Bereng Mpaki
Providing tertiary graduates with employment experience is beneficial to both the providing organisation and the graduate, Lesotho PostBank’s acting head of human capital Moiloa Moiloa has said.
The bank this week inducted 60 interns in response to the government’s call for corporates to open up internship opportunities for the graduates.
The call, which the government made under the Youth Apprenticeship and Public Works Programme, was meant to address the escalating youth unemployment in the country through providing work experience to graduates.
Launched in 2019, the programme was meant to place 5 000 graduates in different private and public sector organisations for whom the government pays a stipend. The programme has to date placed 350 interns in 14 organisations.
Mr Moiloa said being part of the programme gives them access to more personnel without spending a fortune.
“In our contribution to addressing the challenge of rising unemployment under a government initiative called the Youth Apprenticeship and Public Works programme, we have agreed to take up to 60 interns for 24 months,” Mr Moiloa said.
“Although they are yet to start, we inducted them on Monday to introduce them to the procedures and processes of the organisation. In the next coming days they will undergo more introductions of the banks products.”
He said they see the programme as an opportunity to train the graduates while gaining access to their skills.
“We are expanding, so having the interns gives us an opportunity to tap into their skills while they gain the necessary work exposure. It is really a win-win situation for all parties.”
Mr Moiloa said the bank is dedicated to addressing the wider social challenges like unemployment.
“It is important to be part of the initiative because the government is the major shareholder of the bank, so we are obliged to align our strategies with the objectives of the government.
“So, it was easier for us to heed the call towards reducing unemployment as we felt we can contribute to reduce unemployment in the country.
“This is in fact, the second initiative of the government that we are part of as we already are part of the national volunteer corps in the Ministry of Gender and Youth, Sport and Recreation where whenever we need skills, we request and they provide us with people with the relevant qualifications.
“We are therefore proud to participate in such initiatives that are helping the government to address the unemployment challenge.”
He said they were taking in interns who are qualified in business-related programmes.
“As a bank, we need interns with banking related qualifications such as accounting, business studies, human resources, information technology etc. This is because we want people who will add value to the company,” Mr Moiloa said.
