An audit coordinator, Arora Akanksha is challenging the status quo, declaring herself as a candidate to be the next Secretary-General of the United Nations.







Arora Akanksha speaks to us from New York in a bright African print dress, one of the nine colorful outfits in her wardrobe that she brought back from her trip to the African continent in 2016.



Every time she wears one of these dresses to work, walking down the streets of Manhattan, she receives compliments, she says, with people alluding to her as “an African princess”.



Looking up from those streets in Manhattan, at the towering, 154-meter glistening slab of steel that is the United Nations (UN) Secretariat, her hopes and ambitions run as high, as she boldly attempts to foray into a slew of unprecedented firsts.



The Indian-Canadian, who prefixes her name with her family name, joined the UN in 2016 and is the audit coordinator at the United Nations Development Programme. Today, she is known to her friends and supporters – and the global media she has recently approached in her personal campaign – as the 34-year-old bidding for the top job at the UN.



In February this year, Akanksha announced her candidacy, challenging incumbent UN Secretary-General António Guterres in the UN elections to be held later this year.



Hired to serve on the UN’s financial reforms, Akanksha says, prior to that, she was a manager at accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in Toronto, Canada. She was also the youngest audit professor at the University of Toronto, at the age of 28, teaching audit at the master’s level. She graduated from Canada’s York University with a Bachelor in Administrative Studies and has a Master in Public Administration from Columbia University in New York.



Aiming for more firsts, Akanksha, who spent her formative years in Saudi Arabia and India, says she is “the first woman and first millennial candidate for the position of the UN Secretary-General and the first known candidate to challenge an incumbent”. If she wins, she will be the youngest-ever and first female Secretary-General of the UN in its 75-year history.



In early January, Guterres, a long-serving international diplomat and former UN High Commissioner for Refugees, presented himself as a candidate seeking a second five-year term. To succeed as Secretary-General, any candidate must finally win the approval of the five veto-wielding permanent members of the UN Security Council, namely, the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, China and France.



When contacted by FORBES AFRICA for a comment on Akanksha’s candidacy and details on all the candidates who have presented for the position of Secretary-General, Brenden Varma, Director of Communications and Spokesperson for the President, Office of the President of the General Assembly, says: “As of now, there is only one candidate whose name has been jointly circulated to Member States by the Presidents of the General Assembly and Security Council – and that is António Guterres of Portugal.”



The UN notes on its website regarding the selection and appointment process: “The position of Secretary-General is one of great importance that requires a person with the highest standards of efficiency, competence and integrity, and a firm commitment to the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations.”



Given that Akanksha has only been with the institution for four years – and that currently she is in discussion with member states to support her candidacy – what are her chances, I ask, and how is she responding to the naysayers?



She is not daunted.



“My decision to run for this position is not influenced by some long-held ambition. I believe in the UN and I know it is capable of doing great work,” she begins. “My candidacy is to restore the UN’s trust, credibility and respect in the world and to bring it back to serving people in humanitarian crises, in development needs and in climate action.



“The naysayers will always be there, and for me, I love to engage with them where I am challenged that I don’t have the experience as the Secretary-Generals of the past. I always tell them I acknowledge that I don’t have the same profile as them, but I do bring a lot. I was an auditor for PwC. I have written guidelines for elections in Canada, and in seven years working in audit, I have excelled and proven myself to be a leader in Canada and internationally. What I bring is the perspective of taking a decision and implementing it. As millennials, we have moved mountains in every profession&#8230; And I bring the force of an entire generation. We are ready to take the baton and make the UN an organization that serves all of us.”



One of the critical issues Akanksha wants to bring to the fore is the refugee crisis, especially on the African continent that’s home to more than 33 million of the world’s displaced people. She says she has a personal affiliation for the cause, hailing from a family of refugees.



“All four of my grandparents moved from Pakistan to India after the partition [in 1947], so I know what it’s like to be in a position to have nothing and build life back for yourself.”



On Africa, she adds: “We need to depopulate the refugee camps through repatriation, local integration or resettlement… Local empowerment, government engagement and listening to the people directly are what is critical, so I am proposing a development approach that empowers people on the ground through universal education and internet access.”



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="555" height="829" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/IMG_9387-1.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-50852" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/IMG_9387-1.jpeg 555w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/IMG_9387-1-201x300.jpeg 201w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 555px) 100vw, 555px" /></figure>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“As millennials, we have moved mountains in every profession&#8230; And I bring the force of an entire generation. We are ready to take the baton and make the UN an organization that serves all of us.”</blockquote>



Akanksha says her candidacy and her pressing call for a new UN has not been a surprise for her colleagues.



“My candidacy has been received well by the employees of the UN… Within the UN universe, people are expecting that we might be able to change things. Everyone is aware of the shortcomings but no one has dared to challenge the system and status quo. &nbsp;



“We need to shape the new world order, and we need a new UN, and specifically for Africa&#8230; Africans have always presented themselves with dignity no matter their hardships and been able to forgive and get to work collectively to move things forward… The UN has to give more to Africa, to give them adequate humanitarian assistance to meet their basic needs.”



