Ghana appeared 90th on the Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI) 2018, an annual benchmarking report that measures and ranks 119 countries and 90 cities based on their ability to grow, attract and retain talent.

Launched for the first time in 2013, the GTCI provides a wealth of data and analysis that helps decision makers develop talent strategies, overcome talent mismatches and become more competitive in the global marketplace.

GTCI report is compiled by INSEAD, international business school with The Adecco Group and Tata Communications, and was made available to the Ghana News Agency.

Mauritius was the brightest spot for Sub Saharan Africa and ranked 46th by the GTCI, followed by Botswana 62; South Africa 63; Rwanda 76 and Namibia 80.
Kenya, Gambia, Senegal, Uganda, Lesotho, Tanzania, Malawi, Ethiopia, Mali, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Madagascar were ranked between 88-118.
The GTCI top 10 rankings were Switzerland, Singapore, US, Norway, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, UK, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

On the major cities category, Accra failed to make any showing with Johannesburg and Cairo occupying the 78th and 84th positions while the top gainers being Zurich, Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen and Helsinki, in the first five ranking.

It said the world is volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous, and disruption has become the new normal. Staying competitive requires new skills, and talent strategies need to adapt.

Against this background, diversity, defined as collaboration between people with different personalities, knowledge sets, experiences, and perspectives, has become increasingly important and has been recognized as a resource for innovation and problem solving. But beyond its known benefits diversity is still underleveraged.

GTCI is to help governments, businesses, and various other stakeholders need quantitative instruments that can inform their decisions and help them design and implement better policies in areas such as education, employment, and immigration.

The report warns that, "In today’s unstable and fast-changing world, having access to a good pool of talent is not enough. Countries and cities need to put more effort into making sure that talent is diverse and have to show a commitment to developing a culture of inclusion."

“People do not just need to be different, they need to be fully involved and feel their voices are heard,” says the report.

The report admits that achieving diversity is not easy, and requires commitment. It might even disrupt social cohesion and make managing people more complex.

“The fact is that, beyond all the bombast, diversity is hard, and no country or company has completely cracked it yet.”

The GTCI sought to find answers to challenge organisations to increase diversity, how to build an inclusive culture to successfully foster diversity, how are educational systems around the world are developing the skills needed for collaborative problem solving and how are cities capitalising on diversity, all these aim to further fuel the debate and accelerate change.