Internapp

As companies and organizations worldwide orchestrate massive retrenchment and administer paycheck slash of their employs due to the effect of the novel coronavirus, Internapp was hatched to help mitigate their looming financial loses as well as provide a leeway in the labour market. 

Internapp through its mobile platform aims to provide early exposure to the workplace and career guidance to students and graduates across Africa. It envisions a world where academia and industry have an intertwining relationship. 

We partner with leading global companies and organizations to codesign a workplace learning experience for students and graduates or young professionals to take a chance on themselves, utilizing available career mapping tools to make informed decisions about a working life they find more fulfilling. The technical solution design will help achieve sustainable development goal 8 of UNDP which is full and productive employment, and decent work for all men and women.

The African Development Bank has put the unemployment rate in Africa at nearly 60%. Nigeria’s unemployed population stands at over 23 million which is more than the population of Sierra Leone, United Arab Emirates, Equatorial Guinea and Uruguay combined. Now with a global recession looming, these numbers will increase. In the coming months, the UNDP has said nearly half of all jobs in Africa will be lost which will lead to a loss in income expected to exceed $220 billion. In South Africa for instance, standard bank of South Africa has already laid off 1200 workers and closed 91 branches in the country.

The market size stands at $100B in Africa which constitutes the highest number of unemployed people in the world. 

Intern-app coined from “Internship” and “Applications”, presents a simple yet fastest way to launch a career that one has always desired. Best part? Absolutely no connection is needed! It aims to match skilled African talents with leading global companies and organizations through a temporary work experience program ranging from 3 to 12 months. Up to 10 workplaces will be determined by two key facets: Course of study and personal interest like painting, writing sculpting, ETC and sampled to the user. A click on submit button will ensure that the completed work experience application is distributed to the selected companies at the same time. Users can work remotely or on-site while their monthly stipends of $100 or more for students and $300 or more for young professionals will be escrowed via a payment wallet embedded in the cross-platform app which links a user's profile to his/her bank account. 

Students and graduates/young professionals in Africa mostly between the ages of 18-35.

The project has been validated and potential user interviews executed on a weekly basis. It's also one that was borne out of personal experience with job recruitment. 

Prior to the global health pandemic, securing work experience placement as a student in Nigeria was daunting. For me it was worse! I had to think of my ideal work place: Employee-friendly; close to place of residence; timely disbursement of allowances and where my field of study is in line with company’s practice. However, I encountered a major problem — one that left me bewildered. Almost all the front desk officers I had met confessed to me that I needed to have a connection or third party influencer to boost my chances of being considered for a spot. Some were kind enough to show me cartons that contained stack of torn papers which was internship letters and resume of people that did not have connections.