Akanksha’s daring candidacy has also found her positive endorsement as “the voice of young people”.



“Arora’s candidacy is important,” says Simone Filippini, a senior Dutch diplomat and President of the Leadership4SDGs Foundation in the Netherlands, when contacted for a comment by FORBES AFRICA. “She is a talented, smart young woman of the world. She has a clear view of what needs to happen to make the UN a more effective and inclusive organization in her perspective… We need disruption and Arora is a disruptor; she is courageous to challenge power and deserves admiration and support… I hope that she will be able to get the support of many, especially of the younger generation.”



Agrees Agustin Matteri, Senior Portfolio Manager, Climate Change Unit – Latin America &amp; Caribbean, UN Environment, about the need to spread the voice: “Her chances are high, but only if we make common people aware of the importance of the UN in their daily lives.”



At the moment, Akanksha is preparing to submit her vision statement and is on leave from the UN without pay until the conclusion of the election, but does she have a plan B if she does not win?



“I am in this to win,” she affirms. “I am so optimistic in the member states to realize that the world after Covid cannot go back to the old ways of doing things… I have no plan B other than serving those not served by the system.”

1Arora Akanksha for a new UN_01_16x9

The 34-Year-Old Aiming To Run The United Nations

In a popular BuzzFeed article, Anne Helen Petersen describes how millennials (people born between 1981 and 1996) became “the burnout generation”. She describes some of the stark consequences of edging towards burnout and identifies what she calls “errand paralysis”, marked by a struggle to do even simple or mundane tasks.



Many of the factors contributing to this burnout are rooted in the challenging job and economic conditions that millennials face, according to Petersen. She also describes “intensive parenting” as a contributing factor, because millennials have been relentlessly trained and prepared for the workplace by their parents. They have internalised the idea that they need to be working all the time or engaging in the never-ending pursuit of self-optimisation.



READ MORE | <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/health/2018/12/17/burnout-stress-lead-more-companies-to-try-a-four-day-work-week/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="Burnout, stress lead more companies to try a four-day work week (opens in a new tab)">Burnout, stress lead more companies to try a four-day work week</a>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Similarity to work burnout</h2>



Millennial burnout has a lot of similarities with regular burnout, otherwise known as work burnout. Burnout is a response to prolonged stress and typically involves emotional exhaustion, cynicism or detachment, and feeling ineffective. The six main risk factors for work burnout are having an overwhelming workload, limited control, unrewarding work, unfair work, work that conflicts with values and a lack of community in the workplace.



People who have to navigate complex, contradictory and sometimes hostile environments are vulnerable to burnout. If millennials are found to be suffering higher levels of burnout, this might indicate that they face more problematic environments. It is quite possibly the same stuff that stresses everyone, but it is occurring in new, unexpected or greater ways for millennials, and we haven’t been paying attention.



For example, we know that traditional social comparison plays a role in work burnout. For millennials, social competition and comparison are continually reinforced online, and engaging with this has already been shown to be associated with depressive symptoms in young people.



READ MORE | <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/technology/2019/04/16/10-rules-of-email-that-will-reduce-your-stress-levels/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="10 Rules Of Email That Will Reduce Your Stress Levels (opens in a new tab)">10 Rules Of Email That Will Reduce Your Stress Levels</a>



Even if you avoid social media, using technology and going online can be physically and emotionally exhausting. Excessive internet use has been linked to burnout at school. These are just some of the ways that millennials have been increasingly exposed to the same stressors that we know can negatively affect people in the workplace.



We know very little about how millennials experience burnout. Early research suggests there are generational differences. Specifically, millennials respond to emotional exhaustion (often the first stage of burnout) differently to baby boomers (people born between 1946 and 1964). When feeling emotionally exhausted, millennials are more likely to feel dissatisfied and want to leave their job than baby boomers.



Burnout research shows that complex environments and stressors, coupled with high expectations, create the conditions for traditional work burnout. The same can be said for the millennial burnout, which draws on similar notions of perfectionism.



Perfectionists, especially the self-critical ones, are at greater risk of burnout. Naturally, the self-critical type of perfectionist works hard to avoid failure, thereby putting themselves at high risk of burnout.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Resilience as protection</h2>



A recent approach to tackling work burnout is to train people to be more resilient. This is underpinned by the assumption that highly competent people can improve their working practices to avoid burnout. However, as I recently argued in an editorial in the BMJ, highly competent, psychologically healthy and seemingly resilient people are likely to face an increased risk of burnout.



It seems counterintuitive, but one of the earliest studies on workplace burnout showed that workers who were happier, less anxious and more able to relieve stress were more likely to develop burnout than those in a comparison group without these traits. 



