Sampled innovations in 2018 during the International Trade Fair: who is thinking and doing what in the innovation world?

By Clive Mutame Siachiyako

The Innovation Centre at the Zambia International Trade Fair was introduced in 2017. In 2018, the Innovation Centre housed a number of innovations by young people. The innovations ranged from ICT to super-fast sports car. The aim was to showcase innovations and sharing information. The Patents and Companies Registration Agency (PACRA) was in the innovation Centre to help innovators on patenting their innovations. It also aimed at creating an association of innovators to champion innovative ideas and seek financing to mature them.

Patenting innovations gives the owner exclusive rights to exploit and use the inventions years after the innovation’s birth. It also prevents others from commercially using the invention, thereby reducing competition and enabling the inventor to establish her/himself as a pre-eminent player. Innovators can sell or license their invention to have it commercialised by another person. The invention becomes a source of income to the innovators in this case. Innovators have negotiating power in the process of acquiring the rights to use their patented inventions.

Scholarly consensus shows that innovation, which is patented, creates a positive image of the inventors. Investors, potential business partners or shareholders view patent portfolios as a demonstration of expertise, specialisation and technical capacity within a country or an enterprise. This may prove useful for raising funds, finding business partners and raising the enterprise’s market value and share. Selected innovations are highlighted below.

Hello doctor system

Hello doctor an innovation by Abuit Changwe, a youth from Ndola. Abuilt argued that “many countries have well qualified health personnel, but people complain of poor health services. He asked: what are we lacking? What can we do to improve the rate at which health services are delivered?” He did not just ask questions, he came up with an innovation known as “Hello Doctor.” Hello Doctor device provides signal to health personnel in the hospital whenever there was an emergence to avoid a situation where a pregnant mother delivers within hospital premises due to time wastages looking for health workers. The device can be placed underneath designated parking lots. Any vehicle with a patient requiring an emergence medical attention will send alarm signals to the bay where health workers are found or on the screen or wrist watch worn by health workers on duty. The signal will provide the parking lot where the vehicle with the patient is parked.

In case of a patient already admitted in the hospital that require medical attention, a button next to each hospital bed connected to a watch worn by the available specialist doctor, nurse and nurse in charge of the ward can help notify them a patient on a particular bed needed attention. Once the button is pressed, the watch [worn by health personnel] will indicate the bed number, and the bed-sider will tell control room personnel the problem of the patient for an apt doctor to be communicated to in case the personnel failed to read the message on the watch accurately.

Where did the idea come from?

Abuit witnessed a woman giving birth in a vehicle as people rushed to call health personnel. The hospital was blamed yet time wastage to let health personnel know about the emergency played a part to the misfortune. He thought he could be part of the solution to the problem. His idea requires fine-tuning and financing to actualise it. Abuit plans to mature his innovation as he gets into college.

Polani Medication Device and Mobile Tracking Device

This innovation uses GSM (Global Service Mobile) and an Android-Based-System to remind patients when to take medication. It has an inbuilt water dispenser and tray for medicine and cup of water. When the alarm reminder goes off, the patient can press a button for the machine to hand over medicine and water. However, within 10 seconds if the patient does not pick the medicine, it will call the next of kin or doctor. When the patient was away from the device, their phone will ring to remind them to go home take medication or take if they are carrying it along. The patient’s mobile phone can be connected to the device to call the patient when it is time for medication in case they were distant from the device. The device and its software was designed by Reagan Tembo. Reagan is a graduate of the Zamtel ICT College. Reagan had a problem with a grandmother who often forgot to take her medication. He made gadget for her to help take the medication at the appropriate time.

Reagan also works Charles Lumbwe, who came up with another device. Charles designed a tracking device of mobile phones, vehicles, TVs or luggage whilst in transit. The system uses Global Positioning System (GPS), General Packet Radio Services (GPRS), (GSM), and Internet of Things (network of devices embedded with electronics, software, sensors, actuators, and connectivity which enables these things) accelerometer, and mouth piece. Charles Lumbwe was fed-up with losing things. He needed a device that could be controlled by a mobile phone. The tracking device he made eliminates paying huge sums of money to companies to monitor tracking devices as his is controlled by any simplest phone. The device is encrypted via a programmable chip.

It can be commanded by a text and it will call the property owner. It allows the person eavesdrop on what was being said by the persons having the stolen property. It tells the owner the location of the stolen proper ty by a text command. The device will send the GPS location link to track the item stolen. Charles and Reagan have since registered a company with PACRA and the Zambia Revenue Authority to provide tracking devices and people can buy it for tracking different items from vehicles to mobile phones and television sets.

