Solving Nigeria’s Talent Gap Crisis: UnoCasa Launches Future Business Leaders Programme (FBLP)

UnoCasa, a leading Lagos based Human Resources firm, has launched a competitive placement programme, Future Business Leaders Programme, FBLP, to support enterprise in meeting their growth through fulfilling their talent strategy. FBLP pre-selects, skills and matches high performing undergraduate talent with enterprise year on year in a progressive programme that provides exposure, learning, internships and mentoring. The World Bank asserts that more Nigerians are underemployed as opposed to sufficiently employed; figures from the National Bureau of statistics support this assertion, unemployment is 14.2% and underemployment is 21%. As with the rest of the world, if Nigeria must accomplish the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, two of the elements that need to be fulfilled are quality education and decent work. Decent work is typically a result of improved skills in a thriving business environment. Although a huge number of graduates enter the job market annually, the talent problem has been a recurring topic in the organised formal sector with many Nigerian companies saying they are unable to find the right level of skill for available positions. In view of the mismatch between graduate employee skills and those skills required for performance in the modern workplace, schools and other educational platforms are therefore saddled with the urgent responsibility of providing the tools that will truly prepare the youth for the future. Learning and industry must partner to develop curriculum that is transferrable to the work students will actually do when they graduate. The skill gap is apparent and FBLP provides one solution through its programme. Organisations are able to describe their preferred talent and UnoCasa Limited pre-selects them into the programme. Intern placements are done after subscribers have gone through a detailed series of learning and assessments to determine their fit for adoptive organisations. Year, on year, the learning, bespoke to adoptive company, is progressive until graduation. The Future Business Leaders Programme is a dynamic programme as its curriculum is designed off the back of enterprise’s needs for now and the future and covers 6 main areas; Ethics, Transferable skills, Career development, Management, Citizenship and History, IT skills and Extracurricular activities. The MD/CEO UnoCasa Limited, Ekundayo Odele says that FBLP is an accelerator for providing the immediate and future level and quality of skills that will drive growth in enterprise and support Nigeria in achieving sustainable development goals 1, 4 and 8. She also believes that FBLP is also a strong tool for entrepreneurship; the skills needed for employment or owning a business are the same, subject matter expertise, quality of service, management skills and people skills amongst others.  The preference for undergraduate participation is clear, we want to equip the next batch of Africa’s Business Leaders with the tools for excellence, leadership, performance and sustainable growth. You can the conversation on the following Social Media platforms. Twitter: @fblpng Instagram: @fblpng Facebook: Future Business Leaders Programme Linkedin: Future Business Leaders Programme Registration for entry into the programme commences on Tuesday, October 3, 2017. To sign up for Future Business Leaders Programme (FBLP) as an undergraduate or enterprise partner contact: Website: www.fblp.unocasaltd.com Telephone:  0903 075 2329 Email: fblp@unocasaltd.com