READ MORE | <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" Things You Should Do The Night Before A Job Interview (opens in a new tab)" href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/health/2019/03/02/5-things-you-should-do-the-night-before-a-job-interview/" target="_blank">5Things You Should Do The Night Before A Job Interview</a>



This largely forgotten study involved air traffic controllers in the US in the 1970s; it followed over 400 of them for three years. Most of the cohort (99%) had served in the US Armed Forces, so we can expect that they had experience of extreme stress and most likely had developed resilience.



This study shows us some of the conditions for creating burnout in this seemingly high functioning and resilient group. Their work was continually becoming more complex, with new technologies being introduced, without the necessary training to use them. They worked long shifts without breaks and had poor environments to work in. Their hours and rotas were challenging and could be unpredictable. These characteristics probably look quite familiar to millennials and anyone working in the gig economy.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Opposite effect</h4>



The recent focus on training workers to avoid burnout by encouraging them to be more resilient is likely to become another stress, pressure or high ideal. It is likely that this serves to increase the risk for burnout, especially for the types of perfectionists who are highly self-critical.



The importance of our ideals, our view of what we are and should be, also shows us why <a href="http://theconversation.com/snowflake-millennial-label-is-inaccurate-and-reverses-progress-to-destigmatise-mental-health-109667">labelling</a> millennials as “snowflakes” is probably harmful. Similarly, any intensive parenting that attempts to create resilient children may be counterproductive. This is because the core messages of intensive parenting are actually about social control and conformity, and these probably feed into children’s internal and external ideals for the future.



What we can learn from burnout trends is that work is becoming rapidly and overwhelmingly more difficult and complex. This is driving higher burnout levels in many professions and in informal workers, such as caregivers, and also, potentially, in millennials. The solution is to simplify complex, contradictory and hostile work and personal environments, rather than giving us all another job of training ourselves to be more resilient to these environments.



-Rajvinder Samra; Lecturer in Health, The Open University



&#8211;The Conversation



<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/109759/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-advanced" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important" />

Shot of a young businessman experiencing stress during late night at work

Millennial Burnout: Building Resilience Is No Answer – We Need To Overhaul How We Work

Generations can be defined by family structure, stage of life or historical events. But most often, they’re categorised as “cohorts” of people born during a particular period in time. Catchy labels such as baby boomers, millennials and Gen X and Gen Z tend to stick with each cohort, which are assumed to have shared experiences, behaviours and ideals. This is known as a “<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/cohort-effect">cohort effect</a>”.



But common generalisations – for example, that baby boomers are hoarding housing, while&nbsp;<a href="https://theconversation.com/generation-rent-is-a-myth-housing-prospects-for-millennials-are-determined-by-class-108996">millennials have no hope</a>&nbsp;of buying a home – can distort or mask the inequalities that exist within and across generations. So rather than pitching the generations against one another, perhaps it’s time to unpack some common assumptions, and question how much one generation really benefits at another’s expense.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">The name game</h4>



Popular labels are applied to the generations currently living. The “silent generation” are those born from 1925 to 1945 – so called because they were raised during a period of war and economic depression. The “baby boomers” came next&nbsp;<a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236216134_Baby_boomers_consumption_and_social_change_The_bridging_generation">from 1945 to 1964</a>, the result of an increase in births following the end of World War II.



After the baby boomers came “Generation X”, from around 1965 to 1976. The term coined by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26339959">Charles Hamlett and Jane Deverson</a>&nbsp;(originally referring to the Baby Boomers in their teenage years), was made popular by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2009/sep/11/book-club-generation-x-douglas-coupland">Douglas Coupland’s eponymous 1991 novel</a>. The label reflected the counterculture of a rebellious generation, distrustful of the establishment and keen to find their own voice.



The cohort known as millennials – originally Generation Y – were identified by American authors&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennials">William Strauss and Neil Howe</a>&nbsp;as those graduating high school in the year 2000. With the popular focus on the millennium at the time, the name stuck. Although the birth date of this cohort can start from as early as the late 1970s, by some accounts, it generally ranges from the early 1980s to the mid-1990s or early 2000s.



“Generation Z” is the current name for the cohort born from the mid-1990s, though iGen, centennials, post-millennials are further possible labels for a generation that has grown up in a hyper connected world. A “new silent generation” is emerging for those born during the early 2000s, since like their great grandparents in the silent generation, their childhood is also deemed to be&nbsp;<a href="http://www.generationaledge.com/blog/posts/genz-like-grandparents">marked by war and economic recession</a>.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">From needy to greedy</h4>



Social and political conflict between generations often boils down to the seemingly unfair consumption of resources by the old. During the 1940s, the “needy” older generation&nbsp;<a href="https://housing-studies-association.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Livsey-and-Price-Paper-for-the-HSA-10-4-13-FINAL.pdf">were seen as a burden</a>&nbsp;on the tax-paying younger generation. From the 1950s, older people were&nbsp;<a href="http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/77346/8/Healthmanagementarticle_with_coversheet.pdf">blocking beds in hospitals</a>, when they should be in their own homes. More recently, older people are being told that they should move out of their homes and stop&nbsp;<a href="http://www.if.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/IF_Housing_Defin_Report_19oct.pdf">hoarding family housing</a>.



