Founder and Lead Consultant, Dear HR Consulting, Joel Babatunde, speaks on the operations of the African Workforce Summit, and its impact on job seekers, businesses and the economy.
Nigeria’s unemployment crisis continues, especially among youth. What specific gap was the African Workforce Summit created to address, and how is it different from other interventions?
The African Workforce Summit covers, not only human resources. We are also covering business innovation and creativity, because at that event, we’ll have creators as well as influencers, and others from different industries to be at this conference.
This is not the first edition of African workforce Summit. This is actually its second edition, but we had a name change previously. So, we have previously been hosting a similar event, but this time around, what we are doing is not just focusing on Nigeria, but expanding beyond Nigeria and the entire Africa.
At this conference, one of the key advantages you get, is that we are giving opportunities for attendants to sit down with companies and organizations who are recruiting. So, these recruiting companies come to this event and source out for talents they need.
Then also do what we call talent pooling. So, even if you don’t get a job at that event, you also get into their pool of talent, so that when they have opportunities and roles available, you’ll be the first contact.
Aside from that, for other job seekers and career people as well, we’re going to do CV review. So, you get opportunity for your CV to be reviewed by professionals. So, that means that you can come along with your CV, and then we’ll get to review your CV for you. Aside from that, there’s going to be profile optimization for people who use social media like LinkedIn.
We will help you optimize your profile as well so that you can reach your target audience. So, whether you are looking for a job or looking to upskill or looking to maybe sell your profile online, you can also do that at that event.
Aside from that, there will also be other exhibitions that will be going on concurrently with the job fair. For instance, we are going to have some speaking sessions, and some closer sessions where there’s going to be discussions on how you can help advance your career.
The combination of the entire HR professionals will give you maybe more than 50 years of experience. You will be sitting down with HR professionals from different sectors of the economy and culture. So, it’s a full blown event.
This year’s theme, “The Fuse,” feels both urgent and symbolic. What does it represent, and why is this moment critical for Nigeria’s workforce future?
Alright, so “The Fuse,” is talking about the integration of various aspects of the programme. When you want to spark a light, or when you want to spark a torch, there are things that come together to ensure that the torch is into place. When coming up with the theme: “The Fuse,” one of the major things we looked at is how the wholesomeness of the event is going to be. If you’re a small business owner or an SME as well, you get opportunity to also come and pitch your business and also win a prize of $1,000 from a headline sponsor.
It is a combination of businesses people, job seekers, career persons, creatives, innovators, industry leaders. These people come together to share insights, to share knowledge, that even after the event, you can go away with it and say, I’ve taken away some additional benefit from all these different programs.
What other things should participants expect from the programme?
For us, we are looking at the long term, not just the short term. Of course, there are going to be a lot of post-event activities and some follow ups.
Also, for instance, for those who are involved in the pitch competition, it doesn’t stop there, there’s going to be follow up.
There’s going to be some level of mentorship to help them to also thrive as well. We’re also going to be exposing some of them to people within our network who are looking for businesses that they want to join, businesses that they want to help thrive.
Participants are going to be better equipped for the market that they are going into. We’ve seen a lot of times whereas job seekers, there are certain errors that are not supposed to be.
We’re equipping them to be proactive about how they apply for jobs, whether it’s foreign jobs or international jobs. They can work with a foreign clients. But how do you present yourself to a foreign client?
How do you get in touch with them? How does your profile stand out to a foreign client? Remember that Nigeria also has the issue of like trust among foreign businesses, so you also have to find a way to put yourself out there in a positive light.
A good CV will help job seekers to be able to manage their profile and target these remote opportunities that can even help them to earn outside Nigerian currency, whether it’s dollar, Pounds Sterling etc.
There are people who are changing careers, because I believe that a lot of people do want to change their careers, or maybe they are looking to maybe move from middle management to senior management.
This is an opportunity where they will come to and learn from people who are senior on how they have moved their career from stage to stage. So, as a mid level professional, you’re also looking at how you can also move your career to a senior management level, and also probably earn as much as these personalities earn as well.
