The Youth Café Executive Director’s Speech At The Futuremakers Forum ‘Unleashing The Potential Of Young People To Succeed In The Future World Of Work’.
On the 13th to 15th July 2021, The Youth Café attended the Futuremakers Forum. Hosted by Standard Chartered in partnership with Business Fights Poverty, the Futuremakers Forum brought stakeholders together to build partnerships and create opportunities focused on young people. The focus for the Forum, ‘Unleashing the potential of young people to succeed in the future world of work’ aimed to highlight the emerging trends in the labor market and frame how young people, clients and stakeholders can respond to this rapidly changing landscape.
This event was part of Futuremakers by Standard Chartered, a global initiative to tackle inequality by championing greater economic inclusion for young people.
In his capacity as a youth business leader in Africa, The Youth Cafés Executive Director, Willice Onyango, had been invited to speak at the panel. He was asked to comment on the question “What support structures are required in order to support young people into the workforce and to succeed when they get there?”
This was his response: Strong support structures are vital for youth not only to transition into the workforce but also to nurture their skills and act as springboards through which youth are able to achieve their full potential. When we speak of support systems what do we mean? Well, for us that means strong networks, peers, mentors, and even family and friends. There is always something to learn from everyone! I recently encountered a definition of the word “mentor”, it said: “A mentor is not someone who walks ahead of you to show you how they did it. A mentor walks alongside you to show you what you can do.”
This is such a beautiful and true definition in my opinion and is one that we strive to embody in all our projects at The Youth Café. Our mission recognizes that given the opportunity and proper training, youth in Africa have the potential to make a remarkable difference. That is why our job creation and skill building program vision is to prepare the youth to become transformative leaders and work-ready for the dynamic labor market of knowledge driven economies of the world. We strive to provide the opportunity to acquire direct practical experience in both The Youth Café and third-party companies’ work and under the direct supervision of experienced staff and/or advisors who serve as mentors.
In today's world networking is a necessity. A plethora of research shows that professional networks lead to more job and business opportunities, broader and deeper knowledge, improved capacity to innovate, faster advancement, and greater status and authority. Building and nurturing professional relationships also improves the quality of work and increases job satisfaction. An integral part of networking is finding and leveraging common interests. Having qualitative conversations with professionals and peers is a good way to view issues from different perspectives.
At The Youth Café, we are strong believers in the idea that progress is not possible without collaboration. With our reach in all the 47 counties in Kenya, 22 countries in Africa, and 72 countries worldwide, we work with a network of over 53 staff members, 2000 volunteers and 8500 interns and are able to reach and engage with the youth and marginalized populations through our various programs, under our 8 thematic areas supported by the diverse and individual organizational partnerships that we have.
To date, we have reached over 2 million young men and women with our projects. The Youth Café also has a prominent digital leadership with a monthly reach of over 400,000 people and we have over 147K young professionals as members of our organization. The Youth Café also offers a chance for the youth to connect amongst themselves through innovative multimedia (videos, live events, community stories, and podcasts). As well as cutting edge articles and essays that are published on our website's “Prospective Blog” and syndicated on a number of RSS feeds. Similarly, The Youth Café has also had the opportunity to publish 2000+ reports, and briefs, including hundreds of peer-reviewed publications- and counting.
“If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.”
After his response, he was also asked to share his thoughts on a follow-up question, “Resilience and adaptability have been found to be useful qualities in the workplace of today, do you think these skills are relevant for the future workforce?”
His response was: Definitely! I think these qualities are not only useful but vital for success in the ever-evolving workplace. As humans, it is in our nature to evolve and adapt to our surroundings, it is how we have been able to survive the effects of natural selection. Evolution does not happen unless we encounter a challenge that we must adapt to, it is how we recognize our full potential. The future job market is no exception. Those who are unable to adapt and are not resilient in their efforts will not be able to survive the technological evolution we are undergoing.
As young people we have the ability to harness our “youthful audacity” to persevere in the face of challenges and evolve our skill set to be more fitting to the needs and demands of future jobs whether they be in the formal or informal entrepreneurial sectors.
Do you want to learn more about the work we do at The Youth Café? Feel free to contact us or let us know what you think. We look forward to hearing from you!