Sports car from waste materials

A former Northern Technical College Automotive Mechanics student Joseph Zulu, made the sports car, whose speedometer goes up to 350km/h, using recycled pieces of metal. A mobile phone signal from a simple low cost feature phone is used to start the car.

This is not the only invention Joseph has done. In 2016, he came up with safety feature on motor vehicles with overload sensor to send a signal to owner of the vehicle that the vehicle was overloaded. The signal would be sent to RTSA within a timeframe if the owner does not act on the overload. Joseph whilst in secondary school invented a house security system and a digital security system when he was in Grade 12 at Kabulonga Boys Secondary

School in 2008 which he would present at a Junior Engineers, Technicians and Scientists (JETS) club.

Production and conservation of energy

Juliana Kawamya came up with an innovation to generate and conserve energy as vehicles move along roads. She derived her idea from the principle that vehicular flow of traffic can generate electrical energy. According to Juliana's prototype energy generation and conservation system, as vehicles weigh on the road, they can switch on the system to turn on street lights and turn off hydro-supplied energy to street lights. The system has energy storage capacity for usage when no vehicle is using the road. Juliana believes that with constant street lighting, accidents due to unlit streets would be reduced.

Juliana explained that the accumulation of electric energy under her system would be proportional to the flow of vehicles along the road. In roads where vehicular flow was low, ramp-steps could be placed to multiply the impact of ever y individual vehicle. Juliana completed Grade Twelve in 2017 at Kansensi Secondary School.

Chicken plucker

Michael Mukabila, a student of Design and Technology at The Technical and Vocational Teachers College (TVTC) designed a manual chicken plucker. The manual plucker was meant to help people dress chickens efficiently even in case of power outages. The plucker can dress three chickens per turn. It can dress the chickens within 30 seconds, bringing efficiency to chicken dressing.

Innovation is crucial for the development and deployment of technologies. A widely deployed model to understand technology builds on the concept of the technology life cycle. The life cycle of technologies can be divided into a number of steps – from invention, through Research and Development (R&D) and market development, to commercial diffusion. Different processes can be discerned at each stage of the life cycle and different instruments can be deployed to promote innovation.

It has been established that patents are crucial for technological innovation in the context where they apply. They can be used to generate revenues (from licenses), encourage synergistic partnerships, or to create a market advantage and be the basis for productive activities. As such they create strong incentives for innovation in market-based economies. It has many advantages for inventors and society as a whole, which can benefit from the inventions.

Caution to innovators

Over disclosure of their innovations can result into others stealing their ideas especially when they are in their infancy and unpatented. Sometimes, reverse engineering can be applied to seem as though the new innovation is different from the originators, when it is not. Some companies invest huge sums of money for innovation spies who grasp the concept and commercialize it at the loss of the owners. Certain information should be kept away from the public no matter how tempting it is to disclose it.

Skills insecurity in Zambia: what is going on, why?

By Clive Mutame Siachiyako

Global estimates are that 75 million of the world’s young people are unemployed. About 150 million of that number is underemployed. This does not only represent a huge loss of productive capacity (as people in the prime of life are turned into dependents); but it is also a potential source of social disruption and a daily source of individual angst. Similarly, industry complains that it cannot get hold of the right people. More than a third of employers worldwide had trouble filling jobs (Economist.com). Skills shortages are pressing the Zambian industry as well.

 Being a landlocked country, Zambia sits on many opportunities and risks. Among the risks is the skills insecurity. Bordered by 8 countries, Zambia is a fertile ground for skilled persons to come and apply themselves with their skills; make money and send the money back home [capital flight]. Capital flight is depriving the country capital for reinvestment and increased income levels. A number of factors contribute to Zambia’s skills insecurity. Among them is inadequate investment in technical and vocational and education and training (TVET). Much of the attention has been on basic education, general education and university education. According to the economist.com findings, many governments are pouring money into universities, and universities are competing in singing their own praises. As a result, parents and their offspring have shunned vocational schools. Many students chose to go to academic schools, yet vocational schools give them more chance of finding work.

Meanwhile, many of the economic activities in Zambia [and globally] are driven by artisans, technicians and technologists. They are hands-on persons. Their training focus less on theoretical abstracts. Countries that have aptly invested in TVET has remained strong and viable in value addition, productivity and efficiency. For example, Germany investment in TVET has seen the country making huge strides in grassroots economic progress among citizens. South Korea borrowed the Germany model and under the Meister School Model.

