Some of the high rewarding and fast-growing career opportunities are underrated.
Why?
May be it’s because; they are just in our faces and easily accessible, so we take them for granted; Or that there isn’t much awareness about them. Or maybe it’s because they haven’t always been associated with fat paychecks and phenomenal growth opportunities. But, if you’re looking to boost your career in the coming year, you’ll do yourself a favor to consider these opportunities.
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Today, we bring you 7 underrated opportunities in the world today you should take advantage of. Many of these are easily within your reach. In fact it’s usually because they are easily within reach that people take them for granted.
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Let’s begin…
- Teaching with technology
There are many ways schools and teachers can use technology to better interact with and impart the students. While some schools and teachers are already taking advantage of the opportunity in technology, most still have a lot of catching up to do.
For instance, teachers don’t have to repeat the same lecture in class to a different batch of students every single year. With the amount of free and affordable technology easily available today, teachers can bring more excitement to teaching and stop wasting time doing the same thing over and over again.
Instead of teaching the same technical stuff, teachers can record some of these repetitive classes; have their students access it in class and after class at their convenience. The teachers can then spend more time really getting to know and impacting the students.
On the other hand, a good number of professions and hobbyists are turning to the internet to teach what they know. There by building authority in their respective fields. There is a huge opportunity here for everyone.
- BIG DATA
Imagine that someone knows when you wake up in the morning, what food you love to eat, what kind of restaurant you love to visit, where you love to vacate to, what time you go to work and return home, what traffic route you take, what brand of item you buy, almost everything about your life. Now imagine that same person has similar information about one billion people. Now that’s power. It may interest you or scare you to know that some organizations already knows most of these things, may be more about you. Google, Facebook; they know a good deal about you.
The point here is that insight from Data is the new gold. Who has the data has the control. The demand for knowledge in the field of data analytics, business intelligence and data science will continue to grow and evolve. If you love numbers, and are analytical, you’ll want to consider a career in data related fields.
- Agriculture
Agriculture is one of the oldest human professions. And it is arguably one of the most underrated professions in the world. Most people associate agriculture to tattered farmers with crude tools. But agriculture is fast moving past that narrative. About 23 percent of Africa’s GDP comes from agriculture. Yet the potential in the agric sector in the continent is yet untapped.
According to McKinsey, “Rising urbanization and the growth of urban middle-class consumers in Africa could lead to $645 billion in growth in consumer spending between 2015 and 2025. Of that growth, $167 billion could be in food and beverages; and a majority of that would come from sub-Saharan African countries. In simpler terms, demand will continue to grow in the agric sector in many years to come. This represents nothing but huge opportunities in agriculture.
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- Video Marketing
Remember those days we had to wait for webpages to load; not to mention the frustration of streaming videos. Today, you can easily go to YouTube and watch as many videos as you want. This goes to show how far internet technology has come.
As at 2019, the second largest search engine in the world, after Google, is YouTube. And almost one third of all internet users are on YouTube. You probably haven’t thought about the enormity of this opportunity. If you have you’ll be screaming right now. You can market your business, share your expertise and reach a wide audience with video content. This opportunity is helplessly underrated.
- Blockchain technology
When you mention Blockchain technology, for most people Bitcoin quickly comes to mind. But that’s a very narrow understanding of this technology. Here is how to look at it. As Facebook and Twitter are types of social media; Bitcoin and Ethereum are just different types of cryptocurrency. And just as social media, ecommerce, search engines are just some of many technologies on the internet; cryptocurrency is just one of the possibilities of Blockchain technology.
The keyword synonymous with Blockchain technology is decentralization. We are hearing more and more about fintech, virtual tokens, digital assets, cryptocurrencies, smart contracts and initial coin offerings. These concepts are applicable on Blockchain technology. The potential applications of Blockchain technology are growing exponentially because almost anything involving transactions or digital assets can be put on the technology. Our digital lives will likely develop to rely on Blockchain technology without many of us even being aware of it.
- eCommerce
Here is a true life story of Katty, a work at home mum with two kids. Katty sell items on local ecommerce websites, like Jumia and Konga. But she owns none of the items she sell. She’ll reach to different vendors selling specific items, upload pictures of their products on the ecommerce platforms with marked up prize for her profit. Orders come in for these items online, she notifies the vendor to deliver the order. The buyer gets what they want, the vendor makes additional sales, Katty keeps her profit. She started this business with no capital but today earn more than she did from her previous banking job. The appetite for consumption is continuously on the rise. People will continue to buy things. One advantage of the ecommerce landscape is that anyone can step on this opportunity and start earning from any level.
- Audience
Facebook was not being extravagant to acquire Instagram for one billion dollars and Whatsapp for 21.8 billion dollars. Neither were they dumb to offer to buy SnapChat at some point. These companies understand the power of attention.
In fact, you can have attention without having a product and be multiple times richer than those who has the product. Don’t agree? Ask Uber, AirBnB, and so on. What these companies have is an audience; and what they sell is your attention.
Once upon a time, you had to be a movie or music star to have a fan base. But today, anyone can have access to an audience you can reach in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, most people underestimate the value of having access to an audience. Your attention is constantly for sale. You can either remain the pawn or start playing the game.
In summary, there are lots of opportunities to look forward to in the coming year. Some of these opportunities are obvious while some are underestimated. You just have to figure out what’s already within your rich and start taking advantage of them. What are other underrated opportunities out there? Share with us in the comment section. If you are yet to subscribe to After School Africa, now is a good time to subscribe. Until next time, YOUR SUCCESS MATTERS!
