Internship Programme

Objective

To provide local youth with first work experience and potential to offer full-time employment upon completion of the internship programme.

Overview and Main Activities

Each year, Investcorp offers internship placements equivalent to eight percent of the total number of employees at its Bahrain headquarters. The internship programme is designed to give candidates practical experience that will help them develop skills appropriate to the corporate sector. Skills include, but not limited to presentations, negotiations, communication, accounting and finance, etc. To provide a good overview of Investcorp and its operations, candidates rotate among departments for one week each. In parallel, candidates receive training on topics such as interview techniques, presentation skills, management styles, employee ethics, compliance and anti-money laundering. The internship programme lasts for eight weeks. Other elements of the programme include mentoring by the Administration Manager together with the various department heads. Investcorp Bank offers internships for all functions that include Finance, Legal, Risk Management, Treasury, Placement and Relationship Management, Hedge Funds, CI-MENA, HR, IT, etc. Interns rotate among all eight functions at Investcorp. Ten percent of candidates get a job offer after their internship. Investcorp provides a stipend of $400 per month to each intern. Students work on case studies and give the team a presentation at the end of the term.

Investcorp aims to source local candidates for the internship programmes. The main feeder channels are local educational institutions – University of Bahrain and The Bahrain School – and a local non-profit organization, Young Arab Leaders (YAL). Other key partners include the Crown Prince Scholarship Programme and the Bahrain Institute of Banking & Finance.

Success Factors and Challenges

Most critical success factors:

• Support from Chairman, CEO and senior management team
• Commitment of local community/culture in providing internships to local students
• Employee support for summer interns
• Buy-in and support of senior management

Main challenges:

• Requirements to establish successful proof points prior to scaling the programme to current eight percent of total staff level
• Students have to be smart, pro-active and attentive
• Completion of case studies, which are monitored by the mentor.
• Student attendance, adherence to firm’s guidelines upon joining, confidentiality, etc.
• Obtaining Investcorp manager’s time due to the fiscal year end schedule that coincides with the Summer Internship Programme in July and August

Recommendations for Others

Extend the training session.

Replicability and Scalability

How easily could other organizations implement this initiative?
Very easy: Extremely easy for all financial institutions to replicate what Investcorp does and to take eight weeks each year to educate/train/mentor today’s youth.

How easily can this initiative be expanded to include a larger number of participants?
Difficult: Given the fiscal year and of June 30th and general staff busyness in July and August, scaling the programme is challenging.

About the Organization

Website: www.investcorp.com
Sector: Banking and Capital Markets
Size (number of employees): Up to 1,000
Headquarters: Manama, Bahrain

For Further Engagement

Contact name: Mufeed Rajab
Contact position: Managing Director- Administration
Email: mrajabinvestcorp.com