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Afrillennials present specific challenges to today's managers

At a recent Raizcorp presentation at Henley Business School Africa, Ronen Aires, CEO and founder of Student Village, discussed the topic of Millennials or as he describes them, Afrillennials.

Mr Aires founded Student Village to create a bridge between students and businesses. Through this endeavour he says he has learnt much about the Afrillennial generation, much of which is important for business leaders to grasp to successfully grow Millennials as employees.

“Their career aspirations, needs, attitudes and knowledge of new technologies will define the culture of our workplace and our work environment for years to come,” he says.

There are certain characteristics that most Afrillennials possess. Many are opposed to the traditional or ‘normal’ way of work. They require regular feedback, flexibility in their work life and want tasks that challenge them.

“Most Afrillennials dream that their success will progress at a faster pace and want to leave a legacy. Making progress at a slower pace than expected can often lead to them feeling disheartened in their work lives when they realise that the world-of-work does not always cater to their needs,” he says.

“Most Afrillennials want a good salary, travel, a challenge, to assist their community and to work smarter and not harder, but without the risks. When they are bored they are a flight risk. Therefore, businesses need to improve their communication and feedback with Afrillennials so as to understand why they are doing a task and how it is part of a bigger picture.”

“Businesses also need to understand that Afrillennials understand each other. They are the future of our corporate world and it is inevitable that they will change the way businesses work. We need to embrace this change and not fight it,” says Mr Aires.

“As a leader in your organisation, you need to guide, nurture, elevate and enable your Afrillennials to unlock their true potential. They are afraid of mindless conformity, thus we need to allow them to express themselves to avoid them becoming despondent and unengaged.”

“They aren’t wrong, they are just different. In business, we need to teach them to be more resilient, and empower and mentor them to reach their full potential,” he says.

Jon Foster-Pedley, dean of Henley Business School Africa, says Afrillennials are the future of business schools. “Henley Africa is moving in that direction with increased focus on creativity and self-expression in our MBA and executive education programmes.”

“Most talented young workers entering business now value things like the ethics and the vision of their employers as much as their paycheck. It’s not enough to earn well any more. They want to feel like they are having a positive, creative impact in their work environment.”

“A good business school should be challenging the foundation of what we believe business is in order to create something different that adds value for the future. Business education is far more than focusing on the institution of business. It is about doing good work, solving big problems, being accountable, honest, thinking intelligently and working together.”

“If we develop a generation of people who are skilled, able to take their place in international companies who are technologically enabled and whose minds are educated towards the extraordinary potential that they often have, then we will build the organisations and new ventures that will build South Africa, Africa and beyond,” says Mr Foster-Pedley.

About Henley

In the recent 16th edition of the Financial Times (FT) annual ranking of the world’s top 100 executive MBA programmes for senior working managers, Henley Business School UK was ranked the most gender-balanced faculty body worldwide with 47% women compared to the survey average of 28%. Henley achieved 47th position overall.

Henley Business School also maintained its strong standing as one of the world’s top 30 business schools in the October 2016 Economist world ranking of full-time MBA programmes, achieving 27th position overall, and first place in two key categories.

Henley achieved first position in the survey’s “Potential to Network” and “Breadth of the Alumni Network” categories and third position in the “Percentage who found jobs through the careers service” category. Henley also attained fifth position in “Student Quality” and 10th position worldwide in “Personal development and educational experience”.

In the prestigious 2016 UK Financial Times annual international global survey of business school executive education programmes, Henley Business School Africa has achieved the highest ranking for any business school accredited in Africa.

The survey included all the international executive education operations of Henley in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Germany and Africa of which South Africa was the largest by far. The South African results made a significant contribution towards the raising of the total ranking. Henley was ranked 20th overall in the world, up nine places from 29th in 2015 and achieved third position in the UK.

Categories evaluated covered course design, aims achieved, teaching methods and materials, faculty quality, and new skills and learning. Henley was also in the top 20 worldwide for repeat business and growth based on its Fortune 500 clients returning year on year,

Henley Business School was the first business school to be established in Europe, in 1946, and has since built a pedigree of outstanding education for business and the public sector, recognised worldwide in international rankings, in accreditation, for its quality of students and breadth of alumni.

We build the people who build the businesses that build Africa, and our alumni work in senior positions in government, industry, media, business schools and NGOs. We are part of the University of Reading, ranked as one of the world's top 1% universities, and one of the global top 200 for research. Although steeped in science with over 17 research centres, we believe business is more than science and requires confident, engaged managers and leaders who can create and deliver outstanding value through their organisations and so build a better, prosperous Africa.

Registered with the Department of Education as a Private Higher Education Institution under the Higher Education Act, 1997. Registration Certificate no 2010/HE10/001.

23 Mar 2017 16:35

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