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Even though pleas have always been made to promote SME in the African continent, they have  rarely given the expected results because of rare financing means and strict conditions on loans acquisitions at traditional banks.

Now, this widely criticized trend seems to be declining in favor of the new opportunities that the rapid growth of the 21 century digital revolution is offering. Thus, if not so long ago it was put on the sideline of economic development policy, the funding of project ideas is starting to gain some interest in the African continent. Innovative project developers are being hired especially among the youngster.

Bilateral, multilateral or private public funding companies have more and more interest in Africa because they are very much aware of all the possibilities that digital can offer like the ability to make incubators be some kind of project development labs.

The desired result are job creations, contribution to national added value and as indirect result reducing the unemployment rate within the young African population.

The promotion of the potential value in the entrepreneurship of young African students has become a reality thanks to the reinforcement of professionalization and research in the continent higher education. The creation of Small and MEdium size Entreprises (SME) which usually represent 80 or 90% of the specific features of companies in African countries, has become marvelously more active. It is because of a more active implication of young African in the conception and building of progects.

Administrations along with international development institutions act as guarantees to allow young entrepreneurs ( startups included) to borrow money which is crucial to the development of their progects.

It is a way of supporting young entrepreneurs by allowing them to overcome the obstacles of funding their progects. We have CTIC as an example in Dakar, Senegal which has the support of public authority, World Bank  and private companies especially mobile phone companies. This Senegalese incubator is also financed by payments from the profits of some fifteen incubated companies. There are incubators in other African countries that practically work the same way as this one, for the greater benefit of young entrepreneurs.

With plenty of candidates coming to have a job interview, the recruiter will obviously set his heart on the one that will give him the best impression. That is the reason why, beyond the skills, the first impression the recruiter gets to have about you is very determining on your chances to get hired. As a matter of fact some HR specialists agree on the fact most of the time, it only takes 10 minutes for a potential hire to win over the recruiters. That goes to say how the first minutes of the face face meeting can be determining on the outcome of the job interview. Reason why it is important to know the secrets to giving the best impression from the very beginning.

Do not be late…

There is nothing that could tarnish more the image of the candidate than coming late at the job interview. That behavior could give to the recruiter the impression that you are not interested or too lax. It could be viewed as a lack of a sense of responsibility or of commitment. Therefore it will benefit you to be a ahead of any unpredictable situation like traffic for example so you don’t get late. Getting there actually early will not do you wrong. You will be able to use the extra time to go over your CV, t to pull yourself together by working on your breathing, check your outfit.

Pay attention to your body language…

It is no secret that you don’t only communicate with words but also with acts. Even better, according to some specialists 56 % of the messages we want to send are delivered with gestures that can say a lot about our personality. Paying attention to your body language is therefore crucial. A firm hand shake and a real smile are examples of a good body language communication. Once you crossed the hand shake step, you have to adopt the position of a natural and confident person and at the same time be calm and maintain an eye contact with the person you are speaking to. Basically you need to remember to make sure your haircut, your nails and outfit are neat.

Know about everything that is on your CV

It is quite common for a candidate to not know exactly what is on the CV and give evasive answers when the recruiter wants more information about the person standing in front of him. Obviously it will reduce the chances of having a successful interview especially when you are facing a person perspective person. It is a clear that the way you talk about your experience and skills shouldn’t be taken lightly. The best way to be successful is to practice telling your CV outloud and talk about your experience with the help of some examples. You should be able to explain every part of the CV. Actually there are a lot of things that could make the employer wants to hire. However those elements still remain crucial.

If most of the time in Africa, foreign multinationals are leaders of the African market, this last years we have been more and more witnessing the appearance of African companies determined to not let the Western multinationals take over. Those companies have been able to beautifully settle everywhere in Africa and in some regions of the world.

The Nigerian man Aiko Dangote is a good example of a succes story. At the top of a company named after him, he has a  $3 billion US dollars revenue per year. With his branch Dangote cement he is gradually expanding in Africa Sub-Saharan Countries. In 2015, his cement production was to cross the 46 millions tonnes of cement which made him reach number 6 in the worldwide cement business. Allowing him to compete with large western companies like the French Lafarge, the Swiss Holcim and the German Heidelberg Cement.

The Beninese Samuel Dossou- Awore, President of the group Petrolin who managed to successfully expand his market area in the whole continent and in Middle East ought to be held up as an example as well. In Nigeria, this gigantic oil-producer has won a major tender on the oil block OLM 34, crushing by far some international multinationals.

The Egyptian group Orascom is a testimony of the breakthrough of African multinationals abroad. Despise the competition, they managed to admirally settle in the cement business, telecommunications and television in countries like Irak, Nigeria and Pakistan. As proof, since 2015 they ranked as a majority shareholder of the international television channel Euronews based in Lyon, France.

The list is far from being exhaustive since we have other existing African multinationals that are coming out and growing in oil drilling ( Sonatrach in Algeria, Sonangol in Angola, trading (Salan and Bidvest in South Africa), energy (Estom, Sasol in South Africa) and mobile (MTN groups in South Africa).

