Join the UoN Public Forum on COVID-19 on Thursday March 12, 2020 at the Chandaria Auditorium, UoN Towers, 6th Floor

The Office of Career Services organised an industrial visit to Unilever for 30 department of Chemistry students on March 3, 2020.

The core mandate of the UoN Career Office is to produce holistic graduates prepared for entry into the workforce and ready to become entrepreneurs. To achieve this vision, the Career Office regularly plans for students’ industrial site visits to potential employers and industry partners and this includes government institutions and bodies. The aim of the industrial visits is to provide an insight regarding the internal working processes of institutions and companies and offer an opportunity for students to interact with industries to know more about the real work environment and how businesses are transacted in the respective companies or institutions.

Charles Irungu Kimiti, the Head of Engineering and Projects at Unilever led the Unilever team to welcome the UoN team for the industrial visit. Charles, an alumnus of UoN from the School of Engineering who studied BSc. In Manufacturing Engineering indicated that he welcomed the industrial visit to give back to his Alma Matter and help mentor UoN students as they identify the career paths they would like to follow. Charles encouraged the students to be open-minded, agile, problem solvers, with a positive attitude and ability and willingness to learn.

Brian Amani, the Employer Brand Executive who started off as an intern at Unilever and an alumnus of UoN (BSC. Civil engineering) welcomed the students and made a brief presentation on Unilever’s core business and the opportunity students have to join Unilever to kick off their career paths. Unilever was founded in 18185 and has been a leadership factory for over 100 years.

Kevin Kevin Oywa, the Production Manager in the Personal Care Factory at Unilever East Africa and also an alumnus of UoN (Bsc. Industrial Chemistry) took lead in taking the students round the personal care factory for them to learn the process of production. Kevin encouraged the students to embrace the culture of seeking discomfort and to expand their minds to achieve much more in their careers. “For you to grow in your career, avoiding the comfort zone and seeking discomfort is inevitable”, said Kevin.

The industrial visit opportunity exposed students to the opportunities Unilever has to offer and students were encouraged to apply for the opportunities; the Unilever Leadership Internship Program (ULIP) which is open for students (3&4^th year) to apply every quarter and the Unilever Future Leaders Program (UFLP) that runs for 3 years and is a Management Trainee Program. The UFLP program targets final year students not over than 26 years of age with at least an upper second in their degree.

The students were accompanied by Mr. Johnson Kinyua, Director Carerr Services, Dr. Solomon Derese, Lecturer, Department of Chemistry and Naomi Nyaboga, Career Chief Information Officer in the Office of Career Services.

The Career Office applauds Unilever for this continued partnership in exposing students to industry processes and looks forward to more students gaining from this exposure and landing themselves opportunities with Unilever.

The Office of Career Services will hold interviews for students applicants interested in enrolling for the Arava International Centre for Agricultural Training (AICAT) 11-months agricultural diploma training on March 11^th and 12^th, 2020 at the UoN Towers, 4^th floor. The 2020/2021 cohort will be the 4^th group of students to be admitted to the program.

The University of Nairobi through the Career Office has been partnering with AICAT to offer hands on agricultural training to the College of Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences students since 2017. This is in line with the Big 4 agenda on agriculture and food security.

Based on the five year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Government of Kenya and the State of Israel, UoN is expected to send two more cohorts of students to Israel in 2020 and 2021. The 2020 selection will be the fourth cohort of students to be sent to Israel in July 2020.

A team from PricewaterhouseCoopers on Friday February 21, 2020 visited the University of Nairobi’s School of Business at Lower Kabete for a graduate recruitment drive. The students in attendance were from the School of Business, School of Mathematics and School of Economics. The team from PwC comprised of officers from different lines of service at PwC including Assurance, Tax, Advisory and the Internal Firms Services.

Dr. Githii Wainaina, an Associate Dean at the School of Business welcomed the team from PwC and encouraged the students to take advantage of the opportunity to apply for the graduate trainee program with the PwC, a top multinational company.

