Tuskys to enroll youth in internship programme

Tuskys has unveiled an ambitious six-month internship programme that will see 1,500 youths across the country equipped with the skills to work in a supermarket every year.

The Sh150 million programme will run for the next five years and will see 7,500 mid-level college graduates trained in a first-of-its-kind initiative in Kenya’s retail sector. After graduating, between 50 and 60 per cent of the trainees will be absorbed by the retailer as permanent employees while the rest are expected to be hired by other supermarkets.

The initiative aims to bridge the gap between graduates being churned from institutions of higher learning and what the industry requires and especially in the retail industry where there are no specific college offering relevant retailing courses.

“There is a growing concern that the young people seeking employment may lack the requisite experience normally provided through internship programmes to ensure they are ready from Day One,” said Tuskys chief executive officer Dan Githua yesterday. As such employers are forced to do additional on-the-job training to ensure the new entrants are ready for the job at hand.

Trainees in the programme will be selected through the retailer’s internship portal and will include 50 per cent men and 50 per cent women.