High quality human capital that create innovations is becoming key in the competitiveness of individual companies and the national economies as far as the Fourth Industrial Revolution is concerned. In the digital age, be it in the private or public sector, one can now work remotely (work from home with the use of a computer), and gain income without an office. 

In the past, it was different, with physical capital accumulation and land known as one of the constituencies of economic growth. But at the onset, they do far less well in the modern era. It sounds so strange to compare humans to land. However, from an economic point of view, it is common knowledge that they are all components of the national GDP. 

However, as the world evolved, there was a paradigm shift in terms of land, which was regarded as the precondition for living, such as making business, property or collateral.  In primitive days, agriculture was recommended as the breadbasket sector for Africa, however, while we delve all the mind into that, other countries were busy pursuing the field of Artificial Intelligence, robotics and green hydrogen. But regardless of the new inventions, there is a human being behind it.

Meritocracy

The ability of a nation like Namibia to foster human capital accumulation depends on the availability of enabling institutions. Human capital is more than formal schooling. It is the stock of productive skills, talents, health, and expertise of the labour force. Additionally, it is the application of the right skills acquired that bring about change to the society through execution and production of output that the economy demands.

The question remains, do we have the right institutions that produce what the market demands? Do we have the leadership that has the capacity to deliver on their respective portfolios? Over and above, more attention needs to be directed to these areas, as the survey conducted has indicated that Namibia is facing very high youth unemployment whose majority can be classified as structural unemployed – in other words, skills mismatch, graduate attributes and market demand. 

Benchmark

As much as the fourth industrialisation derivables are emerging, it is also imperative to compare and take into consideration the value that comes with it before we put our time and resources to waste. It is worth noting that the size and the dimension of your office, your industry and your country do not matter anymore, but it is the brain behind it that is crucial in making it a success. 

We have seen that most of the prosperous economies in the world such as China, Japan and Taiwan that were poor, have invested most of their resources in human capital accumulation programmes such as production management, brain drain and entrepreneurship. 

Bottlenecks

One may ask, if the key to economic success is human capital accumulation with good institutions, then why have countries like Zimbabwe, Uganda, Sudan and Cameroon not developed despite their literacy rate so well compared to some countries that are well off? This is because some of the factors that are depleting the development of some economies are corruption and incompetency.  

This is very toxic to the country’s economy, as it is like a farmer trusting a hyena to take care of the sheep. Obviously, in the end, the result will be unfavourable to the farmer. Let us have some analysis here. Namibia with a population of 3.2 million, a 12 billion GDP, un-predetermined resource deposit, land, labour and capital is struggling to sustain its citizens. 

At the onset, it is grappling with the secondary sector contribution to the economy, which is manufacturing. For those that do not know, manufacturing is one of the labour-intensive industries which need most of our artisans (blue collar) and professionals (white collar), to be pulled from the pool of unemployed Namibians. 

Prodigal

Our learning lesson should be Zimbabwe, during the period (1960 – 1980) the country was regarded as the breadbasket of Africa when it comes to maize, contributing about 6% to Africa’s maize production. In addition, looking at the same country that still has the same size of land and resources but under different leadership, is now in shambles of under production of about 2%, with high unemployment, destitution, poverty and corruption.  

Otherwise, failure to invest in human capital, Namibians will follow in the footsteps of Zimbabweans who are in search of opportunities outside their country, with a slogan that ‘it is better to die abroad in a sustained effort to make a living than to stay at home suffering’.

Finally, let it be crystal clear that that does not mean human capital is the absolute substitute for land. But on the balance of disposition in the modern era, it will be sustainable to strike a good balance in liberating one mind first, because once people feel undervalued and underutilised, their motivation, performance levels and ability to innovate decline. 

All these demand like-minded brains of thinkers both in government and public sector that can spot out a demand in the country, region, or continent and the world, so that they attract investors in those sectors in relation to what Namibia can offer.

*Tio Nakasole is an honours degree in economics and a research analyst at Monasa Advisory and Associates. The views expressed do not represent those of his employer.