Poor perception of TVET coupled with lack of career pride has pushed Zambians off TVET. They go for white collar training where they will work in offices and wear suits. They do not want to get dirty to generate income. They want others to do it. And that “others” are foreigners. The foreigners come and grab even jobs that could be done by Zambians. They mint gold and the gold is sent back to improve their home country economies. For example, Zimbabwean skilled persons in construction do much of the quality work in construction and the proceeds of the work go to run the Zimbabwean economy. Zambians have remained yearning for white collar jobs that are in short supply or nonexistent at all.

Obsoleteness of equipment and lapses in curriculum have played a role in TVET falling standards. Technology has improved by many strides, yet the investment in TVET equipment has remained sluggish. The sluggishness has affected the quality of TVET and its value to the economic progress in the country. Industry-training weak collaborations affect curriculum relevance to the industry. Much of the curriculum is overtaken by industry requirements. The result is skills mismatch and gaps when learners get into the industry. The industry lose time in retraining the graduates for them to be useful to the labour market. Skills mismatch has resulted into close 200 million persons globally to be jobless (https://www.un.org/). Zambian industry has equally complained of graduates not meeting expectations. Some argue that “it takes 2 years for us to retrain them for them to be of value to our operations”. This entails that what the training sector is doing in not in tandem with labour market needs. The two sectors are operating in different universes each doing what they think works. This poor industry-training collaboration has had a toil on improving TVET.

Curriculum lapses and obsolete equipment make persons churned out of the TVET sector to be irrelevant to the industry. The industry cannot find right skilled persons it needs. Yet training institutions are churning out graduates in big numbers annually. Some industries have been pushed into forming their own training wings to ensure apt training in imparted on the learners. Their loss of confidence in the training sector is also weakening the need for quality collaborative actions in improving the TVET sector. The Zambian industry equally has its lapses. It is generally weak compared to 8 neighbours and peripheral countries like South Africa. The collaboration between training and industry get a raw deal with the infancy of the industry. As a result, the training sector does not get the required input in curriculum development and reviews for the betterment of the TVET sector and Zambia’s skills base. In some instances, industry representative are not appropriate. For example, for a curriculum in Heavy Equipment Repair (HER), a human resources person represents the industry. Although the person may be from industry, their technical knowhow limitation negates to the core of industry-training collaboration. The weakness of the Zambian industry makes Zambia skills risky horizon for foreigners to jobs and work that should be done by local people.

Risks arising from skills lapses: 

Import of labour: One of the risks is import of labour. Many foreign investors bring skilled persons from their countries to meet the skills gap on the Zambian market. The problem at times is not about lack of skilled persons, but ill-skilled persons either because they were trained on old equipment or used inadequate curriculum. The world has progressed and without Zambia investing in modernising curriculum and training equipment, foreign investors will import labour to get a Return on Investment. Investors are not holidayers. They get into a country to make money. They need skilled persons to get things moving to get a return on investment. Thus, even if Zambia want to create jobs for citizens from foreign direct investment (FDI), without supplying appropriately skilled persons, investors will pay little or no attention to job creation goals without skilled persons to drive the investment mission. Foreigners will come and get jobs even in folk lifting if Zambians do not have appropriately skilled persons.

Capital flight: When investors come with skilled persons outside Zambia, capital is flown back to home countries by those skilled persons actualizing the investment. For example, when government says “20% of each contract goes to Zambians,” but without aptly skilled Zambians to match the investor’s investment actualizing speed that will not happen. Zambians will be relegated to trading and shouting “boma ilanganepo” [government should look into this and that]. A National Council for Construction (NCC) and Zambia Institute for Policy Analysis & Research (ZIPAR) research in 2017 showed that firms involved in specialised activities faced difficulties in finding workers with skills profiles that matched job requirements. The mismatch between skills and job requirements was perceived to increase the employment of foreigners even in low-skill jobs in Zambia. The Survey stated that “the construction sector is plagued with a great need for training either due to significant skills and job requirement gaps or service delivery standards in the market were rising”. The Survey further highlighted the need for employee training in formal and on-the-job technical skills the construction industry because the gap between skills acquired in learning institutions and the nature of jobs available in the labour market was growing.

