What skills are needed for employment? What skills are needed for entrepreneurship? How to prepare oneself for the changing world of employment and entrepreneurship?

These were questions raised by Yogi Hidayat, 25 years old, Indah Adni, 22 years old, and Diana Lestari, 23 years old during the Youth Talk titled “Skills Development for Employment and Entrepreneurship”, jointly held by the ILO and GRID Network, a leading media network in Indonesia on 12 September.

As part of the youth festival titled “Reconnect”, the Youth Talk aimed to capture voices of Indonesian youth related to skills development and to empower them with new, inspiring insights about youth employability and entrepreneurship. The Youth Talk was part of a series of youth activities conducted by GRID Network from the International Youth Day on 12 August to 26 September.

The talkshow presented Lia Ganni, a young worker and entrepreneur and Tendy Gunawan, the ILO’s programme officer for youth employment, sharing their knowledge and experiences about the importance of skills upgrading and enhancement for employment and entrepreneurship.

“Skills development is the key for both employment and entrepreneurship. We need to continue upgrading our skills based on the needs of industries. For business, we need to have the ability connecting and collaborating with people who have specific skills that we need for our business,” told Tendy before the 130 participants aged 18-25 years old.

Meanwhile, Lia shared her journey starting a business based on her passion and skills since 2019. Currently still working as a marketing staff, she has been combining her job with her culinary business named Momomaru.

“Together with my business partner, we have built this business based on our passion of cooking. The company that I am now working with really support my business and my supervisor even like to share his business strategies,” she said.

Both Tendy and Lia suggested the young participants to examine the prospects of their job and business. “At the end we need to decide which ones that we want to do and focus on as we are responsible to do what we do with excellent results,” said Tendy.

However, Lia admitted that it was not an easy decision to make. “I have been thinking of leaving my job as our business is now growing and we have already opened a branch a few months ago. But due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I have decided to keep both at this moment,” she said.

To cope with the fast changing world of work, Tendy reminded that the participating youth to continue finding ways to improve their skills and make the best use of technology. “One of the programmes to improve our skills based on the need of the industry is the apprenticeship programme. Through this programme, for example, you can learn skills needed by the industry, including the advanced technology that the industry has used.”

Lia added the need for life-long learning. “We always need to find opportunities and ways to improve our bargaining power as both an employee and an entrepreneur.”

The Youth Talk was part of the ILO’s skills development programme, providing support to Indonesia in preparing its young generation with industrial-based skills. The ILO’s support was provided by its two skills projects: the Industry Skills for Inclusive Growth Project (In-Sight) Phase II and the Quality Assistance for Workers Affected by Labour Adjustments (UNIQLO) Project.

Funded by the Government of Japan, the second phase of In-Sight Project aims to promote mechanisms and practical approaches that enable industries and workplaces to become drivers of sustainable and inclusive growth in the Asian region.

Funded by the parent company of UNIQLO, Fast Retailing Co., Ltd, the ILO/UNIQLO Project facilitates tripartite dialogues and provide technical assistance to formulate an effective and comprehensive unemployment benefit scheme as a part of social protection system. The Project will run for two years until 2021.