KAMPALA – Uganda Development Bank Ltd (UDB), the country’s National Development Finance Institution, on Monday launched its second cohort of the Graduate Apprenticeship Program (GAP) that will provide hands-on skills development and job opportunities to nascent professionals in Uganda in a bid to create a pool for the Bank’s future talent needs,
The GAP is one of the Bank’s responses to developing its human capital and aims at creating sustainable, decent and meaningful jobs for budding professionals, and this is in alignment with the government’s priority interventions stipulated in Vision 2040 and NDPI.
Allan Mwesiga, the Director Strategy and Corporate Affairs at UDB told the press at the bank’s headquarters that eight apprentices will recruited and retained in the organization upon successful completion of training.
“At UDB, we recognize that job creation is central to the national socio-economic development process and core to the country’s transformation. GAP is our response to this very pertinent aspect of this country.”
He says that UDB is the only development finance institution in Uganda and like all forward-looking organizations, continuity is key thus it becomes imperative to build a healthy stock of skills and talent to enable it to deliver its strategy.
“Given that there is no specialized institution for development finance training in the country, the Bank sought to contribute to development of these skills and competencies in the country by identifying high achieving young individuals with high entrepreneurial and managerial promise, and by skilling them appropriately. At the end of their training, the apprentices will have acquired the relevant competencies required for various roles; those that will have successfully completed the program, demonstrated the right attitude, conduct and aptitude, will be absorbed into the Bank’s service.”
Under the program, the Bank is calling for applications by graduates in specific fields of study. These include,
- Engineering with a bias in Mechanical, Software & Mechatronic Engineering, Irrigation and Agro processing Engineering
- Data Management with a blas in Data Science, Analysis and/or Architecture, Mathematics; Computer Science and Physics
- Statistics and Quantitative Economics
- HR Management and Organizational Behavior
- Environmental Science
- Sustainable Development and related fields
Legibility
Ugandan citizens that will have graduated with a Bachelor’s degree qualification in the academic fields noted above, from any reputable recognized university CGPA of 4.0 and above 30 year of age and below
Deadline for receipt of application is 30 September 2022
First cohort
The bank had the first cohort where it recruited four graduates and retained the at the end of the training.
Joel Sserunkuma, one the pioneers of the program which started in 2020 says it gave him a bit of understanding when he was starting his professional career.
“With the team, I’ve been working with, training me through all the development finance, has been so supportive. With this program, I’m really certain it is the best for which ever graduate out there to start with especially if they are looking to develop their career.”
Kakabbito Phiona Martha, the only lady in the first cohort told the media that she joined as a civil engineer and was assigned a mentor who took her through all the processes in the bank as well as other mentors in other departments.
“What I can say is the program taught us so much about professional development, it has really supported us to further our careers.”
