Skills Development & Job Board (SD&JB)

The future of work will depend on growth-focused reskilling and upskilling initiatives, new talent pipelines, intra- and cross-industry smart redeployment of human capital, and strategies for socially responsible actions.

I am committed to bridging the skills gap by providing skills development and skills training (digital literacy skills and vocational training) as well as connecting the skills of the Indian and Indonesian workforces to jobs and the demands of employers using technology.

The impact of technology on skills development and employment generation is a tested and proven solution across nations hence its deployment to the future of work in India and Indonesia will yield expected and measurable results and outcomes.

Creation and curation of relevant courses and training for skills development on a mobile application and aggregating the details and data of employers and their demands on the same platform should prepare India and Indonesia for the future of work.

The specific problem I am working to solve within the Future of Work in India and Indonesia Challenge borders on the changes to jobs and its impact especially on women, that is driven by the Fourth Industrial Revolution and by extension, automation.

There is a need for a deliberate plan and action towards making sure that jobs are protected and the automation of jobs does not lead to massive job loss and that is what I am trying to solve. Suffice to say is that women will be the worst hit because they constitute the majority of the population in India estimated to be 662 million and about 50% of the population in Indonesia are female.

According to a report on Automation and The Future of Work in Indonesia, ''to capture the productivity benefits of automation, Indonesian will need to learn new skills''.

According to International Labour Organization (ILO), 60 percent of the formal employment in India is prone to automation and will bring about: changes in skill demand, gender disparity in the redeployment of the workforce, and firm re-organization.

First of all, I believe that everyone has the right to the means of livelihood irrespective of gender and there should not be a limit to the development of a people no matter their current state of development. 

Looking at the status of women in India, there was a national survey conducted that revealed that there were female-headed households in India and most of them are in urban areas. This goes to show that, the responsibility of footing bills or taking care of the family is not only shared between men and women but may also be personal, this is in contrast to the economic participation of women to men in urban areas which was put at ratio 14.2 for females and 53.0 for males.

While in Indonesia, 54 percent of working-age women are active in the labour force compared to 82 percent of working-age men. For example, if Indonesia could increase female labor force participation by just 25 percent by 2025, it could generate an additional $62 billion in economic activity and boost GDP by 2.9 percent.

Analyzing these facts and data with current realities and with the advent of new technologies and the potential impact of automation on the future of work, women and indeed everyone in India and Indonesia needs to have access to learning and economic opportunities because they deserve a place in the future of work.

First, the problem I am addressing is real according to World Economic Forum and the solution I am proposing is critical and beneficial to the economic growth and development of the population and the nations, India and Indonesia. People are the economic powerhouse and the most important factor in the economic calculations and decisions of any nation hence, plans, actions, and investment directed towards their development should be a priority. this I want to believe aligns with the Challenge.

Everyone faces and addresses challenge as best as they can but, generally speaking,  challenges affect women differently probably because of their design, societal bias, and other traditional or cultural factors. If not, it won't be mentioned in the overview of the Challenge, even if it is slightly that,12 million jobs held by women in India will be affected by automation.

I am the team lead and my name is Chidi Odinanwa. I am a digital and social entrepreneur.

I will constitute a project team soon.

My solution is innovative because it democratizes access to learning and economic opportunities by leveraging technology. It is an approach that promotes the use of technology in addressing some challenges confronting human and economic development in growing and thriving economies.

Technology improves anything it comes in contact with; technology is an enhancer. Technology can change and advance lives and improve human development outcomes and that change can be catalytical, leading to significant improvement in the standard of life of a people and economy of a nation.

The technology space is wide enough to accommodate ideas that seek to solve real problems that confront people daily. There are already tons of technology solutions that address nearly all the challenges we face. I advocate the use of technology for the good of all.

The technology that powers my solution is software, a mobile application that will be the platform for skills training and access to jobs. Users will pay to learn or access courses and other opportunities including a community of professionals and networking opportunities and insight.

I am expecting that my solution will have a significant impact on the problem, people, and nations I am targeting.

