To Job Seek or to Job Create?

Africa needs more employers.

My point of departure: Job Creators will also need Job Seekers to run a successful organisation

"You are the BOSS" that cool word that is now everywhere, music lyrics, movies, merchandise (T-shirts, Caps), #Bosslife is the way and why shouldn't it be? Ambition as per Oxford dictionary - a strong desire to do or achieve something

One of my passions at Yzeup (wiseup), a knowledge sharing platform, is about balancing the narrative around “job seekers” and “job creators.”

I have observed a trend where one path is being treated as Sovereign and the other is now almost as second fiddle, a no go area. I know this because I speak to many young people, I have a passion for the empowerment and development of the youth - sharing tools to hone into their skills to allow them to navigate this career world - both as entrepreneurs and as employees (some people were kind enough when I was young to share some knowledge and some I found through my own search). I get the "but you are your own boss," "you get to do your own thing, make your own decisions." The new “trend now is being an entrepreneur is the way to go, it's the coolest, it's about being your own BOSS.” And it is.

I have been lucky enough to have experienced both sides and must admit that I have enjoyed both. I had a career, I had goals, I was a go getter and climbed up to as far as I could (the glass ceiling hit - and if I must be honest also faced some frustrations) but I enjoyed it all the way, I received training for all my roles and while some line managers were not so great (they taught me lessons about myself and how to handle these situations) many others were great (they honed into my skills and let me flourish).

This same individual who enjoyed the corporate world also had a passion for doing my own thing (doing that now) and hope to be doing that for the near future. I currently enjoy being a job creator. I enjoy giving young people the chance, the training, the "experience" that each organisation asks for before they are hired - through internship. It has its ups and downs but it’s a path that my partners Jordy Mugeni and Asante Kapanga Accounts Manager and HR Operations and I took and one that we are pursuing relentlessly.

The AHA moment is that what we need are tools to help us navigate both worlds either as an entrepreneur or as an employee. Tools that help us manage situations in corporate and not interpret them as "that's it's time to do my own thing" without fully understanding what that means. We need to be able to say "Am doing my own thing" because it is what we WANT to do. I am not in anyway disputing the fact that the system "frustrated you out" is not a valid enough reason to jump and do your own thing - most of us started our own businesses because of this. What I am saying is you need to DECIDE if this is the right path for you.We need tools that help us decide whether entrepreneurship is the right for you.

I am all for entrepreneurship especially on our African continent, when we sent out a job post for marketing interns - we received more than 20 CVs of highly academically qualified young people that were willing to come in just for the training. When we sent the same post but for Tech interns this time, the mailbox had a CV coming through every hour. Africa is in need for more employers.

But can we also recognize that we need to be taught these entrepreneural skills as early as pre primary school? Kudos to institutions such as @futureproofSA who are teaching young people to be entrepreneurs. I attended their workshop for 9 year olds and was amazed at the knowledge that our child this young received. Even more the business ideas that these kids as young as they are came up with in their brainstorm. These kids were able to not only come up with ideas but also come up with a whole go to market and marketing plan for their businesses.

Let's get given all the knowledge, pros and cons to help us decide on the way forward.

So in the quest to create more employers,  let’s not push that entrepreneurship IS the way to everyone - it’s for some people and it works for others.

For even these Job Creators will also need Job Seekers to run a successful organisation

Let’s not make those that are climbing up the ladder feel like theirs is not passion. There’s passion in both #career #entrepreneurship #africa #jobseeker #jobcreator