The gig economy is a growing segment of the workforce, and thanks to COVID-19, it is likely to become even more crucial. In an online panel discussion with: Therese Turner-Jones, of the Inter-American Development Bank; Melissa Sassi, of IBM; Nadeen Matthews-Blair, of the National Commercial Bank Jamaica ; and Juleen Gentles, of the University of Technology, to commemorate International Girls in ICT Day 2020, the panel shares tips and advice on how to thrive in the gig economy, and how to keep more female talent in the tech workforce.

 

This episode is also available in Apple iTunes, Google Play Music and on Stitcher!

The gig economy is not new, but has become increasingly crucial, as organisations continue to appreciate the value and benefit of hiring individuals with specialist expertise execute specific tasks as or when needed. Thanks to technology, particularly the Internet, both the hiring entity and the individual have greater flexibility and control in the workplace, which not only benefits the bottom line for organisations, but also fosters greater work-life balance among gig workers.

At the same time, education has moved online, and we are called to invest in our future by up-skilling and by actively engaging in continued professional development, in order to stay relevant. Further the impact of COVID-19 on the workplace and the future of work should not be underestimated, as it has forced organisations to not only better leverage technology, but also to streamline their operations – including their workforce – in order to have a chance of surviving the economic downturn that has already begun.

However, many of us are still holding on to the workplace practices 20 and 50 years ago, although it is changing right before eyes. Preparing to Thrive in the Future Gig Economy was the theme of one of the online panel discussions held on 23 April to commemorate International Girls in ICT Day, which had been organised by Nicole Pitter-Patterson, and the team at Caribbean Girls Hack. The discussion was recorded and is now available for further listening here, on the ICT Pulse Podcast.

 

Introducing the Panelists

Therese Turner-Jones is the General Manager of the Country Department Caribbean Group (CDCG) of the IDB. The countries covered by the CDCG are the Bahamas, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago, and via the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), the countries of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). Originally from the Bahamas, Therese has been the CDCG General Manager since 2013, and would have been at the helm of many of the recent initiatives of the IDB in the Caribbean region. She thus fully appreciates the importance of ICT, generally, and in driving the economic and social development of the region.

Melissa Sassi is the Global Head of IBM Hyper Protect Accelerator, which is focused on empowering early-stage startups through technology and business acceleration. She is also the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of MentorNations, a youth-led digital skills movement that seeks to empower underserved communities to transform their lives through technology, and has taught tens of thousands of young people to code across twelve countries. Melissa is also the Chair of the Digital Intelligence initiative Working Group of Institute of the Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) and is a Founding Member of the Coalition for Digital Intelligence.

Nadeen Matthews Blair is the Chief Digital and Marketing Officer of NCB Jamaica, and is also the Chief Executive Officer of the NCB Foundation. As the Chief Digital and Marketing Officer, Nadeen spearheads the Bank’s digital transformation programme; and through the NCB Foundation, she aims to provide meaningful opportunities in areas such as education, community development/sports, and youth leadership/entrepreneurship. Nadeen has a Master’s of Business Administration from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, in Marketing and Entrepreneurship, and graduated cum laude from Binghamton University with a Bachelor of Science in Financial Economics.

Juleen Gentles is a final year Computing student at the University of Technology, Jamaica. She is an advocate for both women and the black community in technology, and has worked with regional social enterprises such as Youth Can Do IT and Caribbean Girls Hack to empower and enable others to be not only consumers of digital content, but also creators. Her work and mission has been acknowledged by entities such as Microsoft Windows Insider, the International Telecommunications Union, the Food and Agriculture Organisation, and Huawei Technologies, to name a few. She is also a is a public speaker and storyteller, who is deeply inspired by her heritage.

 

Key discussions points

Although the focus of the discussion was the gig economy, in light of the fact that it was also International Girls in ICT Day, we also had to focus on one of the longstanding challenges in the tech space: how to keep more female talent in the tech workforce. So in addition to that topic, we also sought to address the following:

  • What are some of the key skills and tools that are essential for success in the gig economy?
  • How are recent university graduates approaching work and the workplace?
  • And, going forward, how should we position ourselves for the gig economy?

 

We would love to hear from you!

Do leave us a comment either here beneath this article, or on our Facebook or LinkedIn pages, or via Twitter, @ICTPulse.

 

Select links

Below are links to some of the organisations and resources that either were mentioned during the episode, or otherwise, might be useful:

 

 

Image credits:  Gerd Altmann (Pixabay);  IDB; M Sassi; NCB; J Gentles

Music credit:  Ray Holman

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