Mr. Benson Okundi a Partner and Director at PricewaterhouseCoopers welcomed students to the session and highlighted that the main purpose of PwC is to build trust in society and solve important problems. Mr. Okundi further noted that the firm currently has over 250,000 employees across 158 countries and this therefore provides a global network and exposure especially for young graduates to learn, grow and develop into the accomplished professionals that they aspire to be.

The 2020 PwC graduate recruitment program tagged ‘Be part of something special’ offers students a great global working experience to make a difference, build lasting relationships, for personal growth and to be recognized for outstanding contributions. PwC is therefore the right place for fresh graduates with different degree disciplines, backgrounds and life experiences to kick off their careers.

This sensitization session was also attended by the Director of Careers Services, Mr. Johnson Kinyua who encouraged the students to not only apply for the graduate trainee program but to also grasp the advice from the employer and make a difference in their life both academically and professionally. Mr. Kinyua took note of the shrinking job opportunities in the country and encouraged students to think out of the box in order to be relevant in this fast growing, dynamic yet hard economic times.

The team from PwC welcomed graduates from any discipline to apply for the program. The selected students will go through tailored training, learning and development programmes that are aimed at building strong foundational skills in the different lines of service that PwC offers.

UoN Alumni at PwC shared their working experiences. Paul Mwiti, a 2019 Bachelor of Economics graduate from UoN now working with PwC indicated that the firm offers highly streamlined services and is very supportive to its employees on personal matters. Other Alumni from UoN that shared their experiences include Rosemary Mundia (B.Com, Finance), Victoria Kibugi (B.Com Finance), Edwin Kago (Bachelors of Economics & Statistics), Eliud Ian (B.Com, Finance) and Joshua Kaunda (B.Com, Finance). Overall, the UoN alumni at PwC shared their great experiences ranging from skills development, personal growth, diversity and global professional experience among others.

PwC targets 2019 graduates and those who will have completed their course work awaiting graduation by September 2020. Applications for the graduate recruitment program were open from February 14, 2020 and will close on the 31st March 2020.Applications should be done online on the PWC website under the careers section where one is supposed to fill a form and submit the same for review. Successful candidates shall be notified through email.

The Office of Career Services values the partnership with PwC and encourages UoN students to apply for the graduate recruitment program.  We also appreciate the support being accorded to the Career Office by the Dean, School of Business Prof. Jackson Maalu.

The Office of Career Services in a bid to decentralize its services to all UoN colleges and campuses on Thursday February 20, 2020 held a consultative meeting with the College Management Board of the College of Biological and Physical Sciences.

The aim of the meeting was to understand the career needs of the College and how the students’ life in campus can be improved to enable the Career Office tailor its services to the College needs. The CBPS Principal, Prof. Bernard Aduda welcomed the Career Office and commended the team for reaching out to the College to consult on how the two entities can work together.

Mr. Johnson Kinyua and Ms. Naomi Nyaboga from the Career Office attended the meeting and top on the agenda were discussions on the academic calendar for the college, MoUs signed with industry partners and international universities, college-based career fairs and exhibitions, college-based career talks and mentorship, skills development programs and student talent shows. The Career Office will now receive feedback from the college based on the key areas of discussion in the form of a survey.

Feedback from the College Management Board included the need to improve on the workspace and equipment at the College level, consider career opportunities for post-graduate students, secure job and internship opportunities from both the private and public sectors including research institutions and the County Governments, conduct soft skills trainings for the students, build the skills of students to make them competitive for the job market and obtain more internship opportunities for students going on long holiday.

The Career Office will strive to get a solution for the college needs in a bid to improve the study environment for students and secure job and internship opportunities for the students.

The Office of Career Services in partnership with Huawei Technologies Ltd. On Wednesday February 19^th hosted a sensitization session to the School of Computing and Informatics students on the Huawei ICT Certifications.

Su Shuqi, the Training and Certification Manager for Huawei’s Enterprise Business Department and Michael Kamau from Huawei’s Enterprise Business Department gave an overview of Huawei’s key projects and the programs Huawei is offering to university students. Some of the programs being offered include Routing and Switching, Networking, Security certification, SG certification, IoT, AI, Cloud Computing and Big Data.

