Each year, many young Ghanaians graduate from the many tertiary institutions across the country.
From training schools, universities, technical universities to aviation schools and other skill-specific institutions, the numbers are alarming.
Out of the over 100,000 graduates that enter the hunt for good jobs, only a handful are usually successful.
After years of hard work, dedication and learning, it sometimes is frustrating to leave school with great expectations for the job market only to not see any of the dreams materialize.
Maybe, this gap between the heavy load of graduates and the total number of available jobs can be attributed to a general lack of structured channels.
Apart from government institutions and a few public sector jobs, the biggest sector that employs many young graduates is the private sector.
Entrepreneurship has been targeted as one of the many solutions to graduate unemployment in Ghana but there is always the obstacle of lack of adequate capital.
Even when young graduates have great ideas and proposals, finding the right financier can be hectic.
The bureaucracies and long list of requirements sometimes prove too much for them.
In the wake of recent global happenings, economic troubles, and pandemics many Ghanaians are becoming creative and taking advantage of e-commerce.
Online retail and e-commerce are poised to provide solutions to graduate unemployment in Ghana.
Today many e-commerce businesses are present in Ghana, offering different solutions.
These include marketplaces, fintech, logistics, on-demand services among many others.
For many graduate unemployed persons, there are many opportunities in e-commerce providing great solutions.
Of the many solutions that e-commerce provides, let’s look at some really simple yet beneficial ones.
- The job search: Work from home has become very popular especially over the past 18-24 months due to covid-19. Even already established entities and institutions have implemented this in order to keep their employees as well as consumers safe. The upside about this is that, for unemployed graduates, they can even apply for jobs, have virtua interviews and even go through the probation periods without having to spend on transportation to and from the office. There is also the added flexibility of working more than one job at a time. Some jobs require 100% commitment and dedication while some can be balanced with other less consuming jobs. For example, an unemployed graduate can start an ecommerce blog and write for companies while also managing social media pages for SME’s and small brands. In little to no time, he/she will gain adequate experience to either get a bigger well paid job or open their own company.
- Unlimited potential consumer base : One very vital thing every entrepreneur looks at before attempting to start a business is potential consumers. Without consumers, there are no sales and without sales, there is no profit. Ecommerce provides a solution to this as many consumers can be found online. Many of them are specific while a couple of them are open. With millions of consumers looking for millions of products and services, there is great potential to build a business online.
- Overlapping sectors – These days, visiting physical shops is limited for many consumers. The new normal is ecommerce where everyone orders groceries, essential items and several other products online. After the orders are made, other platforms and processes are engaged to make the entire experience seamless. This is an area where young unemployed graduates can explore. With deliveries and logistics being an integral part of the ecommerce process, owning fleets or managing fleets from the comfort of your home can be rewarding. Joining referral programs online to earn commissions also is a good way to manage graduate unemployment.
With e-commerce companies such as Jumia expanding to many parts of the country, there is no doubt that graduate unemployment will be greatly reduced over the course of the next few years. Young unemployed graduates need to take advantage of the many opportunities it presents.