For those who are going to be in the creative space, those who are going to be around will be sharing tools that you can also use to also scale. There will be a lot of after follow ups from our team with some of the participants that are involved in it.
You’ve built a unique brand as “Oga HR” blending HR expertise with storytelling, culture, and even food. How has that helped you connect with a younger generation and shift how they think about work?
One of the things that the storytelling has helped to do is that recently, I mean, for younger professionals, there has been a shift in work, with more people working remotely.
That means there’s certain activities that you need to do as a remote worker. Oga HR has been churning out videos that help employees become better workers, whether it’s remote or not. We are also educating people on likely interview questions that you face when you go for interviews.
There’s certain level of mentorship that is being done. There are some spaces that will be open on Twitter to discuss career issues, career challenges, how to manage the toxic environment, how to manage the toxic boss, those things that make up a corporate space, is what also being shared to the audience as well.
Then also, there’s the part of therapy, that will require helping people with their mental health. Aside from physical health, that’s the mental health part. And, you know that’s also key, and that’s the reason why we have, “My Therapist” just to help people take note of the fact that their mental health is also key.
All these things have been put into play regularly to ensure that the audience, who are not only entertained, but they are also gaining knowledge and insights from the brand Oga. HR,
What can attendees expect at AWS 2025, from consultations and workshops to interviews and networking, and how do these elements translate into real-world impact?
For those who came to the program, the takeaway for them is that they will experience transformation. And when we speak of transformation, you’re going to be a better version of what you were before. That’s one of the key things. So, if you’re coming in and you’re a job seeker, we’re looking at transformation, where you’re going back into the job market and you’re hitting more interviews, and you’re able to get a job as soon as you know you can.
For people who have businesses, and they are looking to scale, they will have inspiration and insight to be able to grow their business. Remember that the purchasing power in the economy is really low right now, and you need as much insight as and knowledge to be able to stay afloat and stay balanced despite everything.
For people that have existing businesses will take advantage of the networking session to grow their operations. So, everything is going to come together and just transform people who come. And my key takeaway for is for people who are coming to ensure that they come expectant and also take notes as well. So those are the key takeaways.
Last year’s summit produced strong outcomes. Can you share any standout stories or results that illustrate AWS’s tangible value?
From last year’s summit, we’ve had several testimonies. We’ve done several contents around people who actually got jobs from the event. So, they came, they got interviewed, and they got job placement. There are even people who might not be get placements immediately, so it might be something that might take maybe weeks.
There are people that, after weeks, based on the connection that they made at that event, they are able to get jobs as well. So, we have several testimonies as that, even for the people who are not job seekers, people who are career persons. We have several testimonies such as that on our website.
You go to our website, you would see the testimonies of several of the people that attended, even from the HR people, that’s human resource people who attended, they also had their own testimonies from that event.
So, we’ve seen that over and over again, and that’s one of the things that inspires us to do 2.0. The fact that people who came didn’t just come, but they’re able to gain something. So, that inspired us, and that pushes us to do 2.0 even pushing us to do 3.0 after this. We are looking at other continents where we can go to and spread the gospel of African Workforce Summit.
You’ve hinted at expanding AWS to Kigali and Nairobi. What’s the broader vision, and how do you see this platform evolving across Africa in the coming years?
The goal for us is to expand into other countries as well. Other countries will need some of these offerings and these exhibitions, these job fairs and these reviews that we have. So, we are looking at the entire continent. For Africans, we want Africans to become the most sought after talent.
We want them to be the kind of talent that can get the highest pay. You don’t have to reside in another continent, like the US or Europe before you become high paying. But looking at a while, looking at a stance or a position where people even from the West Africa, the east the north, can earn as much as those in other countries as well and still work from their own country.
Expansion also involves touching other cultures as well and other companies. So, we’ve seen, a lot of companies, for instance, tech companies, move across borders as well.
We’ve seen adoption of tech, we’ve seen adoption of different means of work, so we’re also going to push an enabling environment for that as well, to ensure that the workplace, the culture, the people and the processes have a standard that will help the continent thrive.