My solution will have an impact on the problem because it relies on evidence-based research and it is a prototype of existing solutions but with a little change and gender bias. Below are third-party research and findings that lend credence to it.

https://www.oecd.org/els/emp/H...

https://www.mckinsey.com/featu...

https://www.groupdiscussionide...

https://www-tandfonline-com.ezproxyberklee.flo.org/do...

https://www.worldbank.org/en/t...

https://www.camecon.com/blog/impact-technological-change-skills/#

My impact goal for the next five years is to provide at least three thousand Indians and one thousand Indonesians with skills development training and jobs, yearly.

I plan to achieve this goal through partnerships. I am very passionate about the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and partnership for the goals (Goal 17) is critical to achieving each and every one of the goals.

Annually, at least;

- 70 percent of my target population (three thousand in India and one thousand in Indonesia) have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs, and entrepreneurship.

- 50 percent of the 70 percent are gainfully and productively employed.

The barriers that I currently have are technical and managerial, I do not have software engineering and design skills and I do not also have a team yet even though I have conceived this idea for about a year now although, what I did was start a social enterprise that promotes capacity building and provides digital and relevant skills and connected a few that we trained to employment opportunities.

And, I have provided learning and employment opportunities to more females than males.

The other barrier is funding. Even if some people do not like to hear that funding is a barrier, I'd like to mention that in the part of the world where I come from, funding is an important factor in starting and running a business.

Great.

For the technical and managerial barrier, I intend to co-opt professionals that have the skills and competence as co-founders, and for the funding, I may want to bootstrap but, I do not mind if I can have access to grants for product development and launch.

I am the only one working on the solution for now.

As I said earlier, I have conceived this idea for about a year and this is just an opportunity to birth it, I hope so. I have had the opportunity to try it out traditionally through my social enterprise.

I do not yet have a team for this solution except you want me to talk about my team in my social enterprise. I hope it does not disqualify me.

I am very interested and passionate about human capital development and human development and I have volunteered and worked in different organizations and capacities.

I prioritize skills and competence and the value that each member of the team is bringing to the table and I also ensure that I have more females than males on my team, I do not know why but, that works for me. I am in support of equal employment opportunities for all.

For example, in my social enterprise, I have achieved more when the focus is on the vision of the organization and the objective of every project we plan. We have had impressive output and outcomes on every project that we implemented.

None.

But, I will like to partner with interested and selected traditional and digital learning institutions resident in the state or country of operation for skills development and skills training. And, I will like to partner with HR and management consulting firms for jobs and employment opportunities.

In India, I will like to partner with the following learning institutions;

- Kerala University of Digital Sciences, Innovation, and Technology

- APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University

In Indonesia, I will like to partner with the following learning institutions;

- Mercu Buana University

- Sampoerna University

- Indonesia Computer University (UNIKOM)

- Universitas Prasetiya Mulya

I will be providing skills development and skills training services through a mobile application in partnership with learning institutions and recruitment services in collaboration with employment agencies as an added value to the unemployed, middle-class, middle-income, working-class women, and adults living in urban and peri-urban areas at an affordable cost per course.

For everyone who enrolls and finishes any course and does not feel satisfied or does not get a job after three months of completing the course shall get a fifty percent refund of what they paid for the course or will have the opportunity to learn another course for free.

This is to ensure that everyone gets maximum value for their money and to be able to reduce unemployment and the negative impact that automation may have on the future of work.

Great. I am applying to get support.

The supports I will get from the Challenge will be of great help to my solution from concept to launch. About the barriers I have, I will be most grateful if the Challenge can help to connect me to professionals with technical and managerial competence who will be willing to do this with me all the way.

I will also appreciate connections and partnerships with institutions (public and private) that are relevant to making this idea and solution a reality.

My partnership goals include, but are not limited to;

- human (people and leadership) and material resources

- product research and development

- collaborations

- market research and penetration

For each of these goals, I need support and connection to individuals and institutions that can help to meet them. My solution is still at the concept stage and will need all the support to make it a reality and thrive too.