement for achieving major performance improvements in Africa and African organisations,” he says. “Africa Day is a leading African Business Conference in Europe and supports London Business School’s vision to be the pre-eminent global business school. It is our belief that the African continent is undergoing positive transformation and this is the time to achieve its potential.”

The conference brings together leaders from business and politics as well as practitioners to examine key issues and to explore tangible leadership and investment opportunities that can help create and maintain sustainable growth. The conference will be tackling a range of issues including the question of creating sustainable leadership in Africa and identifying how African businesses can capture more value from the investments flowing into the continent.

The organisers have planned a full programme that includes keynote addresses and what promises to be a lively debate on political leadership. A number of breakout sessions will address the case for reforming the process of leadership in Africa, tackling corruption and improving governance in Africa, exploring how African can profit from her own resources, strategies for transforming public services as a vehicle for growth and creating the next generation of leaders.

As a leading business institution in Europe, the Business School’s Africa Club is naturally focused on addressing the role that Diaspora Africans can play in shaping the future of African leadership. During the day, returnees who are making an impact in their fields will be sharing their stories and the conference will debate the role of the Diaspora in participating in major infrastructure and development projects as well as the role of remittances from the African Diaspora in driving economic growth.

“Our overall goal for the next Africa Day Conference is to inspire a new generation of African leaders,” says Gbenga Olatunji. “This includes promoting sustainable business opportunities in Africa, inspiring participants to transformational roles in business and the public sector, challenging current leadership perspectives and empowering participants with the experiences of transformational leaders from within and outside the continent.”

For more information about Africa Day, visit www.londonafricaclub.org or email africa.club@london.edu