All those international multinationals are the proud of Africa because they successfully managed to have important revenues. Their achievements are the result of an intensive work in Africa and in other regions of the world for the development of the African continent. Which goes to show that Africa is being more and more aware of its economic potential which needs to be promoted…

It is undenial now. It goes without saying that what is commonly known as soft skills are getting recruiters very excited. Soft skills refers to the attitude of the candidate as opposed to hard skills which are about technical skills.

Recruiters have given so much importance to this type of skill in comparison to technical skills and degrees that it is on its way to break down all the traditional perception of recruitment. Right now, recruiters are more and more relying on soft skills to do their hiring. However it would be over exaggeratd to solely depend on this trend because technical skills are still the basis of recruitment. It would be difficult to see someone get hired based only on his attitude with no consideration given to his technical skills.

Either way, soft skills have became a determining criteria in the hiring process for some years now.  Thus, a survey showed that 62% of recruiters could hire a candidate based mostly on his soft skills.

This reality is even more true in digital marketing. In that field , 72% of recruiters emphasize on soft skills when hiring a candidate. But what about the ways recruiters could spot the soft skills of the candidate?

Soft skills are, actually,noticeable in the CV of the candidates but recruiters can only find out about them during an interview. For that reason, interviews whether they are done in person or via video constitute a good way for recruiters to have a clear idea about the psychological skills of the candidate and therefore find the best ones. Thus, the goal of an interview is to find out about the attributes the worker possesses that would make him be a co-worker capable of progressing in the work environment of the company.

This last few years, soft skills have been so popular among recruiters that some human ressources professionals got to the points of saying that they have caught up with hard skills.

Nowadays, the quality recruiters are the most looking for are listening skills (62% of surveyed people), independence (58%) and teamwork (58%). Managers also expect a certain reliability in addition to the 3 previous ones.

It is thus crucial for job seekers to not only rely on their technical skills. Quite to the contrary they should fully develop their soft skills.

Entrepreneurship is rightfully seen as the only way, really, to overcome the alarming issue of unemployment especially now with lots of young people and African people in particular who are constantly worried about losing their jobs. This situation is no longer a theory but a reality without a doubt. The majority of the African countries are in fact viewing entrepreneurship as the key to economic growth. It is still generating high returns for business owners. In addition to that, experts believe that it actually possess great undeveloped potential that could lead the continent to its next  stage of development. However, are we all made for entrepreneurship or what at least are the qualities that we need to become a great businessman? We will try to answer that question.

Determination…

Managing its own business requires real efforts and real sacrifices. That is the reason why, one of the essential secrets to a successful entrepreneurship is determination. It is vital in the sense that many obstacles that the entrepreneurs will have to overcome represent on their own a reason for them to give up or get discouraged. Therefore the entrepreneur must show determination in all his projects. Once he made the decision to create his own company he must have a clear idea of his goals and how he will achieve them. He must be able to turn an obstacle into an opportunity because someone who is determined will never find a reason not to move forward.

Accepting the fact that you won’t get profit at first…

If some very recent businesses call it a quite most of the time,it’s due to the fact it is not that easy in the beginnings. The clients will not be lining up right away and you could have some loans to pay back. The main word to go through that situation would be patience. Therefore the entrepreneur should not put his focus on profits at the beginning. He must rely on some savings because he will not necessarily make money at first. He must have in mind that even if the beginnings are never easy, at some point the money will follow if he is determined and managed to have enough clients for his business.

Having a creative mind…

Being original by avoiding to get stuck in the never ending repetitions of what everybody else is doing is an essential secret for a business owner who wants to last. It is what Maurice Zeldman says here “ the business that will survive tomorrow is the one that promote creativity today”. Because of that, the entrepreneur must have a bit of creativity so he can find some new ideas that would help uplift the business. It will help him get ahead of the competition, find unexploited markets or attract new clientele.

It is common for recruiters to ask unusual questions to the candidates as a way to tickle their brains or just have an idea of just how quick-witted they are. Those wierd questions that some employers love asking can sometimes unsettle some candidates who did not see them coming. Unfortunately in this game nothing is off limits when it comes to using the good techniques that could help find the best profiles for the job. As a candidate you must be prepared for the unusual questions. Let’s review the most frequently asked ones.

Tell me about yourself…

This vague question is a classic during a job interview. It seems easy but it is unsettling at the same time because of how nosy it actually is. The goal is not to only find out about the real person who is behind the candidate but also test your rebound abilities.

It is clearly impossible to give a good answer. However, the candidate should avoid giving long answers. Thus, after introducing yourself, don’t be afraid to ask the person yo are speaking to, if he wants you to elaborate on a certain detail. The rest of your speech will depend on the answer you will get from them. It will allow you to be more on point.

Tell us about your strength and weakness…

People who have been at job interviews can’t deny having once been asked that question that is another classic, frequently asked questions. A lot of candidates actually get prepared in advance for that one by listing their strengths and weaknesses. The answers,lots of candidates usually give, are not very convincing or worse demonstrate a lack of humility.

The default answer used by many candidates is “ I am too much of a perfectionist”, clearly it is a sad way of turning a strength into a weakness. But really, is it necessary to lie especially when they don’t believe you?

If really you are, let’s say, not really organized, there is nothing wrong with mentioning it, as long as you are showing that you want to work on that. The only mistake you should avoid at any coast would be to talk about a weakness that has a direct impact on your work. It is actually common sense.