Today, it’s often said that baby boomers benefited most from the welfare state, during a period when healthcare and education were free, jobs plentiful and housing affordable. There is also a fear that this generation&nbsp;<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-baby-boomers-will-be-the-last-generation-to-have-good-pensions-45008">will be the last</a>&nbsp;to have good pensions.



But all of these arguments conveniently ignore the inequalities within generations, which are greater than the inequalities between them. Not only is there&nbsp;<a href="https://eprints.lse.ac.uk/28344/1/CASEreport60.pdf">considerable inequality</a>&nbsp;within cohorts, even greater divides are created by gender, ethnicity, disability, housing tenure and class.



Take housing, for example. While baby boomers are often accused of hoarding housing, the accumulation of housing wealth is more often a reflection of income and regional variances, rather than age differences. Between&nbsp;<a href="http://wealthgap.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/files/2013/02/WealthGap_No_03_Housing_wealth_inequalities_Appendix.pdf">20%</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://wealthgap.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/files/2013/02/WealthGap_No_03_Housing_wealth_inequalities.pdf">25%</a>&nbsp;of the housing wealth in the UK is owned by those under the age of 65, who are in the top 20% of the population in terms of income.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Society’s limits</h4>



Another example is education. While baby boomers and Gen X may not have paid for their university education, very few were actually able to take advantage. In&nbsp;<a href="http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-8151/CBP-8151.pdf">England and Wales</a>, participation was at 8.4% in 1970 compared to 33% in 2000. Overall levels of education&nbsp;<a href="http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN04252/SN04252.pdf">have actually improved over time</a>.



The problems facing younger cohorts have more to do with the&nbsp;<a href="https://zielonygrzyb.wordpress.com/2012/01/22/social-limits-to-growth/">social limits to growth</a>&nbsp;than the cost of education. In 1976, sociologist Fred Hirsch&nbsp;<a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674497900">suggested that</a>&nbsp;while the economy continues to grow, enabling ever greater consumption, society’s social structures will remain limited.



So, though&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/articles/analysisoftheuklabourmarketestimatesofskillsmismatchusingmeasuresofoverandundereducation/2015#age">more people are gaining degrees</a>, only one person can get the job or the promotion. Standing out from the crowd requires ever increasing educational qualifications, work experience or skills training. In Hirsch’s words, “if everyone stands on tiptoe, no one gets a better view”.



With limited opportunities in society, rationing is achieved through higher entry requirements to both the labour and housing markets. The extent to which people can meet those requirements is still a matter of where they were born in the social hierarchy, rather than when they were born.



Indeed, wealth is generally transferred from older to younger generations via inheritance, rather than withheld: the problem is that this reinforces inequalities within cohorts, as&nbsp;<a href="http://sticerd.lse.ac.uk/seminarpapers/wpa22062016.pdf">richer people benefit more</a>from transfers of family wealth. People’s access to health care, education and housing are determined by policy and the economy, not their date of birth, and the hype about generational conflict only serves to mask the real inequalities in society.

gettyimages-97560933-170667a

Millennials, Gen X, Gen Z, baby boomers: how generation labels cloud issues of inequality

Under 30 alumni, born on the same day and with similar stories of entrepreneurship, are collaborating to disrupt industries and shape the future of Africa.