It also showed that “the training environment limits graduates to walk in and make a contribution without retraining. When industry assesses competences, it is looking at a graduate being able to demonstrate to us that she/he understands and are able to operate certain equipment to a large scale.” In short, Zambia is faced with a crisis in skills, disadvantaging local people in getting jobs in sectors like construction; “resulting into 80-90% invested money in the sector (by government) being taken by foreign contractors.  There's need to retain the money government is investing in state-of-the-art infrastructure (schools, roads and stadia) development for sustainable economic growth.”The mismatch between skills and job requirements was perceived to increase the employment of foreigners even in low-skill jobs in Zambia. The companies with contracts in the sector thus sold their contracts to foreigners for commission. They settle for peanuts yet the construction sector is the money spinner that Zambian contractors can benefit in remaining viable in business for a long time. Contract vending has make Zambian contractors weak and opens spaces for foreigners to do construction works and money sent to their homeland.

Crowding labour market by foreigners: Investors do not come to Zambia for sightseeing. They come make money on their investment. If they do not find the right persons to work with for them to realise a return on their capital [which they could have borrowed somewhere], they will look outside Zambia to find the right persons to drive their investment. Foreigners whom in their countries jobs are in limited availability will take up opportunities and crowd the labour market. Foreigners from different countries will be populate the Zambian labour force whilst Zambians stand on the fence watching in unemployment and poverty. It makes the Zambians vulnerable and they settle for casual work in areas of the economy where investors inject their money. The situation weakens Zambia’s economic situation due to non-participation of Zambians in different economic sectors.

Loss of businesses: Businesses thrive, inter alia, due to having apt persons to drive their goal. Without skilled persons, it becomes difficult to satisfy customer needs. Shortage of skilled persons [besides general labour], limits businesses growth and sustenance. But with skills risks, Zambian businesses loss business opportunities for a) failure to meet customer expectations b) poor material utilisation c) efficiency, d) lack of skilled persons and other factors. The business environment currently requires skilled persons who can competitively meet needs of customers, efficiently utilise resources [time, raw materials and human capital], innovatively add value to products/services, and other requisites that make a business more competitive. Generally, TVET cannot only support the socio-economic welfare of individuals, but it can also increase international competitiveness. Countries with adequate and quality skilled persons are more competitive in attracting investment as they have suitable human capital for investors to realise a return on their investment. The absence of skilled persons negates business opportunities that a country may be endowed with.

Dependency on government: Government cannot provide everything to citizens. Economic diversification requires many citizens to apply their skills in different economic activities. TVET embed entrepreneurship education and training (EET) in it. It seeks to trigger the entrepreneurial genie in learners for them to undertake entrepreneurial activities. Without skilled and entrepreneurial citizens, dependency on government increases. People will look to government on almost everything. Citizens take a back seat and waiting for manna to fall from government. That has never happened anywhere. Citizens must apply themselves in the economy.

Possible solutions

Investment in TVET is key. The investment should involve workshops, equipment, tools, human capital [lecturers in these institutions], infrastructure and other systems that make TVET efficiency. Investment in TVET is costly. It is different from theoretical based training like in teaching commercial subjects. Modern equipment costs good money. Sustainable funding of TVET is paramount. With apt investment of the Skills Development Fund government introduced, that can be smoothly achieved. Most of the TVET institutions can be become incubators of businesses and supply industry relevant skilled persons.

Career pride and perception of TVET graduates is cardinal. When industry appreciates and have positive perception of the skilled persons in TVET, the confidence of the graduates from the TVET sector will be raised. They will proudly and confidently present themselves to the industry. The industry mostly despise craftsmen and artisans. It erodes their confidence and worse pay them lowly. It deprives them of the income they need to remain viable. When they are appreciated and remunerated adequately, TVET graduates will have more value to the industry. No one wants to be looked down on, it eats into the morale fabric.

Quality industry-training collaboration inputs into the relevance and responsiveness of the curriculum used in TVET. When collaboration between industry and the training sector is loose, the quality of skilled persons gets affected. The curriculum will not meet industry requirements. The training sector will keep on doing what it feels is appropriate. The industry will be complaining about not having right skilled persons to help them meet their deliverables. Skills gaps and mismatches will emerge and will be difficult to meet without industry and the training sector working collaboratively in curriculum development. Curriculum is a valuable tool in training. It defines what should be taught, what should be assessed and how it will be assessed. It is pertinent that it is responsive and relevant to the modern labour market requirements.

Benchmarking with likeminded countries advanced in some skills areas. There are countries with workable TVET models. Germany and South Korean are some examples. They have admirable TVET systems under the Meister Programme. Strong industry collaboration with training institutions have paid for well for those countries. Samsung partners with KRIVET in investing and finding strategies to improve TVET. Countries with viable models can be studied and contextualized to the Zambian situation. Reinventing the will may be belabouring on the obvious. We can learn from each other and see what works for us and what does not for the betterment of enhanced skilled persons in the country.

