29 March, 2006
Botswana IFSC Internship Programme Continues to Open Doors of Opportunity For Batswana Graduates.
A DOZEN young graduates have been given a head start in their careers thanks to an initiative by Botswana International Financial Services Centre (BIFSC).
The internship programme encourages companies in the private sector to take on interns identified by IFSC and to give them valuable work experience for a few months. This arrangement often leads to full-time employment.
The programme, which has been running for two years, grew out of the annual Botswana IFSC Career Fair, attended by hundreds of young job seekers, where IFSC member companies and non-member organisations got an opportunity to know aspiring recruits personally and gave them an insight into their businesses.
This year BIFSC short-listed the prospective interns, based on the host companies’ requirements, and the companies then interviewed them independently and made their selections.
The internship programme is assisted also by the increasingly popular IFSC CV database on which local and external young Batswana graduates can register and post their particulars. The database is a unique comprehensive on-line listing of CVs posted by qualified Batswana with an interest in financial services, ICT and other related support functions. The CVs on the CV Database are posted by Batswana based in Botswana and various parts of the world. The Database is increasingly being used by companies to support their on-going recruitment needs.
“These initiatives reflect our and the participating companies’ sense of responsibility to help promising young Batswana graduates get started on a professional career path,” says Botswana IFSC Chief Executive Officer, Alan Boshwaen.
“There are a lot of qualified, capable and enthusiastic young people out there, and they deserve to be given a chance.”
He urged more companies to support the learnership programme by agreeing to take on interns. “We would like companies to contribute directly to growing the experience and exposure of young Batswana. We are starting to contact companies to take on more interns this year, and we hope more graduates will be given a chance this year. We want to grow this programme and want many qualifying Batswana be given a chance to develop their skills. In the past year, most of the interns got full time jobs with the companies and the Botswana IFSC team was very pleased to see this happening. We are also encouraged by the positive feedback we get from the interns, host companies and members of the public.”
At an IFSC workshop in Gaborone this week the current crop of interns were briefed about the programme and what is expected of them. They were also coached on interview skills (Naeem Bhamjee, HRMC), assertiveness and office etiquette (Sethunya Makepe, People Connections) and the benefits of joining professional organisations (Janet Moyo, JCI Botswana).
The participating companies and their interns are:
- Deloitte – Annah Lesenda (auditing), David Gaolefufa (accounting).
- Guru Group – Kabo Maforaga (accounting), Desmond Manyake (audit).
- Virtual Wave – Keletso Morapedi (IT/call centre). Keletso is currently attending a course in South Africa and will go back to Virtual Wave.
- BDC – Lekgaba Seeletso (communications).
- Orange – Bame Lekoko (human resources).
- Standard Chartered Bank – Wendy Munyadzwe (operations), Masego Ditlhabi (operations).
- Capital Securities – Sarah Dube (asset management).
- Botswana IFSC – Nametsegang Pule (communications), Lebohang Polinyane (strategy and research).
NOTES FOR EDITORS:
For further information please contact Rachel Mothibatsela or Mokwena Morulane on 365 5000
For more information on Botswana IFSC please visit www.ifsc.co.bw