The road to entrepreneurship is cold, lonely and riddled with potholes. It helps if you are walking it with someone else.
Millennials Siya Beyile and Thato Kgatlhanye are doing just that.
Together, they are redefining business and shaping the future
of Africa.
“Entrepreneurs always talk about collaborations but we don’t do it enough. We want to resource Africa’s future. Resources go beyond natural resources, which is where the world has been focused. Our ideas, our people and the way we do things has value, so we must take advantage of it,” says Kgatlhanye.
Beyile and Kgatlhanye have big dreams, but a year ago, they were strangers, treading a path of hardship and pain.
At just 25 years old, Beyile has a resume most would envy.
In 2013, he founded The Threaded Man, a fashion blog for men, inspired by his mother, who often called him “umfana othungiweyo”, the ‘threaded man’ in isiXhosa.
He worked with major brands such as Adidas, Stuttafords, American Swiss, TITAN watches, H&amp;M, SAB, Hugo Boss and Pandora. He styled stars like Nomuzi Mabena, MsCosmo, Khuli Chana, AKA, DA LES, Amanda Black and Somizi Mhlongo.
At the age of 22, he was appointed Fashion Director of the South African Music Awards and MTV Africa Music Awards, he was named one of the seven leading voices of African men’s fashion by GQ and he graced the cover of GQ Style.
Beyile was adored by many, but beneath the stylish exterior was a story that was less flattering.
A slew of bad business decisions saw him lose money and his credibility, and the setbacks almost cost him his life.
“I had to shut the business down because of depression. I tried to commit suicide many times. I had made a lot of money but I had not touched it. It had gone to pay loans and also buy my company back. I never got to enjoy it. I shut down,” he says.
It took a toll on his confidence. He tonsured his head and spent six months in a rehabilitation facility, where he worked on rebuilding himself.
“I lost a lot of public value. People started unfollowing me [on social media] and just didn’t like me. People in the industry that I respected even turned on me. I would go to places and people would whisper around me and look at me with shame. It was embarrassing. I would go home and cry.”
He closed his business and moved back home to Cape Town to rethink and rejuvenate.
With a new attitude towards life, he relocated yet again to Johannesburg to start over. In February, he connected with Kgatlhanye, a FORBES AFRICA 30 Under 30 alumni and award-winning entrepreneur.
“When we met, we realized we had the same vision of disrupting. She was tired of being known as a bag entrepreneur and wanted to make sustainable luxury and wanted to get into fashion and I wanted my fashion to be sustainable and wanted to run a factory but didn’t know how. She had the experience of running a factory and I knew all things fashion,” says Beyile.
<div id="attachment_37746" style="width: 693px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-37746" class="wp-image-37746 size-large" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Thato-n-Siya-712-683x1024.jpg" alt="" width="683" height="1024" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Thato-n-Siya-712-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Thato-n-Siya-712-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Thato-n-Siya-712-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Thato-n-Siya-712-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Thato-n-Siya-712-768x1151.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Thato-n-Siya-712.jpg 1366w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px" />Thato Kgatlhanye and Siya Beyile. Photo by Motlabana Monnakgotla.</div>
<a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/woman/2016/02/01/ceo-rethaka/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: CEO, Rethaka</a>
Kgatlhanye is the founder of Rethaka Group, which started in textile manufacturing and waste management. She became known for collecting and recycling plastic waste into solar-powered school bags for poor children.
“We started like that so we could get an understanding of the nuts and bolts of manufacturing. Most of the time we don’t own the value chain of products. Take clothes, for example, people just go somewhere to buy things but don’t know the suppliers of zips and buttons and you end up cutting into your margins by virtue of not understanding the value chain. So we collaborated to form a new company, where we bring in the ability to build and make things in a sustainable way and then sell them on our platforms,” says Kgatlhanye.
Beyile and Kgatlhanye founded 712 Group, which now houses both their brands. The company is named after their birthday; they were both born on December 7.
“We are building a global powerhouse with African brands. Those brands will be spread across technology, manufacturing, fashion and sustainability. Africa right now has become a focal point but a lot of the brands we consume on a daily basis are not African. We have a lot of talented people in these spaces but we don’t see them opening stores around the world and disrupting. We feel like our market has been hijacked. There is no corporate structure that supports our brands,” says Beyile.
The pair agree there is more power in collaborating than working in silos.
“Working together helps. We know our strengths and weaknesses. For example, I know that I can’t be CEO. In the last five years, I have been in business, I have learned I am not capable because there are certain things I don’t think about. However, I have also learned I am a visionary.  I am good at coming up with concepts and connecting people but I am not good at implementing. However, Thato is good at taking the idea and having it live in the world, which is a nice balance,” says Beyile.
Kgatlhanye concurs: “There were a lot of loopholes in our individual businesses that we were struggling with. It would have taken us longer to try togrow our businesses individually than it will take us now as a combined unit. I was a master in something he needed and he was a master in something I needed.”
Beyile says they have both learned not to rush, but rather to build a solid foundation, generate cash reserves and work on growth.
<blockquote>“A lot of businesses led by young people will ‘grow’ but when you look at their growth metrics, staff turnover and profitability, those things are not solid,” says Kgatlhanye.</blockquote>
Beyile agrees.
“The biggest lesson from my journey is that business is not a friendly sport. If you have ambitions to be a billionaire and to be on the cover of FORBES AFRICA magazine, to get there, you will suffer.”
Given the current market, Beyile says their business structure is different.
“When I look at media companies, their staff turnover is low. This is because young people are frustrated. They don’t want a nine-to-five. They want to build their own businesses and have their own lives. We can’t expect to hire young people full-time and expect them to be happy and to work for us for 20 years… Young people need to be put in positions of empowerment, so we work with freelancers and businesses owned by young people on a project-by-project basis.”
They say the additional benefit of collaborating is it helps them save money on office space, speeds up project turnaround times, ensures quality work and gives them faster and more effective growth and team results.
It is true: teamwork makes the dream work. The future is bright for these young entrepreneurs born on the same day in the same year and with the same vision for Africa.

