The Standard Chartered Bank has partnered with Karatina University to equip students with necessary skills to maneuver the job market.
Standard Chartered has started several programmes, ‘Future Makers’ and ‘Job Ready’, to train students on ways to survive after graduation, including skills that help with employability.
On Wednesday November 2, the financial institution’s board chairperson Kellen Kariuki and the Chief Executive Officer for East Africa Kariuki Ngari spoke to the students at the campus grounds.
The bank’s head of corporate affairs Victoria Kaigai said they were also offering an opportunity for the students to enroll in its recruitment programme.
“We are coaching and offering mentorship sessions to the students so as to prepare them for the job market. This is an employability programme where we provide them with entrepreneurship skills so that they can be ready and useful in the workplace,” Ms Kaigai said.
“We have an international graduate programme where we recruit graduates from all over the world. We hope that students from this university will apply and get a chance through the skills they have acquired today,”
“We believe that the graduates of this university will be able to not only get an opportunity to work at Standard Chartered but also other companies,” she added.
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Karatina University Vice-Chancellor, Prof Mucai Muchiri, highlighted the importance of the event, encouraging students to adjust to the changing times.
“This event is, therefore, important as it focuses on re-invigorating the minds of these young ones to learn, re-learn and adjust themselves to be future-ready for this changing face of work,” he said.
“The (Covid-1) pandemic, despite its negative effects, has provided an opportunity to introspect on the future of work. What employability skills, for example, are essential for the new world of work? How do we develop these skills in our employees and, in this particular instance, our students?” Prof Muchiri asked.
Standard Chartered has also partnered with six other universities in Kenya to help youths compete fairly in the job market.