By Abram Molelemane
Internships are becoming increasingly popular in the working world, both for graduates looking to gain working experience, and for businesses looking for more hands on deck. In this article, we share a story of IT company owner, Nirvesh Sooful of African Ideas, and GAP intern Mapaseka Dipale who are both benefiting from internship.
As a business owner, Nirvesh’s focus has always been to employ young South Africans. “ I always planned to employ young people.You always hear it being said that there are not enough skills in SA, but I am constantly meeting young graduates with the right qualifications for the job; they just need some work experience, “explains Nirvesh. He says he decided not to go for employees with scarce skills, but to rather develop young graduates by getting them to work in his business.
As a business owner looking to find qualified interns, Nirvesh went online to search for candidates on recruitment sites and graduate programmes to help him fill an internship position. It was while searching that he came across the Graduate Asset Programme (GAP). Without wasting time, Nirvesh registered on GAP and successfully created his business profile, and listed the requirements for the vacancy his business was offering. Using a unique match-making tool, the system listed potential candidates that best suited the job profile he had created, one of whom was Mapaseka. Nirvesh says that he was impressed with Mapaseka’s profile and wasted no time in contacting her, adding that he was so rapt that he flew her to Cape Town from Port Elizabeth for an interview. She was duly hired, and relocated to take up the position.
Since hiring his new intern, Nirvesh says he is increasingly able to focus on other pressing business errands he could not before, as he was short of staff.
Nirvesh is not the only one who has benefited from this joint partnership. Apart from enjoying the view of Cape Town from Lion’s Head, its sites, vibrant people and atmosphere, Mapaseka says “It has been interesting and exciting working on Government-related projects since joining the team at African Ideas,” adding that the internship has given her the opportunity to manage her own projects that are centred on her passion for education and community development.
“The other thing I like about this company is that our boss encourages us to start our own initiatives; I have started my own business – Nxtgen Pioneers, which focuses on teaching high school students computer coding. In fact since the company started operating, I have coordinated three IT conferences where over 160 kids attended; they were given lectures on Word Press, User Experience, Game development to name a few. All of which my boss has sponsored! This has helped me to grow in my career in a very short space of time,” she says with a smile.
Mapaseka concludes: “I’m grateful to GAP and really glad I took a chance on relocating for this internship. The best part is that I got permanently employed once my internship was up!”
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GAP is an initiative of Fetola (www.fetola.co.za) and is supported by the President’s Jobs Fund and others. To register or to learn more about GAP, visit www.gogap.co.za