Thato-n-Siya-733

Two’s Company; 30 Under 30 Alumni Collaborate

In the next year or two, the workplace faces an unprecedented situation where for the first time, due to the fact that we’re all living longer, five generations may be working side by side: Veterans (pre-World War II); the Baby Boomers (World War II – 1960s); Generation X (mid-60s – late 1970s); Millennials (aka Generation Y) (1979 – 1991); and last, but not least, the largely unknown factor: Generation Z, born after 1992.
It’s estimated that there are <a href="http://www.macleans.ca/society/life/get-ready-for-generation-z/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">more than 2 billion</a> of Gen Z worldwide. In South Africa, a third of the population is <a href="http://www.childrencount.org.za/indicator.php?id=1&amp;indicator=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">under the age of 21</a>.
It may be too soon to be definitive about the characteristics of this generation, but they are <a href="http://www.jennings-solutions.com/international/JasonJennings-BusinessToday.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">said to be</a> realistic, cause and value driven, entrepreneurial, financially prudent, and have boundless curiosity.
This is the first generation born into a fully technological environment &#8211; a world of being connected, being digital, and having mobile phones or tablets as a <a href="https://www.marketingweek.com/2016/06/30/debunking-the-four-myths-of-generation-z/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">matter of course </a>. They’re therefore more advanced in searching for information and figuring things out on their own.
It’s <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/sap/2015/10/13/how-to-attract-talent-for-jobs-that-dont-yet-exist/#7182b1767726" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">said</a> that Generation Z will have jobs that have not even been created yet. But that’s not the only thing we aren’t sure of. Although there’s some indication of who they are and the influences shaping them, their characters are still forming and their role in the workplace is yet to take shape.
And, let’s face it: organisations are still struggling to analyse the challenge that Millennials pose in the workplace. These include fitting in with organisational culture, their communication style preferences and negative stereotypes of each generation. All these need <a href="http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/6609-multigenerational-workforce-challenges.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">to be managed</a> in the workplace.
What exactly are they going to do when Generation Z arrives?
<h2>Business as usual</h2>
Popular wisdom argues for a fairly predictable <a href="https://www.forbes.com/forbes/welcome/?toURL=https://www.forbes.com/sites/karenhigginbottom/2016/03/17/the-challenges-of-managing-a-multi-generational-workforce/&amp;refURL=&amp;referrer=" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">set of approaches</a> – all of which are wise. And increasingly people are understanding that while there are important <a href="https://www.forbes.com/forbes/welcome/?toURL=https://www.forbes.com/sites/victorlipman/2017/01/25/how-to-manage-generational-differences-in-the-workplace/&amp;refURL=&amp;referrer=" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">differences</a> between generations, they can be complementary and there is a significant opportunity for both ends of the age spectrum to learn from each other.
Listed staffing agency <a href="https://www.roberthalf.com/about-us" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Robert Half</a> <a href="https://www.roberthalf.com/workplace-research/get-ready-for-generation-z" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">asked</a> chief financial offices where the biggest differences (and therefore opportunities for learning) lay between generations in the workplace. Thirty percent said “communication skills”, 26% said “adapting to change”, 23% said “technical skills”, 14% said “cross-departmental collaboration”, and 7% noted “no differences”.
The gist of tried and tested approaches is to:
<ul>
<li>encourage collaboration between generations;</li>
<li>facilitate mentoring;</li>
<li>allow for a cross-pollination of knowledge, where older employees share their experience, and younger employees contribute technological know-how, newer techniques and innovation.</li>
</ul>
It has also been well argued that managers should take the lead in <a href="http://guides.wsj.com/management/managing-your-people/how-to-manage-different-generations/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">adapting</a> their management style rather than expecting staff to change.
<h2>The crucial bridge for Generation Z</h2>
But just how different will Generation Z really be? The Millennials (aka Generation Y) has been described more than once as <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/managing-different-generations-in-the-workplace-2011-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">“Generation X on steroids”</a>. All indications are that Generation Z will take this up a notch. Emma Davies, Human Resources Manager for South African construction company ALEC, <a href="http://www.alec.ae/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">says</a> the organisation has already experienced this to some extent with work experience students:
<blockquote>They are a very politically aware generation, and they have been taught to question everything, but to do so respectfully. The toddler stage of asking ‘why?’ does not end!</blockquote>
Both inside and outside the workplace, listening skills, patience, tolerance and humility will become more and more crucial for older generations. And two-way mentorship will become even more important than it has been with Millennials.
Generation Y has already pointed to some important changes that need to happen. Because they want involvement and feedback and are generally outspoken they have played a role in creating a more inclusive workplace as teamwork has become central to their work life.
This will be a crucial tool in making the most of the skills of Generation Z. This, combined with their strong communication skills and self-awareness, will emphasise the importance of teamwork.
These integration skills may prove crucial in helping to manage Generation Zs. Millennials, in this sense, may function as a bridge. This isn’t to say it will all be plain sailing, even if older employees are patient and ready to learn from the youngsters.
Generation Y and Z’s desire for connectedness and relationships on the part can be used for more successful mentorships. A desire for learning could also help alleviate tension with Generation Xs, Baby Boomers and Veterans, who may otherwise experience them as disrespectful or arrogant.
<h2>Focus on the similarities</h2>
But stereotyping needs to be avoided. South African organisations are very familiar with the effects that <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-racism-and-a-lack-of-diversity-can-harm-productivity-in-our-workplaces-73119" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">negative racial stereotyping</a> can have on teams and productivity. They need to guard against the same thing happening with different generations. By <a href="https://hbr.org/2013/05/hitting-the-intergenerational" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">fixating</a> on minor differences and taking them out of context, and by failing to appreciate similarities, organisations could be missing an opportunity.
More than that, the differences between generations might be smaller than we think. Research from the University of North Carolina showed that Millennials <a href="http://www.kenan-flagler.unc.edu/executive-development/about/~/media/C8FC09AEF03743BE91112418FEE286D0.ashx" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">want the same things</a> as Generation X and Baby Boomers: challenging, meaningful work; opportunities for learning, development and advancement; support to successfully integrate work and personal life; fair treatment and competitive compensation.
And all three generations agreed on the characteristics of an ideal leader – a person who leads by example, is accessible, acts as a coach and mentor, helps employees see how their roles contribute to the organisation, and challenges others and holds them accountable.
The chances are, Generation Z won’t be too far off this mark either.
<h2>Respect and common sense is key</h2>
Implicit in this list of characteristics of the ideal leader is respect – of self and others. In business, as in life, the fundamentals of <a href="https://www.forbes.com/forbes/welcome/?toURL=https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenmakovsky/2014/04/10/the-respect-factor/&amp;refURL=&amp;referrer=" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">mutual respect</a> go a long way in building positive workplace cultures. Respect will be key in managing multiple generations too.
All that’s really <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/managing-different-generations-in-the-workplace-2011-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">needed</a> is a commonsense approach that maintains a focus on individual needs, honours each person’s contribution, and strives to keep older workers engaged alongside newer hires so as to avoid losing institutional knowledge.
It may also help to remember that each generational shift evolves organically – and so, too, will the workplace, if we are open to allowing it to do so. &#8211; Written by <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/linda-ronnie-351231" target="_blank" rel="author noopener noreferrer">Linda Ronnie</a>, Senior Lecturer in Organisational Behaviour and People Management, Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town
Originally published in <a href="https://theconversation.com/africa" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Conversation</a>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/81038/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-advanced" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />

