…targeting 10,000 to power Ghana’s TVET-to-industry pipeline
Skills for Progress Africa (SFPA) has officially launched in Accra, inaugurating its first cohort of 10 Fellows under the theme ‘Building the Workforce That Will Build Africa’. The launch, held at the Accra AI Community Centre (AICC), Google Ghana, saw relevant stakeholders including industry leaders, technical and vocational education and training (TVET) practitioners, policymakers and development-sector representatives converge to examine how Africa can better prepare its technical talent for the demands of industry.
The fellowship is being established with ELAF Industrial Automation Limited as its founding technical partner, combining technical training and practical industry exposure with personal, professional and leadership development.
Speaking at the launch, Kwame Nyatuame, Executive Director of Skills for Progress Africa explained that the initiative is designed to bridge the persistent gap between technical education and industry readiness by developing professionals who are technically competent, adaptable and equipped to contribute meaningfully to Africa’s industrial transformation.
He added that the fellowship was founded on a simple premise that technical education must translate into workplace competence and opportunity. “Education without experience is incomplete, and talent without opportunity is a tragedy,” he said, noting that Skills for Progress Africa (SFPA) would identify promising technical talent, develop them to high industry standards, expose them to experienced professionals and connect them to the companies and networks that can shape their careers.
According to Mr. Nyatuame, the inaugural cohort is the first step towards a much larger ambition. Skills for Progress Africa plans to grow from 10 to 10,000 fellows, creating a scalable talent pipeline rather than a one-off training programme. He therefore called on industry, educational institutions and development partners to support the expansion of the model and help create more pathways from technical education into meaningful employment and enterprise.
Solomon Bekoe, Managing Director of ELAF Industrial Automation Limited, said the need for such a bridge was underscored by the growing number of young people entering technical education alongside persistent challenges in transitioning from training to productive employment.
He noted that enrolment in pre-tertiary TVET programmes in Ghana had increased by almost 130 percent over seven years, while youth unemployment among people aged 15–24 in Greater Accra reached 49.3 percent in the third quarter of 2025. “We don’t have an unemployment problem. We have a connection problem,” Mr Bekoe said as he described the disconnect between education and competence, competence and industry, and industry productivity and youth opportunity.
He argued that employability and productivity are two sides of the same challenge. When an organisation cannot find a young professional capable of diagnosing and resolving a technical fault, he explained, the company faces a productivity problem; when a graduate cannot demonstrate that capability, the individual faces an employability problem.
As SFPA’s founding technical partner, ELAF will provide the Fellows with structured technical training combining digital learning, AI-supported simulation and hands-on practical experience through the Festo LX platform.
Mr. Bekoe also challenged companies hosting Fellows to make workplace attachments genuinely experiential by giving participants real problems to solve rather than limiting them to observation. Feedback from industry, he said, should also be used to continuously strengthen the fellowship’s training model.
Lloyd Ashley, Managing Director of Niche Cocoa, brought an industry perspective to the discussion, focusing on engineering culture, resilience and productivity. Drawing on his own early experience, Mr. Ashley said engineering culture is ultimately reflected in everyday behaviour, whether people report problems, ask questions, share knowledge and support younger professionals. He described resilience as the ability to absorb pressure, adapt to changing circumstances and continue moving forward, noting that the quality is important not only for individual engineers but also for the organisations and systems they help build.
On productivity, Mr Ashley challenged the notion that hard work should be measured simply by effort or hours spent. Instead, he urged the Fellows to focus on working smarter by simplifying processes, reducing downtime and using data and automation to improve efficiency. “I encourage you to build on the foundations established by those before you but you must also strive to improve upon them,” he said.
Industry, academia and policy confront the skills gap
The launch also featured a panel discussion examining what African industry needs from the continent’s technical talent. The discussion brought together perspectives from manufacturing, TVET policy and implementation, and international labour organisations. Panelists examined the persistent mismatch between industry’s demand for work-ready graduates and the current alignment of training programmes and curricula.
They also considered international approaches to scaling TVET, the role of workplace learning in developing practical competence, and the uneven availability of industry partners for technical students outside Ghana’s major urban centres. The discussion reinforced the need for stronger collaboration among industry, training institutions, government and development partners to ensure that technical education responds more directly to the skills required by productive sectors.
From 10 Fellows to a continental talent pipeline
For the inaugural Fellows, the programme is already providing a bridge between classroom knowledge and the realities of industry. Participants highlighted the opportunity to gain practical technical skills, learn from experienced professionals, work with industry-standard tools and technologies, and develop the confidence to apply their knowledge to real-world problems.
As they progress through the fellowship, the Fellows expect the combination of technical training, mentorship, workplace exposure and professional development to strengthen their employability and open pathways into careers where they can make a meaningful contribution to industry.
With the inauguration of Cohort 1, the 10 Fellows now begin a structured fellowship combining ELAF’s technical training with SFPA’s personal, professional and leadership development programme. The inaugural cohort will also provide an opportunity to test, measure and refine the fellowship model. Organisers intend to use evidence from the cohort’s performance and outcomes to guide expansion to 100 Fellows and, ultimately, 1,000 and beyond.
For Skills for Progress Africa (SFPA), the objective extends beyond training individual professionals. It is to help build a deeper pool of technically capable Africans who can enter industry ready to solve problems, improve productivity and contribute to the continent’s industrial development.
About Skills for Progress Africa
Skills for Progress Africa, a not-for-profit organisation focused on identifying, developing and connecting high-potential TVET talent to the skills, industry exposure and leadership opportunities they need to build successful careers and contribute meaningfully to Africa’s industrial development.
About ELAF Industrial Automation Limited
ELAF Industrial Automation Limited is the founding technical partner of Skills for Progress Africa. The company provides practical, industry-relevant technical and vocational education and training in partnership with Festo Didactic, including through the Festo LX industrial automation learning platform.
