Africa woos workers back home

The Commonwealth Business Council has launched a new initiative to reverse Africa's brain drain by attracting professionals back home.

"There is a significant interest among young professionals of African origin to return to live and work in Africa," said Funto Akinkugbe, head of the council's AfricaRecruit scheme.

Africa's economic development requires that the historical brain drain be reversed into a brain gain

Funto Akinkugbe
AfricaRecruit

"But the problem is they don't have a clue where to start looking for a job," Mr Akinkugbe told BBC News Online.

The council will operate the FindaJobinAfrica.com website and organise a series of job fairs to showcase the opportunities that are open to businesspeople in Africa.

Africa will gain a new generation of graduates who understand the mindset of western business but who do not seek to impose their values, he explained.

Past problems

Doctor Titi Lola Banjoko, chief executive of Find A Job in Africa told the BBC's World Business Report that the loss of trained workers through emigration was a gradual process that started in the 1980s.

Economic and political pressures caused a lot of trained workers to leave and wars in the region also played a part.

But now Ms Banjoko believes the situation is improving and that many professionals do now wish to return home.

The problem of nepotism, which once deterred workers from returned home, has subsided as companies have been privatised and exposed to more competition, she explained.

"Africa's economic development requires that the historical brain drain be reversed into a brain gain," Mr Akinkugbe said at the launch of the scheme.