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How to fill Nigeria’s Fintech talents gap, By Rarzack Olaegbe 

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Is your club playing in the Fintech Champions League?
Rarzack Olaegbe

Machines have replaced humans in many jobs. Innovative farming has also substituted humans and horses. But computers cannot completely take the place of human beings. Technology cannot take over human skills. You need humans for creativity and critical thinking. You need humans at the centre of inspiration. Because of this, you have the human-machine team.

For instance, some factory floors deploy robots to increase machine learning. This has encouraged people to work alongside the machine. Machines turn hand-drawn sketches done by humans. These sketches are digital source code. This idea has helped Airbnb. Airbnb enables homeowners to rent out their homes to travellers. This firm has a new artificial intelligence that empowers its designers and product engineers to take ideas from the drawing board. And turn them into actual products.

New training programmes are required with the ever-changing nature of the Fintech industry. To support upskilling. To advance products and services. To close the gap of talent shortage.

On the one hand

Machines are transforming human creative endeavours. Machines and creatives are working together. Especially in the Fintech ecosystem. But there is a paucity of human skills. The talent gap in the Fintech space is glaring. Why? Research has shown that Fintech is a fast-moving sector. It has changed how to deliver traditional financial service. Fintech has evolved.

But the subjects taught in Nigerian universities have not evolved. There is, therefore, a clearly identified skills gap. Blockchain. Cybersecurity. Programming. Big data. Machine learning. Artificial Intelligence. Deep learning. And soft skills. These skills are in high demand. Artificial intelligence and Blockchain show the largest gaps. Sustainability, resilience, operational disruptions, and changing customer demands have lower gaps.

To maintain competitiveness, Fintech firms depend on fast and continuous evolution of technologies. To access the right candidates and talents in the right geographies is vital. KPMG and H2 Ventures in their 2016 report, Fintech100, explained that the persistent skills gap in the Fintech industry illustrates the existing change in employers’ needs. Employers need the most suited candidates with the right skillset. This is to match the growing demand of newfound alternatives in the industry. The difficulties of a limited pool of technology candidates hamper the existing skills gap.

According to the Institute of Coding and Manchester Metropolitan University report, limitations exist in the evolution of Fintech. Regulatory burden and reliance on the supply of skilled labour are limitations. These have negative effects on technological innovations. The report informed that to meet Fintech’s demands, you need elastic skills. You need innovations and changing practices.

On the other hand

Take big data, for instance. It comes as structured and unstructured data. Electronic devices generate big data. The data is too large. Regular databases cannot handle it. Cannot process it. The data has a high volume. It has high velocity. It has a high variety. It is structured data. It has numbers. It has names. It has addresses. It has different ages. It has dates. The unstructured data is different. It has videos. It has images. It has audio. The structured data can be analysed and processed easily.

But the unstructured data cannot be processed easily. It requires a special technology. Big data can detect fraud. It can be analysed to construct habits. It can explain behaviour. It plays a crucial role in the evolution of Fintech. The skill is in high demand. If you are a scientist, you are a billionaire. You would sit in the hallowed chamber of big tech companies. You would dine with Bill Gates. You would wine with Mark Zuckerberg.

But there is a gaping hole. To fill the hole, Fintech companies, top universities, and research institutions could collaborate to train the workforce. On the flipside, upskilling is another way to keep the current employees within the industry. With upskilling, experienced workers will desire to start something new to enrich their current skill through training.

This is crucial in retaining talents within any organization. Available training schemes would allow new recruits and experienced employees to build diverse skills. This is an investment. It is the right investment in the careers of the workforce. It is an opportunity to gain an insight. To plan for a career future. If the Fintech industry lacks high quality training with a variety of choices, employees would not be encouraged. But this is not so. There are competent trainers. This would spur employees. It would discourage them from leaving altogether.

New training programmes are required with the ever-changing nature of the Fintech industry. To support upskilling. To advance products and services. To close the gap of talent shortage. Fresh graduates would come. Skills would multiply. Already, Beijing uses top universities and research institutions to train the Fintech workforce. This should be replicated.

To support the development of alternative programmes of learning, we need apprenticeships and work placements. We can groom talents. We can harvest talents.

It would create diversity in the talent pipeline. It would provide role models for pre-university education. It would support employers. To attract and retain a larger and diverse workforce. Universities should collaborate with the Fintech industry to increase awareness of Fintech. To bring financial service innovation closer to the undergraduates.

From this side

To support the development of alternative programmes of learning, we need apprenticeships and work placements. We can groom talents. We can harvest talents. Talents would develop machines. Machines would do the heavy lifting.

Yes, Bigmummy. That way machines would learn from humans. Machines and human work side-by-side. Machines win. Humans win.

*Olaegbe ([email protected])

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