Nairobi-Kenya
At 10.37 a.m. on Friday, July 20, the general manager of Intercontinental Hotel Nairobi Karl Hala, and chairman of Kenya Utalii College Board Gerson Misumi took seats at a side table at the hotel’s Mara South Hall to append their signatures on a very important document.
Photographers and cameramen moved closer. Within seconds, the two men rose up, shook hands, smiled at each other and exchanged copies of the memorandum of understanding. That moment signified the beginning of a plan to bring labour supply closer to demand in the hospitality and tourism industry. It was long overdue.
The gap between the skills that employers in the industry were interested in and the products that training institutions were releasing to them had widened. The workplace in many industries is now a more dynamic environment, with technology heavily responsible for shifting the way people work. With innovation becoming a key pillar in the workplace, new systems and equipment are emerging rapidly, with some demanding additional or fresh set of skills.
Training institutions have had difficulties keeping up, and much affected have been the hospitality/tourism, engineering, and ICT industries. These three are big in the country, both in terms of employment and the revenue they generate. The ICT industry acted swiftly. Firms like Samsung and Safaricom have established academies to train to their specifications.
More recently, Microsoft and Huawei separately established workshops to update the skills of fresh graduates or introduce students to new technologies just before they finish school. This has been necessary because in ICT, by the time students graduate from after four years, a lot has changed. In fact, according to Microsoft East and Southern Africa Channel director Eric Odipo, there’s something new in IT every six months or so.
Stakeholders in the hospitality and tourism industry have also embarked on a mission to bridge the gap between the workplace and training institutions, is a step many organisations will find worth adopting.
So when applause followed the July 20 MoU deal between Intercontinental Hotel Nairobi and Kenya Utalii College, it might have seemed like an ordinary routine, but to those with a deeper understanding of its implication, it was a milestone.
Mr Hala’s signature meant that Intercontinental Nairobi would offer itself as practical training and apprenticeship ground for students of Kenya Utalii College (KUC). Mr Misumi’s signature showed that the college welcomed the hotel group to contribute in the development of its training curricula to tune it to the prevailing interests of the employing industry.
Mr Hala suggested that Intercontinental Hotel Nairobi had been selected by the Kenya Hotelkeepers and Caterers Association (KHCA) to pilot what was intended to be a wider partnership between hotels and training institutions.
“It is very important that these professionals get exposure in the industry – both students and the faculty,” Mr Misumi said. This makes sense because it ensures that the lecturers teach from practical experience.
In many institutions of learning, lack of updated industry exposure among lecturers contributes to the gap between the skills taught and the industry needs. Many lecturers are career scholars with no exposure in industry.
It is the reason that early in the year, the principal of Kenya Polytechnic University College, Prof Francis Aduol, announced a plan to send lecturers for three-month internship every three years to expose them to workplaces in their respective industries.
And the institution signed a deal with the Kenya Association of Manufacturers to support the training of students in line with employment needs. The exposure of lecturers was included in the deal. These partnerships are a good response to widely broadcast complaints from employers that training institutions are slow to update their curricula, and thus release half-baked professionals into the market.
Ms Leah Ng’ang’a of the Kenya Association of Hotelkeepers and Caterers declared as much when she said: “This is the first ever partnership of its kind in the industry. Tourism is a major pillar of Vision 2030 (Kenya’s long-term development blueprint).
Training to enhance skills is crucial. We encourage more members to join up and do more of such partnerships.” More hoteliers should heed that call. Better still, other industries should follow in similar footsteps.
It is presently the quickest way to ensure that Kenya’s workspace is occupied by professionals trained in relevant skills.
