Careers in Ghana now An Exclusive Agent
for Careers in Africa
In February 2010 Careers in Ghana and Careers in Africa joined forces
to provide global recruitment solutions to companies operating within Ghana. The
relationship between the two companies means that Careers in Ghana can now serve
companies operating in Ghana better than any other recruitment company in Ghana.
Companies can now use the solutions provided by Careers in Ghana to attract the
best talents from around the world for all job openings particularly
professional and executive positions. Businesses can also participate in Global
Career summits organised in Europe, USA, Asia, Middle East and Africa to present
their services and products to the World whilst it seeks the best talents from
around the World to feel vacant positions.
Brain gain: African migrants returning home
Africa may still be suffering
from a chronic brain drain but some of the continent's elite are turning their
backs on the West and taking their talents back home according to film-maker
Andy Jones.
The story is as old as the hills. Man leaves village to seek riches in the big
city.
In recent years,
the village has been the continent of Africa, the city represented by
the bright lights of Europe and America.
Any number of Africans seek to cross the ocean and make their fortunes, never to
be seen again.
But when our
team travelled around Africa recently to film a new TV documentary
series, we found a different story. Many of the Africans I met had worked or
been educated in the West and come back.
Across nine African countries and a journey of 7,000 miles from Mali to South
Africa, from Ghana to Ethiopia, the story was often the same. Africans were
returning from working or studying abroad either for patriotic reasons or
because of the growing opportunities back home.
Fashion industry
These were educated Africans like Kofi Ansah, a Ghanaian fashion designer. Born
into an artistic family, he studied fashion at Chelsea School of Art before
graduating with first class honours in 1977. He spent 20 years living and
working in Europe before returning to Ghana in 1992.
Mr Ansah still travels the world, and could live anywhere, but his business is
growing, his family are settled and he feels like he's making a difference in
Accra. "I came to help try to develop the clothing textile industry. And I
thought, if we could do it right, it could help our employment situation."
Mr Ansah now creates jobs for tailors and designers, models and marketers.
At one of his fashion shows, we met make-up artist Nana Amu Fleisher-Djoleto who
grew up in London. Her view is that not only are more people returning, but they
are coming home sooner.
"I'm finding now that younger people want to go away maybe to university, but
then come back after gaining some experience. They're not working for years and
coming back when they're decrepit." Global mobility
For decades, African leaders have complained of a brain drain, losing many of
their brightest and best to Western countries keen to attract highly skilled
migrants.
This brain drain cannot be stopped or reversed according to Jean Phillipe Chauzy
at the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). But he sees other factors
at play in Africa's favour.
"The fundamental difference is new
technology allowing African professionals in the West to transfer their
skills and do some teaching," says Mr Chauzy.
It is a relatively new trend with digital
technology allowing African academics and other professionals abroad to
support African universities, schools or individuals back home to bridge the
skills
gap with the West.
He also sees "a pattern of mobility for people with skills" with greater global
mobility allowing "countries which have the right conditions" to attract skilled
professionals home either temporarily or permanently.
A recent IOM report on Ghana highlighted its "relative peace, security and
political stability" and found "growing incidence of return or circular
migration".
"Of the more than 1.1 million Ghanaians who left the country between 2000-2007,
only 153,000 did not return either temporarily or permanently."
Commodity Exchange
For many returnees including former World Bank senior economist Eleni
Gabre-Madhin, loyalty and the desire to give something back is an important
motivation for returning.
Her brainchild is the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange, which began trading in 2008
and which she hopes will make a difference to the lives of millions of farmers.
"I'd spent years doing analysis and writing, but then the food crisis hit in
2003, and it made me think, OK we're talking about things, but we're not doing
anything."
The new exchange, owned by the Ethiopian government and supported by the World
Bank, trades in six commodities including coffee, produced by around 12 million
small-scale farmers in Ethiopia.
While deals are still sealed with a traditional slap of hands, cutting edge
technology ensures that all transactions are logged on computers within
four seconds, with prices transmitted across the country by radio and around the
world via the internet.
The farmers benefit by being guaranteed a good international market price,
preventing exploitation by middlemen and they get paid within 24 hours.
The first two years have seen over $400m (£274m) worth of produce traded and
despite a number of teething problems, the exchange looks set to prosper, with
nearby countries such as Tanzania and Uganda now considering similar schemes.
Ms Gabre-Madhin acknowledges there have been problems but she would like to see
more people joining her in making solutions work, rather than sniping from
overseas.
The African brain drain with emigration outstripping immigration may be destined
to continue but for those countries which can offer the security and political
stability, there is a growing dividend from those who feel they owe something to
their former home.