Conclusion

Currently the picture is bad. Chinese investors bring Chinese skilled persons. Zimbabweans are carrying out most of the construction works in Zambia.  Tanzanians are tiling houses and other buildings. And residents of other neighbouring countries taking their part. They have the skills and right attitude to get things moving. Zambians mostly lack apt skills and mindset towards work. The pursuance of white collar jobs is ruining Zambians. It is making most citizens crybabies. Skills rule the world. There is no country that developed without skilled persons. Ground Zero for example was built by artisans and technologists. They were the ones who laid each brick, each metal and other wares to get things in place. Zambians cannot afford to folding their arms waiting for “boma to do something”, it is too risky to behave in such a manner because the “train does not wait for a smoker”. The country will remain behind and loss out on its economic targets.

Preparing and training youths for the 21st century industry requires combined inputs of government, the industry and private sector. Government needs to put in place appropriate policy frameworks and implementation systems for relevant vocational training. Policy frameworks; (i) define funding strategies for vocational training and implementation strategies are made, (ii) training pathways designed and modes of implementing them devised (to increase access to vocational training), and (iii) industry interaction (for hands-on experience to learners) spelled out and modes of carrying them out well defined, as well as other initiatives to ensure that vocational graduates are properly nurtured for the modern labour market.

In addition, the industry needs to create a haven for nurturing vocational training in different sectors of the economy. The industry detects skills needs as soon as they arise, thus can signal them to the trainers and help learners acquire such competences through industrial attachments and other industry interaction modes strategically made to bridge skills lapses in most young graduates.

The industry can also devise funding strategies towards sectoral skills.  Each sector needs certain skills to increase its productivity. Each industry needs a certain quantum of human capital to achieve projected growth targets. Training right numbers of skilled, energetic and relevant personnel for each industry is a costly undertaking. Shared input in training such a pool of human capital is indispensable. Training the right clusters of skilled youths with the right calibre requires government, sectoral and industry input for attainment of collective goals (of having empowered youths –government goals; and having relevant, innovative and dedicated personnel on the job for increased productivity –goal of the industry.)

The role of the parent becomes very paramount in developing such a calibre of vocational graduates. Parents influence career choices of their children and who they end being in their lives. Homes are largest investment and greatest havens of creating great minds and stunted-dependent minds. Therefore, a new approach to career guidance is unavoidable in this era, especially with the failed old education system mainly focused on theory, which has been the major characteristic feature of mostly universities.

It is very risky today to simply say to a child, “study hard and look for a job.” A child today needs a more sophisticated education, and the current system is not delivering the goods. Vocational training has proved to be one of the tools in developing a new crop of youths who innovate, work hard, who use their intellect and hands to create value, who are financially competent, self-reliant and look-out for “how they can create employment (or how to come out of the ‘employed status’ when they still have the strength to create wealth for themselves), and not who can employ them until they retire.’

Parents can help the world have a class of youths whose mind is not fine-tuned towards "entitlement” mentality (i.e. pension, health policy, etc.). Things parents put in the ‘brain chips’ of their children has a huge impact on who they become in their lives. Career ‘worlds’ parents create in the minds of the children often determine the career they pursue. Unfortunately, the two (parents and today’s children) are living in very different times. In the 60s getting good grades at school, going to university and looking for a secure job in government, and waiting for entitlements made sense; but it is not workable anymore. Youths should be allowed to explore their inner-self to pursue careers that enable them fit in the world of today, not the non-existing world of the old age.

Gone are the days too when industry waited for government to training human resource for them. Industry currently require sophisticated and focused graduates who are ready to get ‘dirty’ (use their practical skills and intellect) to contribute towards personal and national development. Combined input of the industry, government and parents in sharping today’s pool of human capital can achieve a lot in addressing some of the youth unemployment challenges.

Soft Skills in Demand to Enhance Employability: what are they and why are they on demand?

  

By Clive Mutame Siachiyako 

Job seekers equate to more than just their resumes that outline their educational and employment histories. However valuable these may be, there are other qualities that recruiters look for in potential candidates. These are often referred to as “soft skills”. In the ever-competitive job market, the measure of an individual’s general career success is the ability to use these soft skills to adapt to any assignment.

It cannot be expressed adequately how important soft skills are and how they can position a candidate for success in the workplace. Job seekers should thus critically leverage soft skills to land on a new job. Employers place a premium on employees’ ability to communicate, to think critically and solve difficult problems, to learn new skills, to lead others, to function independently, to work as part of a team to accomplish a common goal, and to accept and thrive with constant change. The problem is that the importance of soft skills is often undervalued and there is far less training provided for them than hard skills.

