Patrick Njoroge: Mapping and leveraging on youth, technology and soft skills for the 21st century workforce

Speech by Dr Patrick Njoroge, Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya, at the Central Bank of Kenya Kenyatta University Career Day, Kenyatta University, Nairobi, 30 January 2020.

The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.

Thank you for the warm welcome to your university this afternoon. I feel like I am coming back home, remembering I was here about a year ago. In December 2018, I had the great privilege and honour of accepting the award of Doctor of Letters Honoris Causa from your great university. It is an award I am proud of, and it ties me forever with you.

When I received the invitation to address you during your Career Week, I had to read the theme several times to understand it. It read: Mapping and Leveraging on Youth, technology and Soft Skills for the 21st Century Workforce, I was rather intrigued. It is quite a mouthful, I must say. But more importantly, I was caught in a bit of a quandary. Youth. Technology. Soft Skills. 21st Century. You see, I am no longer that young. So cross out youth. In many respects, you all are perhaps more up-to-date with technology than I am, especially communication technology. So cross out technology. I may have a bit to tell you about soft skills, but it depends on how those are defined. That goes out too. So that left me only with the last part of the theme - the 21st century, where I also do not have any comparative advantage as we are all experiencing it together.