A major cause of unemployment, especially in Ghana, is the gap between what is taught in the classroom and what actually happens in the workplace. Thousands of graduates are churned out by tertiary institutions each year, some even graduating top of their classes. Yet, they proceed into the “real world” and face the harsh reality; what they have learned is not enough to navigate through the fast-changing corporate world and add value to their teams.
What makes one stand out?
What will give one graduate a competitive advantage over another graduate?
Skills! Skills that transcend the theories learnt in school. Some of such skills include people skills, computer literacy skills, emotional intelligence, communication skills, self- and time management skills, as well as critical thinking and analytical skills.
In this write-up, we will focus on analytical skills. According to Indeed, a website for job searching,
analytical skills are soft skills that help you identify and solve complex problems; including, but not limited to critical thinking, data analysis and research.
In recent times, analytical skills are in high demand by several organizations and demonstrating it can help one become the ideal job candidate. All organizations seek to grow and satisfy customers. To do this, they need to draw insights on whatever data they have in order to make meaningful decisions. As it is said, Data is the new gold now and the more insights you are able to draw from a given data, the more competitive you become in navigating the market.
For this purpose, the Finex Skills Hub has decided to train both students and workers in Microsoft Excel and Analytics as a way of narrowing the skills gap.
The Finex UGBS Project
The Finex-UGBS project is a pro-bono project the firm has undertaken at the University of Ghana Business School. Under this project, the firm seeks to train as many students as it can in Microsoft Excel and Excel for Analytics for free.
A pilot session took place from October 2021 to November 2021 and about 80 Students participated. Some topics that were treated include:
Understanding the scope and definition of Data Analytics
Introduction to the tools and features for Analytics in Microsoft Excel.
Case study: Sales Dashboard using Tables, Power Pivot and Power Query.
The full take off will continue in the coming year, 2022 and it is expected to run for 10 weeks every semester.
The firm hopes to extend this much-needed training to other schools and department within the university and consequently, other universities within the country.