IFSC ‘chips in’ to sharpen financial skills

GABORONE - A recent report by Accenture has confirmed that by capfinturing one percent of the global market for outsourced jobs in the financial services sector, fifteen-thousand jobs could be created in the next five years in Botswana, says Alan Boshwaen. Boshwaen, who is the Chief Executive Officer for International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) was speaking during the IFSC Career Fair held at Gaborone International Convention Centre (GICC) on Saturday.

He said outsourcing is most prevalent in the broad international financial services sector and it has been of particular interest to the IFSC as it can and will play an important role in creating sustainable job opportunities for Batswana.

“One of the key factors for this success will be our human resources and their ability to compete at the regional and global level,” he said.

Boshwaen said the IFSC’s experience in the last year and varied conversations with young professionals in Botswana and institutions abroad is that employer opinion indicates perception of limited skills base and low productivity.

He told the audience that some international banks and financial institutions have reported struggling to recruit the right level of technical skills with the requisite experience and customer service orientation.

“A number of Batswana professionals here and abroad perceive the domestic work environment as lacking sufficient depth and are staying abroad in large numbers where they feel they have opportunities to find jobs matching their education and skills even at the entry level where they would not have working experience,” he revealed.

During open discussion, Reginah Vaka, the managing director of Botswana Life advised those who would like to assume positions of leadership to have a vision and not be afraid of having positive dreams.

She said they should understand that they are not required to produce results single-handedly but that they should produce results through others.

For his part, the Chief Executive Officer of Botswana Stock Exchange, Dr Tebogo Matome advised the youth to have a dream and follow that dream with vigour and in a calculated fashion, select the best course of action to attain the dream.

He said the kind of personality needed for success in one’s chosen field should be guided by perseverance, fearlessness, upright character and that one should be a good listener.

Career fair objectives were to launch an IFSC CV database, open forum discussion of some citizen achievers in the broad financial serves area, and launch Botswana IFSC Internship programme.

Other objectives were to showcase Botswana IFSC companies, including some citizen entrepreneurial companies and other organisations active in developing people as well as delivery of training sessions aligned to the requirements of young professionals.

Students from the University of Botswana, Botswana Accountancy College as well as working professionals and members of the public attended the fair. BOPA