Staff Reporter
Windhoek-Standard Bank rewards academic excellence annually through its bursary scheme that aids deserving students create a better future for themselves. The bank this week announced that both their Bursary Scheme and Graduate Developmental Programmes are now open for applications.
The closing date for both the Graduates Developmental Programme and Bursary Scheme is November 3.
The bank recognises the challenges some of these scholars go through once they graduate in struggling to secure jobs to put their newly acquired skills to use. As such, through its Graduate Developmental Programme, the bank is recruiting talented candidates from universities to join its team.
“The Graduate Development Programme is a vital component of our talent management process, helping us to identify and develop a pool of talent with high-potential to take on the responsibility of leading our Business into the future,” said Standard Bank’s head of learning and development Johanna Nghililewanga.
She explained that the graduate programme was designed to give a solid foundation and understanding of the functions within the bank for graduates, who are looking to get into the banking industry.
The programme target graduates with degrees in commerce, finance, banking, science, engineering, technology and property studies. To ensure these graduates acquire the skills and knowledge necessary to excel in their fields, they will rotate through various assigned functions.
“Our hands-on approach will ensure that the graduates will get to know our particular business functions better as they experience rotations within those functions. We are looking for candidates who are highly motivated, with a commercial focus and strong analytical ability, candidates who enjoy being challenged and demonstrate good attention to detail. They should also bring a degree of humility and be keen on collaborating with the rest of the team,” she emphasised.
Graduates will be hired on a permanent basis from the onset. They will be recruited in line with Standard Bank’s strategic workforce plan. The programmes will run over a period of one year.
“University education should not just be a privilege limited to those who can afford, but also [people] with disadvantaged backgrounds with potential to excel academically. As such I am proud to announce that we are also taking in applications for our Bursary Scheme for next year,” she said.
Standard Bank’s bursary scheme targets matriculants who obtained excellent or high academic results and are in need of financial assistance to pursue their studies. Their preferred fields of study should be in commerce, science, finance, engineering, technology and property studies.
This year alone, the bank invested N$1 million in the Development Programmes, which aided seven bursary students.
“We would like to play our part in growing Namibian talent, because we understand how important they are to our socio-economic development as a country. Our Graduate Developmental Programme and Bursary Scheme is our way of contributing to this objective. So, we urge all our talented youth to apply for these programmes.”