Since 2016 when UoN rolled out the Huwaei certification training at UoN, over 200 students have benefited from the training. In 2019, two UoN students who emerged to of the HCIA exam secured an internship opportunity with Huawei, Lina Doktur and Gilbert Kigen from the School of Engineering. In 2018, 12 UoN students were successful for the Huawei Management Trainee Program and two more top students from the HCIA class, Carlvin Abonyo and Dennis Kaminde from the School of Engineering selected for the internship program.

The Office of Career Services has partnered with Huawei in different programs namely

• Huawei Certified ICT Associate Certification
• Huawei ICT Skills Competition
• Huawei Management Trainee program
• Huawei DigiTalent Career Fair
• Huawei Ajira Interns Induction Program
• Huawei Industrial Visit

The end goal of the Office of Career  Services as outlined by Mr. Johnson Kinyua who made a presentation on behalf of the office is to produce holistic graduates who are empowered, competitive, employable, enterprising and innovative for the job market.

In 2020, UoN shall offer more Huawei ICT Certification trainings and it is hoped that more students will secure for themselves opportunities with Huawei and other top technological companies. The Huawei ICT certification is highly valued by top employers and this is why UoN is investing in these trainings.

The 2020 Arava Open Day was held on 12-13 February, 2020 at the Yair Research & Development Center in the Arava region of Israel. Prof. John Kimenju from the College of Agriculture and Veterinary sciences and Ms. Naomi Nyaboga from the Career Services office represented the University at the Open Day.

The 29^th Open day was a large agricultural show that brought together farmers from the entire Arava region to come and showcase their agricultural services and products. Over the years, this Agricultural Exhibition has reputed itself as an outstanding professional event that attracts big audiences and visitors from the entire Arava region and the rest of Israel. Visitors got the opportunity to interact with over 200 business companies displaying the latest innovations in the field of Agriculture and also selling their products.

The Open Day also presented an opportunity to tour the different farm sites where UoN students are attached and get a feel of the kind of hands-on agricultural farming experience they are receiving. UoN sent 18 students to Israel for the 3^rd cohort in August 2019 and they are bound to return home after their 11 months training in July 2020.

Michael Mathenge, one of the 2019/2020 AICAT students showcased his innovation of a motor-powered soil mixer to save farmers many hours of sorting compost and soil before planting garden seedlings. Michael hopes to come back home and turn his innovation into a product that can be sold to Kenyan farmers.

The Office of Career Services has been partnering with the Arava International Centre for Agricultural Training (AICAT) since 2017 to offer hands on agricultural training to the College of Agriculture students. This is in line with the Big 4 agenda on agriculture and food security. This partnership is based on two main programs offered by AICAT; the Diploma 11 month’s program and MSc program in Plant Science in cooperation with Tel-Aviv University.

The Kenyan Government was represented by Shali Ngali and Abigael Magumba from the Embassy of Kenya in Israel. The MD of the Agricultural Finance Corporation, Mr. Lucas Meso was also in attendance. Mr. Meso gave a commitment to liaise with the Ministry of Agriculture to finance the students with innovative agricultural ideas when they return home and give them government land to practice the mechanised agricultural skills learnt in Israel.

The Office of Career Services applauds the great effort the students are making in the farms. Appreciation also goes to Dennis Tomoina, an AICAT alumnus from cohort 2 who is also the current Kenyan students’ leader for the year 2019/2020. The Career Office is now exploring on a partnership with the Israeli Government on Kenyans going to Israel as workers and sending UoN College of Agriculture Staff for short courses at AICAT.

Gujarat University on Thursday February 13, 2020 held a campaign in Nairobi to promote education programmes in Indian Universities. The aim was to attract more than 1000 students willing to study in 16 universities in India.

Gujarat University is an institution of higher learning in India established in the year 1949 under the Gujarat University Act, it is the largest and oldest university. It boasts of well-equipped facilities and offers a firm foundation to produce holistic students that will make an outstanding contribution to the world economy.

In a program called “Linking up with Universities”, Gujarat University through its Vice Chancellor Prof. (Dr.) H.A Pandya on Thursday February 13, 2020, held a forum at Crowne Hotel Nairobi to drum up popularity for its scholarship program for Kenyan students who wish to pursue  their Masters  studies in Gujarat. The program aims at providing financial assistance to needy students through scholarships.

