By John Sisay
With almost 70% of the world’s poorest people living in resource-rich countries, the resource curse continues to be one of nature’s cruellest ironies. Small wonder then that Sierra Leone has joined countries like Ghana, Nigeria and Angola in introducing Local Content Requirements (LCRs) to help translate our subterranean wealth, as well as the potential contained within our agriculture and tourism sectors, into sustainable prosperity for all.
Notwithstanding the proliferation of such programmes throughout the developed and the developing world (around 90 percent of resource-driven countries have some form of LCR) a set of best practices around their use has yet to emerge. Widespread awareness that more research is needed if LCRs are to serve as agents of opportunity for both countries and investors, crystallised last year when the World Bank announced its intention to launch a global initiative to facilitate knowledge exchange on the subject.
The international business community’s rhetoric around local content has changed somewhat since the Wall Street Journal wrote in 1984: “There is little chance that companies trying to do business in the developing world will escape this rising tide of local content demands.” Nevertheless, it is worth remembering that LCRs are not always viewed with unalloyed approval. Poorly designed, they can impede business, contravene trade laws, encourage corruption and fail to benefit the national population. Take for example the LCRs in Ontario’s feed-in tariff which recently fell foul of the World Trade Organisation; and in Angola the concealed interests of government officials in certain Angolan oil companies has raised questions about the extent to which local content has simply increased the potential for corruption.
In Sierra Leone, common to all discussions around our Local Content Policy has been their unwavering focus on the role of the mining companies and how they can become more closely integrated with local economies. However if we are to develop an effective Local Content Policy, the debate needs to widen beyond the mining sector and acknowledge that its success requires the active engagement of all agencies and sectors. The biggest impediment to capturing value from our LCRs is not the perceived reluctance of mining companies to procure and employ locally, but the absence of matured manufacturing and service sectors, poor infrastructure and lack of skilled manpower.
Take the issue of skilled manpower - mining companies have highly technical job requirements. To deliver the qualified and skilled individuals we need necessitates both extensive structural changes to our education system, as well as the active involvement of the mining sector. The government recognises this and has pledged to align the education curriculum with the growth sectors of the economy, to produce a skilled workforce by - 2025. Of course for most companies, waiting until 2025 for a suitably skilled local workforce is out of the question - which is why at Sierra Rutile we already have initiatives in place to deliver our skills needs.
Most notable of these is our Localisation Plan, which is focused on building a sustainable workforce of highly skilled Sierra Leone nationals. It works by identifying and fast-tracking the company’s most talented Sierra Leonean employees into jobs as professionals, managers and top technicians within Sierra Rutile, through the provision of training, accelerated experience, mentorship and leadership opportunities.
For us hiring, developing and promoting Sierra Leone nationals has always been good business – 95% of our workforce is Sierra Leonean and we have a 45 year history of promoting from within. Such a strategy fortifies our organisation against global and local skills shortages as well as ensures we can deliver on our short and long-term business objectives in a way that better guarantees the company’s future. It also allows us to contribute to the expansion of Sierra Leone’s managerial and technical pool.
Later this week, we will be holding a media and stakeholder event to introduce the 42 young Sierra Leonean men and women who make up the first phase of Sierra Rutile’s Localisation Plan, and share our approach to manpower planning with the business, education and policy making community. It is also an opportunity for us all to look again at how we can collaborate to create an enabling environment in which both the private and public sector can play their part in ensuring Sierra Leone’s LCRs benefit all stakeholders. To paraphrase Machiavelli – a successful economy is one which understands that there is little difference between obstacle and opportunity and is able to turn both to its advantage. Sierra Leone has an abundance of both; the only thing to change is our mind-set.
The author is a businessman and CEO of Sierra Rutile
(C) Politico 23/01/14
