Experts in the Nigerian entrepreneurship ecosystem have said that remote work holds promise for Nigerian businesses as the Covid-19 pandemic has compelled organisations to shift their processes online.
The experts who spoke at a recent Knowledge Exchange Centre (KEC) virtual training organised for unemployed graduates themed ‘The Rise of Remote Work: Opportunities and Challenges’ said that the rise of remote work is thriving in Africa.
They urged unemployed graduates and career professionals to learn to take advantage of the remote work culture that is gradually becoming the new normal.
“The pandemic has broken down all social, cultural, and technological barriers that organisations usually come up with to say people cannot work from home except they come into the office,” said Omolara Aromire, director of people, Co-creation Hub during her keynote address.
“It also set in motion a structural shift from where one can work and this holds promise for businesses,” Aromire said.
She defined working remotely as the ability to work from anywhere globally; saying what most orgainsations did during the imposition of a lockdown to contain the pandemic was telecommuting and not remote work.
According to her, telecommuting means having the option to work from home but still has to occasionally come to the office.
Speaking on the advantages of remote working for businesses, she noted that working remotely gives organisations access to tremendous talents as it removes the barriers resisting them from getting the best talent.
She added that working remotely has also helped organisations reduce their operational cost while saving significantly.
For the employees, she stated that it helps them reduce the pressure of having to commute to the office daily especially in traffic-prone cities such as Lagos.
On the challenges of working remotely, she identifies the inability to chat face to face as a barrier, while noting that zoom and other meeting platforms are already addressing the issue.
She advised orgainsations to measure employees’ productivity based on results achieved of set targets and not on the number of hours spent in the office.
“Orgainsation must put in place policies and strategies to embrace remote working,” she said.
In a goodwill address, Yetunde Arobieke, Commissioner, Lagos State Ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment said that the pandemic has affected the social, economic, and human endeavours, stressing that it has changed habits of people as they were compelled to stay home and the situation also made the face of businesses different.
Arobieke noted that creating jobs is a core pillar for growth in the Babajide Sanwo-Olu administration while commending KEC for their sustained efforts in tackling unemployment in the state.
“Unemployment itself is a pandemic and we need to make a conscious effort to address it,” he said.
Speaking on the ministry’s plan for the remaining part of the year, she said that the Ministry of Wealth Creation is set to carry out some initiatives to address unemployment in the state while encouraging youths in diverse ways.
Similarly, Charles Nwodo, founder and CEO, Knowledge Exchange Centre (KEC) said that his organisation has partnered with the Lagos state government to reduce youth unemployment.
“For us at KEC, it is an article of faith to play our role in dealing with unemployment among the youth,” he said.
“The theme was carefully selected to align with an important phase of the end of one civilisation to the beginning of another civilisation,” he further said.
Participants at the training were taken through various sessions by trainers and a certificate was presented at the end of the two days programme.
