Ghana’s unemployment debate often focuses on the number of jobs available, but there is another side of the problem that businesses cannot afford to ignore: whether the people applying for those jobs have the skills required to perform them.
Northshore Apparel Ghana Limited offers an interesting approach to that challenge. When the company opened applications, more than 20,000 young people reportedly showed interest. Many, however, did not have the basic skills required for work on an export-oriented apparel production floor.
The easy response would have been to reject them and continue searching for workers who already possessed the required skills. Northshore chose a different path.
Rather than seeing the skills gap as a reason to close the door on young applicants, the company invested in training them. With support from Ghana EXIM Bank, the Youth Employment Agency and the National Youth Authority, the company expanded its pre-employment training programme and has since trained about 2,000 young people who were subsequently placed in permanent employment.
There is an important business lesson in this approach.
Recruitment is often treated as a search for finished products: employees who already have the right qualifications, experience and technical abilities. But in a labour market where employers repeatedly complain about skills shortages, businesses may need to rethink that model.
A person who lacks the required skills today is not necessarily incapable of becoming a productive employee tomorrow. With structured training, supervision and an opportunity to learn, that same person can become an asset to the business.
This approach also gives companies greater control over the kind of workforce they build. Instead of competing for a limited pool of already-skilled workers, businesses can help develop workers according to their specific production systems, standards and expectations.
When companies train and employ young people, the impact does not stop at the factory or office. A stable income supports households, pays school fees, puts food on tables and allows families to plan for the future. In that sense, employment becomes more than a business transaction; it becomes an investment in communities.
This does not mean businesses should abandon qualification standards or hire people without considering competence. Rather, where the gap is primarily one of practical skills, companies can consider whether some applicants need an opportunity to be trained instead of simply being rejected.
Northshore’s experience demonstrates that the distance between an applicant and a productive employee can sometimes be bridged through deliberate investment in people.
Ghanaian businesses, particularly those in manufacturing and other sectors facing skills shortages, can take a valuable lesson from this approach: do not only look for the workforce you need; help build it.
