BY: FDT and Yaw Ansa-Asare | Voltaonlinegh.com |
Young people in the country have been urged to acquire digital skills to secure the future for themselves and the coming generation.
The advice came from various speakers at a Consultative Stakeholders Meeting on Digital Ecosystem in the Volta Region, recent statistics and findings point to the fact that there are limitless opportunities for the youth.
DataReportal says there are over 4 billion internet and social media users globally. In Ghana, half of the country’s population, thus over 15 million have access to the internet with over 40 million mobile phone connections (thus some people use more than one phone). DataReportal also says, there are over 8.20 million social media users in Ghana as of January 2021.
The Forum, which attracted entrepreneurs, students, and government representatives was under the theme, “Role of Web Technology for Digital Transformation of the Local Economy for Job Creation and Economic Development.”
Desmond Kitsi, an I.T Specialist highlighted some of the key job opportunities that can make young people create their own jobs or secure well-paid jobs. Some of these include Web Development, Graphic Designing, Online and Social Media Management, Data Analytics, Static and Audio-visual Production, infographics among others.
He noted that all these areas are still in their infant stages in the country and that the opportunities are limitless. To this end instead of wasting time waiting for a job, they can start learning from YouTube and take advantage of some of the free training programs of HO Node to better their chances of being employed.
Courage Tetteh, Manager of Torchbearers Books, noted that job requirements irrespective of one’s area of expertise require digital skills as most jobs are using digital tools in their operations.
Hence graduates and unemployed youth should consider acquiring skills in PowerPoint, email communication and marketing, spreadsheets, social media marketing and management, photography and applications like Google calendar, Google Documents, google forms among others.
A Digital Technology Consultant, Roger Geyening emphasized the need to think outside the box, as the digital space welcomes creativity and innovations to improve the ways of doing things.
Fred Duodu, a communications consultant also explained that since the digital space has come to complement existing systems, the young must take time to understand how their communities work to be able to develop appropriate solutions.
He also cautioned the youth about the excesses of the digital space, citing examples of poor content on Ghana’s digital media landscape. Some of which instead of building a positive image to attract goodwill for the country, is rather doing the opposite.
Courage Asase, the Managing Director of Ho Node Hub who highlighted some key outcomes from a recent ecosystem mapping of the digital space in the Volta Region thanked Ghana Tech Lab for partnering with Ho Node to make the project successful.
He stressed that Ho Node is ready to use all the resources available to it to support businesses, entrepreneurs, students, and government agencies to improve their digital skills and the local economy.
The forum was also supported by the Master Card Foundation (Young Africa Works), World Bank, Ministry of Communications, and Pase Online.
Source: www.voltaonlinegh.com
