Wentors launches the We-Work program to place women in tech in internship/job roles.
Wentors is creating a global talent pipeline for women in technology.
Wentors in the last 3 years has been nothing short of growing, aiding women advance in their careers by providing them with professional mentorship and training them in other industry relevant skills.
In our journey to building a community where women in technology can be nurtured, we have observed a prevalent challenge for women who have the opportunity to participate in mentorship programs or other professional training/skill acquisition programs. After the run time of these programs, the participants have a hard time finding placements within organizations.
Being able to put into practical use the skills you have learnt is essential in the growth journey of any woman in tech. This is why we decided as a community to invest our resources in securing internship opportunities for women within our community.
We have prototyped this idea last year in partnership with Flapmax, and earlier this year, as 28 women from our community were part of the second cohort of the Flapmax AI Institute program. These women carefully selected through an interview process, were enrolled into a 12-week program where they were given the opportunity to work in/alongside established teams in organizations across the world.
The feedback from the Flapmax internship program became a proof of why we needed to launch the We-Work program.
Toluwase Olugbemiro, communications lead at Wentors, said this concerning Wentors, “When I look at Wentors, I see an organization that fully embodies the role of a mentor in the life of a career woman. She understands the pain points of the everyday woman in tech and has strategically set up initiatives to solve these problems. We-Work is one of such initiatives designed to empower the woman in technology.”
This pilot edition of the We-Work program will feature 15 women from across different countries of the world, and different — technical and non-technical — tracks in the industry matched to work with different organizations.
The goal of the internship is to equip these women with hands-on working experience that puts their skills — technical and soft skills — to use. It is our hope that through the run time of the internship, these skills would be refined even as they engage with real life tasks.
As part of the internship program, the participants would have training sessions where seasoned experts would be brought on to teach them on industry relevant topics that will prepare them for work even beyond their internship period.
Anita Okonweze, our program coordinator, who was actively involved in confirming the facilitators for these sessions, spoke of the impact these sessions are meant to have on the participants. She said, “These training sessions are important, from our lineup of speakers, it would help them both as they engage the internship period, and even after. For those of them who also intend to keep applying for jobs during the internship period, they will know exactly what to do that will give them an advantage over other applicants.”
As an organization, we hope that these women become so valuable to the organizations that recruited them as interns that they are retained.
EduAbasi Chukwunweike, Founder and CEO at Wentors said concerning the program, “This is a model we intend to improve upon. We intend to create a pipeline of global talents that feed roles in different industries beyond the tech industry. As we evolve as an organization, this is an important next step for Wentors”.
As we look into the future of our community, empowering the women in our community remains an important part of our culture. The We-Work program amongst others becomes an integral part of building a community that enables women to thrive.
