Upskilling the Middle East's future workforce

PwC revealed its 23rd Annual Global CEO Survey at Davos 2020, sparking world leaders and captains of industry to debate the urgent business challenge of our time - how do we upskill one billion people by 2030?

The Middle East is no exception to this challenge, and businesses are feeling the heat - 80% of CEOs in the region state skills shortages are a potential threat to their organisation’s growth prospects.

The threat to growth is even more pertinent for the Middle East, where two-thirds of the Arab world are under the age of 30. Every decade welcomes millions more young people into the workforce, placing an urgent need to equip young professionals with the necessary skills and training to become future business leaders.

The UAE was one of the first nations globally to step in and support the global upskilling initiative. Overcoming the structural division in the labour market and ensuring that Emiratis are included in the private sector is key to the government’s vision. This requires a focus on developing Emiratis into future-fit business leaders to ensure a strong and sustainable economic future.

This vision for upskilling is mirrored by businesses across the region. Middle East business leaders are not just talking about the need for upskilling, but putting their words into action. PwC’s Global CEO survey shows 70% of Middle East CEOs report that they are improving their workers’ and managers’ knowledge of technology and its business potential. More than half of those surveyed confirmed their company’s collaboration with academic and government institutions to develop the skills needed for the future. But it is also important to understand what these skills need to be. Knowledge of digital and data literacy are essential to have a strong command of the future economy - yet teaching the art of human literacy is just as important. Soft skills will create transformative change – communication, creativity, collaboration, leadership, resilience – these are the sustainable skills of the future.

PwC’s Academy, the talent and skills development business of PwC, is helping clients solve this important problem across the region. We help companies prepare for the reality of tomorrow with training programmes focused on transformation across all elements of an organisation. There is no one-size-fits-all solution to upskilling, which is why our programmes are tailored to our clients’ specific needs, be it a short programme to improve business knowledge and skills, or a comprehensive learning journey for mindset change.

Ultimately, investing in human capital goes far beyond benefiting only the individual. People are the most valuable asset in business and instilling a culture of life-long learning will be transformative for businesses and for the respective economies – lifting youth out of unemployment and growing future leaders in the Middle East workforce.

This article has also been published in: Zawya.