What are soft skills?

Soft skills are personal attributes such as the ability to give and receive feedback, work collaboratively, and manage time. They are usually self-developed (as opposed to hard skills, which you typically acquire in school or on the job). They are helpful in acquiring a wide range of jobs, not just one’s target job. Particularly with increase numbers of graduates, recruiters look for people who can become leaders, and leadership, itself, depends on several key soft skills.

Here are the top soft skills in demand for today’s job market:

1. Communication: the ability to communicate with others is a critical soft skill in workplaces today. Communication in the form of written materials (such as emails and letters) can support business objectives. Communication delivered to peers and customers in a verbal format can make or break a business. All job seekers can develop the soft skill of communication and become more valuable to employers by taking public speaking classes, honing their writing skills and learning more about body language’s role in communication.

More than just clearly speaking the language, communication skills involve active listening and excellent presentation and writing capabilities. One highly sought-after communication skill is the ability to explain technical concepts to partners, customers, and coworkers who are not tech-savvy.

2. Organisation: Organisational skills allow individuals to arrange their thoughts, time and tasks in a structured way. Individuals with this skills take a systematic approach to every task. They complete work without having to rush through it, balance multiple assignments and cut down on the number of mistakes. This include allotting the appropriate amount of time to each step of your plan and making decisions regarding required supplies and personnel.

 3. Teamwork Skills: Teamwork is the art of collaborating with others effectively and is vital in most professions. It has to do both with how different pieces of a larger puzzles come together, with different workers taking on different puzzle pieces, and how you approach specific colleagues when you are working together. Many people have different working styles and if you are great at teamwork you are able to interpret and adapt to these, ensuring that you work well together.

The bigger the company you work for, the bigger the chance that you are a member of more than one team, which means solid team player skills are crucial. How well do you work with other team members in reaching team goals? How do you help other team members? Are you an asset to every team that you’re a part of, and how? Good teamwork involves a combination of other soft skills. Working in a team towards a common goal requires the intuition and interpersonal acumen to know when to be a leader, and when to be a listener. Good team players are perceptive, as well as receptive to the needs and responsibilities of others.

4. Punctuality: No one likes to wait. Not for employees late to a meeting; not for candidates late to a job interview; and certainly not for colleagues who deliver their work late on million-dollar business projects. Punctuality and good time management are skills demanded by employers across all industries. That is because being late has the ability to negatively affect the whole team, disrupting meetings and giving yourself and others a reputation for being unprofessional. While it might be a big shift to how you organise and manage your life, learning to be punctual will benefit your career immensely.

There is no shortage of reasons for why being on time is a valuable soft skill to have. Exhibiting your consistent punctuality will show you are reliable and serious, and will always play a positive role should you want to be considered for more senior positions. It also has the following positive effects:

a)    It shows you are dedicated and serious about your work

b)   b) It exhibits respect to your colleagues, managers and stakeholders. If you’re always running late (even by a couple of minutes), then meetings, briefings will not start on time. This is productivity disruption

c)    You appear organised and professional. Much of being punctual is knowing the details, data and facts of the situations you face at work

d)   It reduces stress. Any action or habit that reduces stress and anxiety in your professional life should be pursued feverishly, so consider learning to be punctual a must. Arriving late is a known stressor and can make people feel isolated, ill-prepared, ineffective and fearful of discipline that being consistently late might warrant

5. Critical Thinking: The ability to use imagination, reasoning, past experience, research, and available resources to fundamentally understand and then resolve issues is attractive for obvious reasons. Critical thinking is the objective analysis of facts to form a judgment. It is the ability to think clearly and rationally, understanding the logical connection between ideas. It is thinking about things in certain ways so as to arrive at the best possible solution in the circumstances that the thinker is aware of. Highlight this skill by listing an example (or speaking of one in an interview) of a time when your company was dealt a sticky situation and you effectively addressed/resolved it via critical thinking skills.

6. Social Skills: They are also interpersonal skills. They are skills for interacting with other people. They include verbal skills (the ways of speaking to others) and nonverbal skills (body language, gestures, and eye contact). Almost every job requires social skills for effective interpersonal relations.

7. Creativity: This skill is helpful in developing innovative solutions to problems. It requires an openness to innovation and mental flexibility. In many sectors, creativity techniques are seen as a means to an end and are designed to achieve better results. This is probably the most underrated soft skill because it usually takes someone creative to appreciate the need for others who are, and most people just are not that creative. Creativity does not mean being an artist, it means being resourceful and innovative in finding solutions to problems at work.

