What are internships anyway?
Did you know that more than a third of Kenya’s youth eligible for work are jobless? Let me paint a clearer picture for you; 5.3 million youth have no jobs, a number equating to the whole population of Nairobi.
Until the COVID-19 pandemic, Kenya was among the fastest-growing economies in Africa with a GDP of $95.5 billion in 2019. Why this irony? Dr. Patrick Njoroge of CBK says, “It is true you have GDP numbers but you can’t eat GDP. At the end of the day, what is needed is … jobs.”
The truth is, we have a faulty economic structure that is delivering economic growth without jobs.
One of the causes of high rates of unemployment is the lack of experience, skills, and expertise needed in the different industries. Most of the jobs advertised require candidates to have up to ten years of experience, a prerequisite that shuts the door to recent graduates . This is the reason why most students are advised to secure as many internships as possible while still in college.
Although internships are a nice way to pave into the professional world, they are a gamble, you just never know what to expect from them.
As a student majoring in Economics, I understand the value of getting exposed to the job industry. There is only so much that the professors can do in explaining the nitty-gritty of the industry.
“Internships have always been important to college students, but never more than now.”
Katie Riley
With this in mind, I applied for my very first internship in 2019. Although I dreaded the whole application process, I was excited to finally get some hands-on experience in my field of study. This was met with a rejection email that read, “Hi Precious, I am sorry but you do not have the experience that we need for this position…” Alaaaa!!! Alaaa!! Alaa! Of course, I do not have the experience, I was planning on getting one from the internship!
This is an experience that is way too familiar with undergraduate students trying to secure professional experiences before graduating from university.
From that moment on, I became very apprehensive about internships in general. I did not know what exactly experience meant, especially when applying to internships. Aside from the heartbreak that comes from rejection, I did not know where to get the experience needed for an internship. Was I wrong for thinking that internships are periods of work experience offered by organisations to students?
“Before success comes in any man’s life, he is sure to meet with much temporary defeat, and, perhaps, some failure. When defeat overtakes a man, the easiest and most logical thing to do is to quit. That is exactly what the majority of men do. More than five hundred of the most successful men this country has ever known told the author their greatest success came just one step beyond the point at which defeat had overtaken them.”
—Napoleon Hill
Earlier this year, I applied at Impact Africa Network unsure whether they’ll even look at my application. “You have been invited to an interview…” the offer email read. Mama, I made it!
The interview process was smooth, it was not the conventional process that involves the employer asking questions and me tailoring my answers to be what they wanted to hear. It was more of a conversation. I came to learn that this was not your typical internship, it was more than that. It was an apprenticeship. The opportunity would allow me to learn, practice, and apply the lessons learned in class when carrying different activities. Lord behold! I was granted a chance to be a fellow at Impact Africa Network.
Several thoughts flew around my head before starting: Am I going to fit in? How would I get started in the role? Who do I need to talk to in case I have an issue? How receptive are the other employees and fellows going to be? After the first day, all of my worries and queries had been answered or disappeared completely; everybody was, and still is, extremely friendly. I was expecting a workplace to be a cliquey environment but at Impact Africa Network it was perhaps the opposite. Everybody was hugely welcoming and I felt right at home and I felt myself enjoying being at work.
It has been a little over two months at Impact Africa Network and I cannot believe how I got to work with this amazing team. It is a learning curve every day and I’m getting the experience that I am supposed to; one that I need in terms of graduating and employability!
Unlike most internship programs, IAN focuses on the growth of the fellow. The organization invests in the learning and development through mentorship , fireside chats by global business leaders and weekly learning sessions. It nurtures talents and cultivates culture.
I am very thankful for this positive learning environment. I mean, I should not be doing this. I should probably be serving coffee to my supervisors in some company or printing papers in a loud printing machine somewhere. Talk about changing the African narrative, and as Mark Karake, CEO at Impact Africa Network, says, “Onwards and upwards young Africa!”
