Skill passports help Ghanian workers realize their potential and access new roles

Ghana is Africa’s fastest-growing economy. Among the top 10 African economies, it ranked 75th globally in terms of nominal GDP in 2022. Despite this, more than half of Ghana’s workers are experiencing an educational mismatch with their roles, and traditional institutions are struggling to equip workers with the skills they need to participate in the modern world.

The widening skills gap in Ghana

The reason for this is a widening skills gap within the country, partly caused by changing demands for skills across all sectors. Ghana has long since been known for producing gold and cocoa. A burgeoning oil industry that has developed in recent decades has also helped to sustain the country’s rapid economic growth.

Meanwhile, factors such as corruption, low access to credit, low agricultural productivity, and the generally low skill level of workers have been cited as the reasons that Ghana’s workforce hasn’t flourished to the extent that might be expected in a country with sustainable growth, causing skills gaps to widen.

The poor performances of sectors such as agriculture, for example, have forced workers to move to the services sector. This has led to small productivity gains due to the influx of low-skilled workers. This weak labor force is failing to provide the foundation necessary to support Ghana’s long-term economic growth.

Additionally, global trends are making it difficult for these low-skilled workers to succeed in the modern workforce. Targeted reskilling and upskilling are becoming necessary for employees who want to futureproof their careers and possess the skills needed to succeed against a backdrop of digital transformation.

What skills are in demand in Ghana?

Traditional sectors such as mining, agriculture, and oil and gas production have remained dominant in Ghana, with most employees pursuing careers in them. However, there’s a growing demand for a wide range of skills in other areas.

Information, Communication, and Technology skills

It should come as no surprise that the demand for Information, Communication, and Technology (ICT) skills is growing. The country, like virtually all others, is heavily influenced by digital transformation and the modern-day technology sector plays a key role in the economy.

Ghana’s ICT sector is currently valued at more than US$1 billion and with estimates saying that it’ll exceed US$5 billion within the next decade, there’s a growing demand for traditional IT roles such as network administrators, analysts, software engineers, and programmers.

Finance and financial technology skills

Ghana has a healthy finance sector that has seen significant growth in recent years. Digital payments are on the rise throughout the country, increasing from US$1.2 billion in 2017 to US$6.23 billion in 2023. By 2028, digital payments transaction volume is estimated to exceed US$12 billion.

The country licensed its first fintech company in 2020, and the government’s decision to pilot a digital currency called e-Cedi is increasing the demand for employees with developed financial and technological skills. Additionally, there are many key growth opportunities in traditional finance subsectors such as banking and insurance.

Engineering-related skills

Ghana has a mature construction industry. It was worth US$13.2 billion in 2021 and is forecast to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4% through to 2026. As such, students and workers would be wise to pursue engineering courses that allow them to develop the skills necessary to follow this career path.

Although traditional fields such as mechanical, electrical, and civil engineering (naturally) have a consistently high demand for skilled workers, emerging fields such as environmental engineering also have a high demand for workers while the available supply remains comparatively low—a challenge that’s not unique to Ghana.

Helping Ghanaian workers build skill passports

To help Ghanaians overcome modern-day skills gap challenges, multiple international organizations are working within the country to expose citizens to careers they might never have learned about or considered. Among those participating are USAID, Microsoft Airband, and Bluetown, a Danish IT company that provides low-cost, sustainable Wi-Fi solutions to rural, unconnected regions across the world.

At SkyHive, we’re also taking part by helping Ghanaian citizens to build skill passports. Two cohorts of people have participated so far, each made up of 18 to 35-year-old women in the secondary cities of Koforidua and Kyebi in Ghana’s east. Some of the women are studying in college whereas others are high school graduates working in farming and other low-skilled occupations.

The idea behind the initiative is to help the participants learn self-reliance and career-boosting concepts such as having a “growth mindset,” how to build a resume, and how to look for jobs online. We’re also teaching them important skills such as applying to jobs, interviewing, and basic social media marketing. A lot of these fundamental skills aren’t taught in Ghanaian schools due to the lack of career services.

What are skill passports?

A skill passport is a comprehensive and transferrable record of an individual’s skills, competencies, qualifications, and experience. Skill passports are designed to serve as a personal skills inventory and enable workers to document and showcase their abilities, training, and certifications in a structured format.  This can be incredibly useful for foreign or refugee workers who often struggle to have their skills and experience verified by employers.

In the context of our Ghanaian initiative, SkyHive skill passports are helping to match participants with jobs—some locally, some remote—that match their skills. Our goal is to demonstrate to each participant that they possess transferable skills that they might not have realized are valuable to potential employers.

This aligns with SkyHive’s long-term mission, says Bennett Grassano, who led the program: “To enable 8 billion people in the world with a skill passport and address unemployment and underemployment to create economic security for all.”

Positive feedback from participants

Around one hundred people have completed the SkyHive workforce development program so far, and satisfaction is high.

In a survey of 98 participants in the Ghana project, respondents were asked to rate their experience with the skill passport, how easy it was to turn their resume into a skills profile, and, most importantly, whether they could find matching jobs. In each category, respondents rated their experience more than six out of the maximum seven on average.

96% of the participants report being better prepared to take action to improve their chances of getting a job because of the skill passport. Meanwhile, more than 75% were able to identify a job opportunity to pursue.

One participant who went through the program, Abigail Asantewaa, said, “It was helpful to see the skills I need to develop,” referring to communications and management skills and courses that would help move her from her current procurement assistant role to a managerial one.

Another participant, Hameeda Sadick, said that she “got to know things about myself I hadn’t thought about.” Initially, she believed she had just a handful of skills but after more thought, she was able to come up with a whole inventory of skills: teamwork, collaboration, working under pressure, and more. “I hadn’t sat down and thought about what I could do,” she said.

Unleash the full potential of your workforce with SkyHive

At SkyHive, we have been recognized by the likes of Gartner and the World Economic Forum for our contribution to the future of work. Our AI-powered intelligence software helps talent leaders prepare for the future with market-leading skills inventory, skill passports, and skills-based workforce planning solutions.

If you want to learn more about how the SkyHive platform can help to support your workforce as digital transformation continues to transform the fundamentals of work itself, book a demo here.