8. Interpersonal Communication: The ability to work in teams, relate to people, and manage conflict is a valuable asset in the workplace. Interpersonal communication is an important skill to hone to get ahead, and as you advance in your career, the aptitude to work with others becomes even more crucial.

Interpersonal communication is the process by which people exchange information, feelings, and meaning through verbal and non-verbal messages [face-to-face communication]. It is not just about what is actually said - the language used - but how it is said and the non-verbal messages sent through tone of voice, facial expressions, gestures and body language. How something is communicated can be a source of conflict or building the team in workplaces.

9. Adaptability: industries can change at any time, leaving employees scrambling to adjust to new ways of doing things and new skills to learn. The ability to adapt well to change is a soft skill that is highly valuable to employers. When you can switch gears well and adapt to the conditions and procedures of a workplace, your status rises to that of a go-to person. Learn to be an observer and a problem-solver when developing this soft skill.

Naturally, people can be wary of leaving the comfort zone formed by their repertoire of hard skills. Adaptability is an important soft skill, inasmuch as it demonstrates an ability and willingness to acquire new hard skills, and an open-mindedness to new tasks and new challenges. Employers often seek candidates who can show a willing and upbeat attitude. The ability to adapt to changes should not be underestimated in today’s tech-driven and rapidly evolving business environment. The ability to pick up on new technologies and adjust to changing business surroundings is critically important.

10. Friendly Personality: People want to work with people they like, or think they will like—people who are easygoing, optimistic, and even fun to be around regardless of situation. Do other people tend to come away feeling good after working with you? How can you tell?

Some additional soft skills that are often in demand include:

a) Strong Work Ethic: Employers are looking for employees that take initiative, are reliable, and can do the job right the first time. Managers don’t have the time or resources to babysit, so this is a skill that is expected from all employees.

b) Emotional Intelligence: Although you will most likely never see this in a job description, Emotional Intelligence (EI) is a highly sought-after skill that relates to your ability to identify and manage not just your emotions, but those of others. Think of it this way: an employee who can talk another employee off a ledge—say, someone who’s having a particularly bad day, and showing it with their actions and emotions—would be considered someone with a high EI.

Emotional Intelligence describes the ability identify, assess, manage and control the emotions of one’s self, of others, and of groups. In addition to having a cadre of transferable skills relevant to a particular career field, employers are looking for candidates with sound emotional intelligence when hiring. Emotional Intelligence helps us connect and communicate with colleagues on a deeper level. In this very global world-of-work, EI helps us create stronger multi-cultural relationships and celebrate differences by allowing distinctive points of view to be valued.

c) Computer and Technical Literacy: Almost all jobs nowadays require basic competency in computer software, but many job seekers fail to provide this section because they think it’s implied. If computer skills are relevant to your field, insert a “Technical Skills” or “Systems Proficiencies” section to your resume.

d) Research Skills: With Google at the tip of your fingers, it’s easy to find answers to common issues. However, hiring managers seek employees that are skilled at assessing situations, are able to seek multiple perspectives, and gather more in-depth, harder-to-locate information.

e) Process Improvement Expertise: The number one goal every company has in common is to save money. Optimizing business procedures can save a company time and money. Quantify results in your resume by listing the before and after facts of projects that you took on.

Being able to grasp new skill, concepts and programmes takes a combination of soft skills that can set a candidate apart. The ability to then translate these new ideas into meaningful work tasks and when handling projects is what can help grow teams and develop more efficient methods. As a career professional, it is advisable to seek new opportunities to learn. As an employer, it is critical to provide learning opportunities to boost skills for your teams. The teams should be availed chances for learning leadership skills. Developing leadership skills can be a ticket to success in any industry. Leaders and managers take responsibility of their personal growth and development, thus inspiring others to do the same. Leaders are good decision makers, know how to tactfully deal with others and solve problems effectively. Courtesy of https://www.livecareer.com/career-tips/career-advice/soft-skills-in-demand

Sustainable Actions: South Luangwa declared first sustainable wildlife park in Africa

By Clive Mutame Siachiyako

Sustainability is a buzzword and desirable practice in many sectors in order to take care of today’s development without comprising the development of the future. Likewise, sustainable tourism practices are being embedded in tourism to meet tourists’ ecological preferences in tourist destinations they visit or plan to visit. After assessing the South Luangwa National Park’s potential to meet tourism needs of current and future generations, the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) declared the national park Sustainable Wildlife Sanctuary. It is it the first to get that status in Africa.