Should we be worried about Generation Z joining the workforce? Here’s why not

It was controversial feminist writer, Maggie Young, who in describing her generation, best captures the DNA of the millennials.
“We lost the genetic lottery. We graduated into terror attacks and wars. We are often more educated, experienced, informed, and digitally fluent than prior generations, yet are constantly haunted by the trauma of coming of age during the detonation of the societal structure we were born into. We will have less money to buy the material possessions that entrap us. We will have more compassion and empathy because our struggles have taught us that even the most privileged can fall from grace. Our hardships will obligate us to develop spiritual and intellectual substance. Maybe having roommates and buying our clothes at thrift stores isn’t so horrible as long as we are making a point to pursue genuine happiness.”
Corporates and governments are tripping over each other trying to understand Young’s generation. The manual on millennials has proven to be somewhat elusive with tons of studies on this generational group that despite reporting on some common themes, have not nailed what makes millennials tick.
What we do know is that the term ‘millennial’ is about as old as the average millennial, coined in 1991 by Neil Howe and William Straus, in their co-authored publication: Generations: The History of America’s Future 2584 to 2069. They described millennials as people born between 1980 and 2000. This generation is also commonly referred to as Generation Y.
Millennials matter because they make up the world’s largest generational group since the soon-to-retire Baby Boomers. The first cohort of millennials is in their early to mid-30s, at the beginning of their careers, and will become an invaluable engine of the global economy in decades to come.
Millennials matter even more in Africa.
The African Development Bank has reported Africa has more than 200 million people aged between 15 and 24, about 65% of the continent is made up of millennials, making it the youngest continent in the world. Demographic forecasts show that this figure will double by 2045.
In just four years, three out of every four people in Africa will be on average 20 years old in Africa.
While millennials may be dismissed as a generation obsessed with selfies, they also seem to be intent on being part of finding solutions to the world’s biggest problems.
The 2015 Deloitte Millennial Survey highlights millennials are tuned into the purpose of a business – what it should do – as much as they are tuned to the impact of the business – what the business is actually doing.
Millennials are increasingly disconnected with traditional approaches to the workplace. They are easily turned off by stiff corporate structures and working within silos. They want dynamic work environments, they are not keen on putting in the slog of years working the corporate ladder, they believe in rapid succession, and they value mobility over the bum-on-seats approach. These insights are pulled from extensive research done through a survey administered to over 4,000 graduates across 75 countries by KPMG to understand what millennials want from the workplace. Although the survey was done in 2011, the insights will continue to shape corporate talent strategies for years still.
What millennials want out of the work of experience is like nothing before that. Top of the list of headaches is that old reward and recognition systems aren’t retaining millennials in their positons. Millennials subscribe to “loyalty-lite”, happily hopping between employees.
The unparalleled access to the internet and mobile phones is part of the millennial DNA. This generation has no concept of the world before technology. They take as a given that you can have a movie theater, your next taxi ride, and your diet all in your back pocket.
The Wall Street Journal in Millennials: Love Them Or Let Them Go reported millennials don’t just view social networks as a communication tool but as a global language that embeds them in various communities. Interestingly, despite the uptake of social media connectedness, millennials still value family and friends even though they will overwhelmingly engage with them on social media platforms.
Millennials value education and are more likely to spend more time investing in their education than the previous generations. The manual on millennials is still missing but if the statistics shared by the World Economic Forum that millennials are increasingly becoming the biggest influencers in the world, that more than 50% of the world’s population is under 27 years old and rising to 70% in Africa, it needs to be written. Yesterday.
&nbsp;
– The writer, a millennial herself, is a senior anchor on CNBC Africa, and presents the show Young Money on the channel.

