By Chinelo Obogo
Human Resource Expo Africa (HREA) organisers of industry-leading conferences, exhibitions and training is set to hold the 2022 international work festival in Lagos, Nigeria and Kigali, Rwanda on April 5.
At a virtual press conference, the founder of HREA, Erefa Coker, said the desire to flourish is a universal human concern which makes it important for managers, team leads, policymakers and employees to discuss how best to succeed in a technology-changing world.
She said the experts which will speak at the festival will be sharing how best to thrive when faced with change and beyond just surviving and that this would be the focus of the festival which will be bigger and better than the previous ones.
“From 2015 till date, HREA has been organising the best industry-leading conferences, exhibitions and training through the Work Festival and we have had over 1000 sessions, 300 speakers and 10,000 attendees. The Work Festival 2022 is back and bigger than ever with the theme: The Future of Work in A Technology-Driven World (Work-Humans).
“Rapid change since the introduction of technology into the work sector and the workplace continues to experience major transformations as new innovations are being developed every day that affect both employees and employers alike, such as artificial intelligence-powered machines or augmented reality.
“The Work Festival is scheduled to hold between April 5th and 7th 2022 in Lagos, Nigeria and Kigali, Rwanda. The in-person event will be held at the Landmark Events Center, Victoria Island, Lagos and Serena Hotel, Kigali, Rwanda. Our virtual sessions will be hosted via a dedicated AI-powered, multi-room virtual hub designed to deliver a truly absorbing work festival experience. Work Festival 2022 is designed to answer questions, create solutions and ignite new ideas for change.
“Human Resource is the department that constantly has a seat at the table because it drives organisations and no matter where you function, if you have a supportive HR department, you will get to the peak of your career and even the bottom line of the organisation will grow, because the person driving the seat understands the terrain and the future of the business.
“The biggest driver of digital transformation has been COVID19 because before March 2020, it was difficult to see people working from home. When we bring speakers from across the world, it is to come and tell us their experience and how they are succeeding, so that we can begin to practice it within our culture.
“We cannot talk about the future of work enough because it keeps changing. In 2015, the topics we spoke about is different from what we would be speaking about today. What is the future of work beyond 2022? We now have press conferences via zoom and in the next two years, we may be having it through metaverse. The future of work is changing and we need to learn how we prepare ourselves for this,” Coker said.