Giving Compass' Take:

• Jasper Lo explains how Think.iT is connecting engineers who cannot find employment in Tunisia connect with companies elsewhere looking for talent. 

• What other issues can be solved by connecting people around the world? 

• Find out how apprenticeships could solve employment problems.

After realizing that high-skilled workers from African countries are often overlooked by Western companies, Bougsea was determined to use his unique position to change that. Just three years later, Bougsea founded Think.iT, a startup that trains software engineers in Tunisia and connects them remotely with employers around the world.

Tunisia is home to a high-value talent pool, but 33% of graduates are unemployed or underemployed, meaning their qualifications are beyond the requirements of the position they hold. The unemployment rate among women is even higher in the workforce — nearly double that of males.

But Tunisia’s unemployment rate is not driven by a lack of skilled or educated workers. The problem is a  lack of employment opportunities for those job seekers — and it’s not a new problem.

But while Tunisia grapples with a lack of employment opportunities for its skilled youth, many Western countries are facing the opposite problem.

Large companies based in Europe, the US, and India have found it increasingly difficult to attract digital talent since 2014. According to Capgemini, a digital transformation consulting firm, of 501 American, European, and Indian firms surveyed, half claimed the digital talent gap was widening. More than half of the firms agreed that the divide was causing their company to lose a competitive advantage.

But there isn’t actually a shortage of digital talent in the world. There is only a shortage in the US and Europe.

Think.iT aims to kill two birds with one stone by matching skilled Tunisian engineers struggling to find a job at home with international companies struggling to hire digital talent.

Read the full article about helping Tunisian engineers land tech jobs by Jasper Lo at Global Citizen.