ELDORET, KENYA, October 10th, 2017 Cytonn Investments Management Plc through its Cytonn Young Leadership Programme (CYLP) has today signed a Memorandum of Understanding ’MOU’, with Moi University at the University’s Main Campus in Eldoret. The partnership is to provide mentorship and training to the students after they graduate from the university. The programme will see some of the top graduates from the university gain practical work experience by working at Cytonn Investments in fields like Investments, Real Estate, Human Resource , Marketing, Finance, Operations, ICT, Legal amongst other fields.
During the ceremony, Patricia Wanjama, Partner and Company Secretary at Cytonn Investments stated that a strong alignment exists between the University’s vision and Cytonn’s vision. “In Cytonn’s pursuit of being a leading Investments Manager in Africa, it would be a vision easily achieved by getting the right talent on board. Finding the right talent still remains a challenge for high performing companies such as Cytonn Investments, and increased partnerships such as the one formed today with Moi University, where we already have benefited from current alumni, cements our desire to attract, train and retain the right people’.
The Vice Chancellor, Professor Laban Ayiro was very pleased with the initiative stating that it was very positive and a great avenue in increasing the employability of the graduates. He added that the CYLP had a great strategy in packaging the graduates and making them ready for absorption into the job market. As from his standpoint, unemployment was no longer as big of an issue in the country, as was the employability of graduates within the job market. This is the second partnership that Cytonn Investments has formed with universities, the first being with Embu University in May 2017. The partnership, which is co-ordinated under the Cytonn Foundation, seeks to partner with more universities as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility in training and mentoring young talent.
CYLP is under the Cytonn Foundation’s Training and Mentorship Pillar that seeks to ensure: learning and development of each individual that goes though CYLP; expose individuals to the working environment through a comprehensive and practical experience; expose individuals to the culture of team work, excellence, innovation, accountability and integrity; and talent acquisition for the company: getting the best of the best talent in the industry for its human capital. The other pillars of Cytonn Foundation include Financial Literacy and Entrepreneurship.
The programme commenced in January 2015, with an inaugural class of 6 investment interns. To date, the programme has had over 480 young leaders from various universities across the country participating and Cytonn has offered jobs to 151 of them. The progress of individuals who leave at the end of the programme is tracked and most of them have a sharp start as they begin fulfilling careers.
For one to join the programme, they ought to i) Have achieved at least a B+ or equivalent in high school, ii) Graduated or will graduate with at least a second class upper from a recognized university; and iii) Demonstrate leadership qualities and iv) Be committed to succeeding in a team context.
