By Modupe Gbadeyanka
For the third year running, a leading on-demand transport platform in Africa, Bolt, is organising the Women-in-Tech (#WomeninTech) internship programme across Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa.
This year’s internship program, dubbed The Bolt Outternship is aimed at empowering young women by providing opportunities to start their careers in tech and is set to run for three months from June 2023.
Bolt launched the #WomeninTech program in 2021 across Africa with the aim of empowering young women who are interested in undertaking careers in the tech field.
The program is designed to train, mentor and empower young women by offering placements across various departments, including Operations, Engineering, Public Policy, PR and Marketing. The young women will also be paired with women in Bolt leadership to mentor and guide them as they go through the three months program.
Bolt’s Regional Manager for West Africa, Ireoluwa Obatoki, said, “We started the Bolt internship program in 2021 to empower young women to take up space and grow their careers in the tech world. We are elated to launch the third edition of the program, considering that we have been able to provide young women with valuable work experience over the years that will accelerate their career growth.
“We strongly believe that increased representation of women in tech will promote a more inclusive, diverse, and progressive society. As such, Bolt as a company, through this initiative, is expressing its commitment to positively impact the communities it operates in.”
In 2022, Bolt offered 12 young women from Africa, including three from Nigeria, the opportunity to take part in the internship program, and this gave them a chance to contribute to the growth of the ride-hailing industry in the market by being part of various departments.
Kenechi Jacob, one of the 2022 interns from Nigeria, shared her experience at the end of the program. “My overall experience with the internship at Bolt was nothing short of remarkable and brilliant. I enjoyed every single day and the learning opportunities it brought.
“I worked with the Bolt Food team, where I learnt many skills, including goal setting, organization, perseverance, and patience. If I could pick one thing that I will miss from the Bolt internship program, it would be the people. Bolt has been able to create a work environment that positively impacts its team, and this has transferred to the input and output of its work.”
This year’s internship program will kick off in April with the application process and will avail 20 slots for women in Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa to gain valuable skills in Operations, Engineering, Public Policy, Account Management, PR and Marketing. The three months paid internship will run from June to August 2023.
To be part of the program, interested candidates are to visit the Bolt website and follow the guidelines provided. One can also nominate a friend to be part of the program. The company will review all applications and contact the successful candidates in April.
Bolt hopes to continue providing more opportunities like the internship program to women across its business portfolio through such initiatives and more that will work towards achieving gender equality for a sustainable tomorrow.
Bolt as a business is also focused on offering earning opportunities to women in the ride-hailing industry and encourages women to join the ride-hailing business by offering safe and economically viable opportunities for them to work independently and with flexibility.
Adedapo Adesanya