Standard Bank Namibia has become the first corporate entity to join the Namibia National Internship Program (NNIP) after Mobile Telecommunications Limited (MTC) nationalized the initiative with a N$200,000 contribution.
The program, which is aimed at providing internship opportunities for students, is expected to raise N$14.4 million per annum.
The funding according to the telco, will be used to upscale the NNIP intake from the current 160 students to 1,600 per year after the listed company identified 53 corporates, with each urged to pledge an amount of N$200,000 towards the initiative.
“We thank and applaud Standard Bank Namibia for becoming the first corporate/bank to extend its corporate goodwill to this national internship program,” said Tim Ekandjo, MTC’s Chief Human Capital, Corporate Affairs, and Marketing Officer.
“Presently, MTC and the Office of the Prime Minister each commits N$2 million per annum to the program (NNIP).”
Magreth Mengo, Head of Brand and Marketing at Standard Bank Namibia, said, “True to our brand purpose, Namibia is our home, we drive her growth. Standard Bank aims to invest in the future of the Namibian youth and give endless opportunities to the very people who are the backbone of our organization’s success. Graduates and interns are in fact the future employees of corporate Namibia and an investment in them is an investment in ourselves, and the Namibian economy which determines all of our success. We hope this contribution is a symbol of hope to students in search of opportunities. Furthermore, we want to encourage other corporate entities to see the value in an initiative such as this. With our involvement we want to inject the It Can Be spirit into the youth and prove to them through action, that their dreams are attainable.”
Annually, the country is reported to have over 48,000 students nationally that are faced with a dire need of internship in order to graduate and the NNIP is an intervention driven specifically to assist institutions of high learning to find Work Integrated Learning (WIL) opportunities for students – which is a pre-requisite in successfully completing most of undergraduate programs.
