Be the Change
Growing up in a rural farming community, I just wanted to be more than a farmer. I have always wanted to see the world, go to the best universities there is and become more than a farmer in my community. I just want to set a new standard for my people.
The motivation to be better has been a major driving force for the pursuit of greener pastures. People are driven by different things but the end product is mostly similar. To change the world, to change a narrative or to be the change that is needed.
In the same way, thinking beyond borders is relative, borders represent different things in our lives. It can be a boundary or an encircle or to adjoin another country. To be the change is to think beyond borders and be unique.
The world they say is a global village but has been more inter-connected now than ever before. Over the past three years, with the pandemic, the most unprecedented event of our lives, the entire world has had to adjust and change their traditional ways of doing things. A lot of businesses moved from having physical offices to working remote and so many others have had to diversify to suit the changing needs of people.
To achieve this, most companies had to identify who their new target audience are and what they want since the “traditional” way of doing things, will no longer work. To compete in these unprecedented times, companies had to be strategic in their operations and others had to identify solutions to manage the crisis. We have seen some businesses able to withstand from the difficult situation. Industries like the technology companies, delivery services and grocery stores have been successful across the world during these times. Due to the condition during such difficult time, some employees had been laid off and this had been very difficult due to the unforeseen circumstances. But for me, it is the best time to take advantage of the situation to think beyond borders identifying what you love to do best which can serve as a source of income.
In Ghana, there has been a surge in small growing businesses in recent times due to the high percentage of unemployment in the country since the pandemic also has a negative impact in this condition. According to a report by the Institute of Statistics, Social and Economic Research (ISSER), only 10% of graduates in Ghana find work immediately after their mandatory national service and it takes the remainder about 5 to 10 years to secure permanent employment.
Therefore, a lot of graduates who are unemployed but ventured into small scale businesses for source of income. Others take the opportunity to learn new skills, taking online classes and a lot even switching careers just to fit themselves in the available job in order to earn worthy means of living. Immediate employment after tertiary is never a guarantee so it is advisable to be smart enough to think otherwise by venturing into your own business or learning new skills such as fashion design, catering, farming, digital marketing etc or offering voluntary services to employers just to secure an experience in the job market rather than depending on employers to give you an opportunity to practice what you learnt in school.
“Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything”. George Bernard Shaw.
Written By: FRANCISCA MAHU