The national park’s declaration was made during conference in Lusaka to commemorate 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development. The UNWTO Secretary General Dr. Taleb Rifai made the pronouncement.

 

The Conference was held under the theme “Sustainable Tourism, a tool for inclusive growth and community engagement in Africa.” The symposium came at the backdrop of the framework of the 70^th United Nations General Assembly in December 2015, which designated the year 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development. The designation of the year 2017 is an important milestone in the 2030 UN Agenda and in the progress towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and recognising tourism as a pillar of development.

Among other areas, the conference focused on sustainable tourism that benefits host communities of resources that attract tourists. Its deliberations were around continuous capacity building through [re]training so that as the tourism landscape changes, human resources to manage tourist sites are reskilled to keep the tourism sector in each country competitive. Identification of ecological tourism (ecotourism) skills and how to impart them on human resource in the sector was viewed an important aspect to tourism.

Deliberations on identifying ecotourism skills during the symposium were on: a) what kind of skills and knowledge were required for sustainable tourism, b) how will they be imparted (training system/methodology) on individuals working in the sector, c) who will offer the training (training providers), and d) what type of training will it be (short or long term).

Sustainable tourism is gaining prominence in tourism, inter alia, because of tourists’ preferences in minimising carbon footprint of their traveling or eating. They thus travel with climate in mind by planning wisely and choosing modes of travel/food stuffs consciously. Sustainable tourist sites that are as natural as possible, that provide organic food stuffs or use environmental friendly transport systems become preferred destinations to climate minded tourists.

South Luangwa National Park is habitat to many wildlife 

Other conference storylines were on how host communities can benefit from ecotourism, especially when they are vested with skills/knowledge that give them an edge to apply themselves amid changing tourist preferences and other sectoral dynamics. Research on emerging trends and designing training systems that ensured relevant human capital availability to harness sustainable tourism topped the discussions. The conference was the first flagship on sustainable tourism activities earmarked for different countries.

The conference also focused on partnerships between the public and private sector towards developing sustainable, quality and innovative tourism products. It provided public and private sector practitioners chance to share experiences on opportunities and difficulties to successfully collaborate on tourism development. Participants looked at partnership models that contributed to job creation, connectivity and inclusive growth in areas such as infrastructure, development finance, and service delivery.

Some difficulties cited in the sector included; a) access to finances b) access to land c) cost of doing business d) easy access to some tourist sites by tourists due to poor road infrastructure or lack of air transport to such destinations, and e) limited specialty training. Financial inabilities have excluded local people from tourism business opportunities. Inclusive growth should thus embrace financial inclusion to ensure local people become part of the sector. The cost of doing business and moving tourists from one place to another hinders most players in the sector to remain viable. Furthermore, limited specialised training excluded local people from the sector and frustrated them when they see outsiders earn good income from resources they [local people] should equally benefit from in terms of livelihood. Some training requirements cited were to do with making cuisines, handicrafts, jewelry and others. 

Other areas of interest during the conference were the role of technology in and for tourism development. Discussions were on advances in electronic-based information and communication technologies that contribute to the improvement of the value chain of services/products and to help develop viable sustainable models that mitigated some negative impacts of tourism. Opportunities for enterprises and tourism destinations to use technologies in a strategic and tactical manner to improve their position in the market while benefiting from the new customer trends were explored.

Global tourism trends show that contemporary customers were digital travelers. They are tech-savvy and tech-utilisers to get as much information as they want about potential destinations and their packages. Affordability of internet bundles emerged as a handy aspect in creating opportunities for customers and enterprise owners to consistently update their offers and respond to issues almost instantaneously to meet digital travelers’ expectations. Training needs around this topic were on a) information communication technology (ICT) literacy among entrants in the sector b) the need to upgrade curriculum for improved quality of skills and ability to entrants into the sector to utilise ICTs to maximise their potential in marketing their services and products c) training institutions’ deficiencies in terms of having modern training equipment in ICT and qualified trainers.

The conference further looked at “wildlife conservation and community engagement”. Ideas were shared addressing increasing levels of poaching and illicit trade of wildlife products that threatened achievements made in leisure tourism niche market. The UNWTO places Zambia top in providing wildlife viewing, nature destinations, adventure trips and cultural heritage tours. However, poaching and illicit trade of wildlife products endanger some of the most iconic species of Zambia. Wildlife conservation emerged as a valuable priority as it also contributes to job creation and engagement of local communities into tourism activities so that they are not left behind.