De Beers fosters skills development
Correspondent | Friday May 26, 2017 15:04
This gathering, which was held from May 9-10, 2017, brought to Botswana Professor Paul Evans who has over decades, dedicated his professional life to working on human capital development. Since 2013 he has been Academic Director of INSEAD.
His current work focuses on international human resource management; a particular emphasis on global talent development. He is the author of the Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI), a credible report which assesses the talent competitiveness of over 100 countries, of which Botswana is one.
Currently he is very active as an advisor on socio-economic public policy to governments, regions and cities in different parts of the world – with more than a thousand recent press articles commenting on his observations.
The special committee of cabinet on youth empowerment and engagement, senior leadership of various organisations and human resource professionals within the diamond industry gathered together over the two days to hone in on some of the key themes emanating from the 2017 GTCI and human capital development issues affecting the country.
Professor Evans shared insights on how best to address human capital issues pertinent to the diamond industry to support the beneficiation drive. He also enlightened the audience on research that could contribute towards the formulation and execution of innovative solutions to address some of the current human capital development and youth empowerment related challenges in Botswana.
In addition Professor Evans shared with the audience the 2017 findings of the Global Talent Index report, which he has authored. The report ranks 118 countries, including Botswana on global talent readiness for the 4th Industrial Revolution. “We seek opportunities to collaborate and forge partnerships, and engage in strategic conversations that inform development of innovative solutions, to answer some of the basic and tertiary education, skills development and youth empowerment challenges Botswana faces.
This requires that we assess the situation within our country and the diamond industry.
We see this as our contribution to developing skills in the cutting and polishing sector in-line with our beneficiation drive,” said the resident director of De Beers Sightholder Sales, Neo Moroka when delivering the official opening remarks.
When closing the two-day session, Head of HR at De Beers Global Sightholder Sales, Malebogo Mpugwa highlighted the importance of fostering sustainable public private partnerships. “It is critical for business to partner with government and learning institutions to address the escalating mismatch between skills required by business and what learning institutions offer.”
De Beers says it is steered by its mission to turn Batswana’s diamond dreams into lasting realities, through various social investment initiatives.