Looking at the world today, we see a huge mismatch between the skills young people have and the skills employers need. Without opportunities to build the right skills, millions of youth will struggle to find jobs and risk being left behind. We can’t let that happen. That’s why it’s crucial for governments, businesses, educators and civil society leaders to rapidly come together more so than ever before to address this gap. In doing so, we can begin to create sustained outcomes for young people and more inclusive economies and societies. In the Global context, literature shows that entrepreneurship is increasingly accepted as an important means and a valuable additional strategy to create jobs and improve livelihoods and economic independence of young people.

Importance of digital skills in youth entrepreneurship

Youth entrepreneurs are vital to a country’s social and economic development. According to the African Development Bank, 10-12 million youth enter the workforce each year, but only 3 million secure wage-earning jobs. As a result, fostering entrepreneurship among young people is essential. Entrepreneurship education provides a comprehensive learning management for student entrepreneurs, helping them to establish correct values and cognitive systems, enhance their perceptions of innovation and continuously integrate, and accumulate new knowledge to shape their innovative ability and personality. Being an entrepreneur teaches life skills, generates creativity and problem-solving skills, provides a better understanding of markets and economics, and enhances teamwork, communication, networking and brings about a never-say-die attitude. Failing at entrepreneurship is a learning experience in itself.

Being able to embrace new technology in the workplace helps to streamline working processes, meaning less time is spent on repetitive tasks and staff are freed up to focus their efforts on higher value work that helps both you and your employees to meet objectives.

Here are eight ways to keep your job skills and knowledge up-to-date.

• Take Professional Development Courses. …
• Use Online Resources. …
• Attend Professional Events. …
• Network Online. …
• Continue Your Education or Get a Certification. …
• Learn from Others. …
• Read White Papers and Case Studies. …
• Improve Your Hard and Soft Skills.
• Jobs that will be disrupted by automation

There will be some professions that will thrive due to technological disruption but others might suffer instead when they become replaceable in their jobs. Machines are most likely to take over the jobs that involve monotonous physical effort.

Companies will find it more convenient to automate repetitive tasks to save time and costs – robots do not get tired or demand compensation. After the initial expenditures incurred on investment along with occasional maintenance, companies can save a ton of money in the long run that they would have otherwise spent on salaries.

How professions will thrive

Some professions that will further be disrupted by automation are bookkeepers, travel agents, and proofreaders. If you see your career in this list, it might be time to consider learning a new skill.

People tend to forget a crucial aspect of automation – AI is not here to replace us, it is here to make our lives easier. Therefore, an incentive for investing in automation is helping employees become more productive.

Reskilling and Upskilling

According to the World Economic Forum, by 2022, more than half of the world’s employees will have to learn new skills.

Being open to and learning new skills is very important to stay relevant and resilient in this environment and can help you secure a career despite changing times. For example, in this day and age, it is crucial to keep up with online learning. Whether you choose reskilling or upskilling to update your knowledge, here are some of the most in-demand skills in the future of work:

1. Machine Learning

It is a sub-discipline of artificial intelligence. With machine learning, computers can learn from data identification without human intervention.

People often have a misconception that ML is a variation of deep learning but in actuality, they’re both very different. While ML allows devices to learn from experience, deep learning provides them with reasoning.

2. Artificial Intelligence

People have this futuristic opinion about artificial intelligence but what they don’t realize is that the concept of AI has been with us since 1995 when John McCarthy coined the term.

It refers to the machines’ ability to simulate our behaviour. Some of the most commonly used AI applications in our lives are smart speakers like Alexa and chatbots.

3. Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity is one of the most important factors inside a company in terms of data protection. Cyber-crimes or data breaches can lead to extremely huge losses for many businesses; that’s why many brands are investing in this to keep their work secure.

In the future of work, where most jobs are handled remotely, the need for cybersecurity experts will increase, making this a very promising and in-demand career.

4. Data Science

Data science is a discipline used in many industries. It consists of using data analysis to identify trends or patterns that can help solve a problem or confirm a hypothesis. Data science is used on drug development, climate change, and the stock market to issue predictions.

In upcoming times, this skill will continue to be valuable, but you’ll probably need to combine it with other skills like coding or machine learning. If you have experience in the financial industry, you might be familiar with data science fundamentals like statistics and data filtering.

5. Low-Code No-Code

A low-code no-code platform allows all types of users aka citizen developers to create applications by a convenient visual interface of a simple drag-and-drop system of application components without having to write any code. Although this is not going to replace developers, it’s a popular trend that optimizes the development process and speeds up work.

Low-code no-code platforms automate workflow processes and therefore, save unnecessary time consumption and overhead costs in the long run. Subsequent times imply that it is important to do this otherwise it can hamper the efficiency of your company as employees will spend their valuable time in activities that can be easily automated and the organization will not reach its full potential.