Chinese enterprises held a one-day job fair in the Zambian capital, Lusaka, for potential job seekers from various universities.
The event, organized by the Confucius Institute at the University of Zambia and supported by the Zambia Chinese Association, attracted around 80 companies and 1,000 students from Zambian universities.
David Mwanza, the Zambia director at the Confucius Institute, said that the job fair provided an open platform for people to explore job opportunities. “I think some organizations have positions available, but people are unaware of them. When we bring them here, it creates an open marketplace where people can easily come without fear and anxiety and they can get the opportunity.”
The African Development bank reports that while 10 million to 12 million youth enter the workforce in Africa each year, only 3 million formal jobs are created annually.
Jonathan Mwamba, a civil engineering graduate from Copperbelt University, expressed gratitude to the Confucius Institute for initiating this event during a time of job scarcity. He said that bringing companies together in one place has made it easier for young job seekers.
“The job fair has been a beautiful experience and I hope we can have more of these because the unemployment rate in Zambia is very high and most people are not familiar with online job postings,” said Chalwe Mulubwa, a student majoring in business administration at the University of Zambia, noting that the job fair is a testament to the strong relations between China and Zambia.