Milenials_Jay-Caboz-8

The  New Biz Kids On The  Block

The millennials, also known as Generation Y, are the early adaptors of technology and a demographic companies simply cannot afford to ignore. In Africa’s booming wedding industry, estimated to be worth $3.35 billion, millennial couples – understandably – comprise more than 83% of customers.
Which means that what worked for bridal marketing 10 years ago is no longer relevant, given that couples today have completely different – and often stratospheric – expectations. To differentiate requires finesse.
And that’s what Tamara Jonah-Goka, CEO of Lionheart Events, excels at.
At her office, tucked away in a cul-de-sac off the road leading to Accra’s biggest exhibition center, Jonah-Goka is hard at work planning yet another Gen Y wedding. Lionheart, set up six years ago, is Ghana’s leading event management company.
Born to successful entrepreneurial parents, Jonah-Goka has business acumen encrypted in her genes.
She is the daughter of Sam Jonah, former chief executive of Ashanti Goldfields in South Africa and one of Africa’s wealthiest men.
“I think because I have a successful dad, it drives me a lot more. It is more of a weight on your shoulders and I know I cannot fail,” she says.
Jonah-Goka grew up watching her mother organize social functions and events at home, which led to her own love for events planning. After high school, she studied sociology in Kingston University in the United Kingdom. She took a year off after graduation to figure things out.
She wanted to do something creative, but wasn’t sure what.
Her brother suggested she take an online psychometric test to see which career would be best suited for the creative person in her. Over two hours and a hundred questions later, Jonah-Goka had her moment of truth. It turned out she had a strong affinity for people and planning. Armed with this knowledge, she decided to invest in a Master’s program with special focus on hospitality, tourism and events. She soon relocated to South Africa to work for a start-up wedding planning company, where she worked on a number of high-profile weddings, most notably that of Nelson Mandela’s granddaughter.
“I knew South Africa was always going to be temporary, Ghana was always home and the plan was always to relocate,” says Jonah-Goka.
On her return to the thriving cosmopolitan city of Accra, she quickly got to work, attending events.
“One thing I noticed was everything seemed very generic and I felt like there wasn’t a lot of design to weddings in Ghana.”
She began by paying a company to carry out market research to identify competitors, trends and insights into the events industry in Ghana. This was the first step at differentiation.
“My vision was always to create events that spoke about the personality of who my clients were instead of me.”
Her customers had to be 100% satisfied. Today, the company has hosted over 300 major events including weddings, corporate events and private functions, providing turnkey solutions for any budget. Every Lionheart event also comes with its own signature.
“I remember we flew in an ice sculpture from South Africa at no extra cost to the client because he wanted something he had never seen before and I felt that would be a nice touch,” says Jonah-Goka.
Going above and beyond for her clients has earned her a reputation for delivering quality, which does not necessarily translate to expensive; she works to all budgets.
But Jonah-Goka’s journey has not been without challenges. Tragedy struck when her brother, who influenced and supported her career choice, passed away.
On the work front, she was faced with a paucity of skilled labor. It was tough looking for people who bought into her vision. Consequently, she was heavily dependent on vendors. Chairs, flowers, décor…everything had to be outsourced.
“I knew I had to control my entire production line in order to deliver the quality and standard I wanted to see.” Eighty per cent of Jonah-Goka’s customers are repeat customers.
“The challenge with repeat customers is they know the value you bring and there is always a new pressure to wow them again and deliver something better than what you did before.”
Her’s is not a normal nine to five job. Like her businessman father, Jonah-Goka is up at 5AM every day. With her work, she hopes to create a sustainable hospitality industry in Ghana focused on imparting training to people passionate about the events sector, thereby creating jobs. Jonah-Goka is leading the pack of young entrepreneurs in Ghana, growing rapidly, just like their country.

Tag: Millennials

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA

The 34-Year-Old Aiming To Run The United Nations

Millennial Burnout: Building Resilience Is No Answer – We Need To Overhaul How We Work

Millennials, Gen X, Gen Z, baby boomers: how generation labels cloud issues of inequality

Two’s Company; 30 Under 30 Alumni Collaborate

Should we be worried about Generation Z joining the workforce? Here’s why not

The New Biz Kids On The Block

The Online Test That Made A Party Queen