The Vice Chancellor of The University of Nairobi, Prof. Stephen Kiama hailed the program and congratulated the Indian government for the noble idea while noting that it will help bridge the gap in post graduate studies due to financial challenges. In addition, it will help reduce youth unemployment through production of competent graduates capable of creating self-employment opportunities in our fast growing economy.

Mr. Darius Mogaka Ogutu, the Director of University Education at the Ministry of Education welcomed the team from Gujarat University and read a speech on behalf of the Cabinet Secretary for Education Prof. George Magoha. In his speech, he highlighted that India and Kenya have been great partners in matters Education and applauded the Indian Government for the over 400 scholarships it gives to Kenyan student annually. The Indian Government has also supported the Kenyan Government with a credit of USD 30 million to revive the RIVATEX Company in Eldoret and recently renovated the Mahatma Gandhi Graduate Library at the University of Nairobi at a cost of USD 1 million.

The Indian High Commissioner to Kenya, Rahul Chhabra urged the youth to take advantage of the opportunity to study at Gujarat University in India.

Vibharari Dave, the Minister of State for Women and Child Welfare Education in India indicated that India initiated the ‘Study in Gujarat program’ to offer affordable education to students. In her speech, she noted that “Gujarat is one of the fastest growing progressive States in India and gives high value education to students’.

The Gujarat University fair showcased great higher learning opportunities in India to educate Kenyan youth on the various courses being offered and give more information on available scholarship opportunities.

Students interested in the opportunities in Gujarat are encouraged to apply online through the Gujarat University website. Students qualify for the scholarships between 15-100% support varying from one course to another. The academic year starts in June 2020 and qualified students can apply online as from February 2020.

The University of Nairobi hosted the induction of 250 Ajira Digital Program interns from January 27 to 31, 2020.

The induction involved training the interns and imparting in them knowledge and skills to enable them work and earn a decent income online. The interns were also trained on government structure operations and urged to uphold the high values and principles of public service such as accountability, efficiency and transparency as they discharge their duties.

The induction program was graced by top government officials from the Ministry of ICT including Mr. Joe Mucheru, Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of ICT, Mr. Jerome Ochieng, Principal Secretary, State Department for ICT & Innovation, the ICT Chief Administrative Secretary, Maureen Mbaka, the Chief Administrative Secretary, Innovation and Youth, Nadia Abdalla, Ms. Esther Koimet, Principal Secretary, State Department of Broadcasting & Telecommunications and the Deputy  Vice Chancellor University of Nairobi, Prof. Julius Ogeng’o among other key partners.

In his opening speech, Mr. Jerome Ochieng noted that formal employment has not been growing proportionately with the demand for jobs. It is in view of this that the government established a broad range of interventions to deal with the growing rate of unemployment with specific attention to the youth. Among the measures taken to provide solution to unemployment is the Ajira Digital Program. The Ajira Digital program aims at introducing young people to on-line work and providing them with necessary tools, training and mentorship to enable the youth to work and earn a decent income online.

In his remarks, Prof. Julius Ogeng’o, the Deputy Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs said that he was confident that the Ajira initiative driven by the Ministry of Information Communications, Technology, Innovation and Youth Affairs would empower millions of young people to access digital and digitally-enabled job opportunities and position Kenya as a labor destination for multinational companies as well as encourage local companies and the public sector to create digital work.

Dr. Catherine Getao the ICT Chief Executive Officer indicated that the Ministry of ICT had different programs aimed at building the ICT capacity of the youth to enable them secure opportunities in the job market.

The 250 interns who will be posted to different County Information Offices nationwide were reminded that they had been recruited to support the implementation of the Ajira Digital Program and offer technical support while sharing their innovativeness to help the government to deliver the digital economy promise and transform individuals, families and Kenya at large.

It is hoped that the one-year internship program will offer mentorship, networking opportunities and experience to the youth to enable them develop professionally and become employable both in the private and public sector.

The University of Nairobi applauds the deliberate effort by the Government to promote online work and place Kenya as a global freelance capital. The key players that have made the Ajira Digital program successful include the Ministry of ICT, Huawei and Mastercard Foundation.