Safaricom reserves most of 63 internship positions for women

What you need to know:

The telco said yesterday it would be looking to recruit 63 university students, 40 of who will be women.
The company began receiving applications for the programme on Monday.
Safaricom supports a telecommunications engineering programme at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT).

Telecoms firm Safaricom has reserved most positions in this year’s edition of its technology internship programme for women.

The telco said yesterday it would be looking to recruit 63 university students, 40 of who will be women. Four positions will be reserved for disabled persons.

The interns will be given hands-on training in the technology sector. The internship, which was started in 2012, will also be expanded to include courses in application development, personal finance and inter-personal skills.

“We have carefully designed the structure of the academy to ensure participants are well prepared to tackle Kenya’s demanding technology sector,” said Safaricom director of technology Thibaud Rerolle.

The company began receiving applications for the programme on Monday. The deadline for submitting applications is February 26.

Since the programme’s inception, Safaricom has trained 360 students. The telco last year offered two interns jobs while 20 more were absorbed by 18 companies that have partnerships with Safaricom.

Kenya has a deficit of qualified technology and engineering professionals. This has seen local technology firms partner with universities and other training institutions to bridge the gap.

Safaricom supports a telecommunications engineering programme at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) while Chinese mobile manufacturer Huawei has a partnership with the University of Nairobi.

VOCATIONAL SKILLS

Samsung has trained 400 Kenyan students in electronic engineering over the past four years. The South Korean company runs its training in partnerships with a number of local universities including JKUAT and Multimedia University.

The dearth of technical and vocational skills has in the past seen companies operating in Kenya turn to foreign workers. The ICT master plan dictates that Kenya ought to have trained 5,000 technology graduates between 2014 and 2017.

The government is relying heavily on partnerships with the private sector to meet this target.