WINDHOEK, Jan. 18 – Windhoek – Following the nationalization of the Namibia National Internship Program (NNIP) last year, Standard Bank Namibia has become the first corporate to join the telco giant (MTC) with N$200 000 support contribution to the Program.
Mid-last year, MTC Namibia nationalized the NNIP and put out a standing call urging corporates, both public and private, to join hands in upscaling the program into a national vehicle for internships.
MTC’s Chief Human Capital, Corporate Affairs, and Marketing Officer, Tim Ekandjo lauded Standard Bank Namibia for becoming the first corporate to answer favourably to the call.
“We thank and applaud Standard Bank Namibia for becoming the first corporate/bank to extend its corporate goodwill to this national internship program. Presently, MTC and the Office of the Prime Minister each commit N$2 million per annum to the program (NNIP). However, through smart partnerships, we earmarked to increase this amount to N$14 million – which will drastically help upscale the program’s intake capacity from 160 to 1600 students per annum. In this regard, we have then thus far identified at least 53 corporates and call for each to pledge a minimum of N$200 000 to the course. Just as Standard Bank did.”
On their part, the Head of Brand and Marketing at Standard Bank Namibia, Magreth Mengo, 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 internships 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 undergraduate programs.
