Canal+ Rwanda has on September 7 signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Kepler College, to allow more students to undergo internship programmes at the firm.

One of the pillars of Canal+ Group is education. It therefore blends well with Kepler College’s aim of empowering young people with 21st century training and new pathways to employment, according to officials from both companies.

In line with their commitment to education, Canal + Rwanda has introduced Nathan TV, an educative channel which broadcasts French and Mathematics courses to help children comprehend much more of what they learn in school in a friendly and interactive manner.

According to Sophie Tchatchoua, Managing Director of Canal+ Rwanda, the firm is also expanding this to training college graduates which is why they are working with Kepler.

She said they have already hired different interns from the college and want to build a bigger pool of talents that will work permanently at Canal+ Rwanda or perhaps become its collaborators.

"This partnership is important in terms of giving students, the youth, opportunities to have a chance within the workplace. Kepler students have skills that are needed in the workplace; they think far and are really open-minded. We have worked with them in projects and want to move forward to have more of them bring a lot of knowledge and ideas,” she said.

Tchatchoua also noted that the students will be interning in different departments including sales, communication, marketing, finance, logistics and IT, adding that the duration for the agreement is six months with a possibility of being renewed for a period of one year.

According to Baylie Damtie Yeshita, Vice-Chancellor of Kepler College, the agreement will give students an opportunity to practice, in the real environment, what they’ve learned in class.

"They will be able to get an opportunity to work on different projects. We will also have staff from Canal+ come here to share experience with students on how the real world looks like,” he said.

Yeshita also declared that both parties will have arrangements to enrol students in the internship programme, based on available needs and opportunities.

He added, "We love to expose our students to industrial experience. Every student should have at least two industrial attachments. This six-month internship programme is exciting because it provides students with work experience which can turn into employment. Our goal at Kepler is to turn every internship opportunity into full-time employment.”