Enternships Blog

Why Starting A Business While Studying Is A Good Idea Posted on Thursday 02 February 2012 at 12:40PM by trrpaipai

Jacky Yapp is the lead founder of Lunchsparks, a networking platform that allows you to meet with awesome and cool people in Singapore, making great contacts for your career. He founded this platform while he was still in college and now he shares his pearls of wisdom on the why's and do's of such an initiative.

Many people wonder when is it a good time to startup, and when I ask around, usually most of those around me (I am currently based in Singapore and spent a year in Shanghai, grew up in Brunei and Malaysia) would say, to first graduate from college, get a job, earn some money, get some contacts and expand your network, and then you are all set to start building your startup. For me, I think the best time to start is during college/university, which is what I am doing right now.

A little background of myself, I am currently in my final year in the National University of Singapore, and I had the chance to be based in Shanghai for a year last year and when I came back, I gathered my cofounders and we started working on our current startup idea. The beauty of entrepreneurship is that extra step you take out of your comfort zone, that will to do something different with your life, having an impact on the people around you, and that extra courage you need to face the possible criticism and possible failure.

And speaking of failure, what better time there is for one to fail during college and start all over again? We all know that out of 10 startups out there, 9 fails. So if your startup venture failed in university, it is easier to stand back up, and the experiences that you gained is invaluable in making you a better person, and in preparing you for the world. I have been working for 4 months on my current startup right now and I have been meeting a lot of awesome people along the way, who gave me great advices, who pointed me in the correct direction as well as those that criticized my idea, and I loved all of them.

Other than that, you also get to experience things that your peers don’t experience such as negotiating with investors, making hard decisions, team expansions, product marketing or even public speaking to sell your idea. For myself, I experienced 2 interesting incidents whereby I received a warning email from an anonymous who essentially warns me of my startup idea and that it is a knockoff of another similar website, and another incident (well not actually incident) whereby a software engineer saw what we were doing and wanted to join us. He sent in his really impressive resume to me but we were not hiring at that point of time, putting me at the other side of the table during the interview.

Had I not started working on what I am working now, I wouldn’t have had the chance to experience all these if I were to get by my university life as a normal student. So to all aspiring entrepreneurs in college today, if you have that one million dollar idea right now, start doing something about it today! There will never be the exact right date to start founding a company, but if you have to, that day is today. Ideas are worth nothing, for it is the execution that matters.

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”              – Steve Jobs

Photo from: http://bit.ly/z1SNbP

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Low Jobs Or No Jobs? That Is The Question. Posted on Monday 30 January 2012 at 12:07PM by trrpaipai

Last week we ran a poll on our weekly newsletter in which we asked Enterns to tell us what they think about the statement Mayor Boris Johnson made the other week regarding work ethics in Britain. We got quite a reaction from our subscribers, voting both pro and against the idea launched by London's progressive mayor, so we compiled a list with the most interesting replies.

Here's what the mayor Boris Johnson told The Sun on January 20th:

"London is a fantastic creator of jobs — but many of these jobs are going to people who don't originate in this country. They are hard-working, good people, and we need to learn from them and understand what it is that they have got that makes them able to get those jobs that young Londoners don't have."

So his idea is that the job spectrum is in a deficit of demand, not of offer. No one really wants to take on the lower end jobs, apart from the foreigners relocating to the UK in order to touch up their income. He suggests the key problem for the British economy is the lack of energy among Britain's youth. You can read the original article here.

There are various factors that influence the equation 'unemployment+immigration+British work ethic', and the truth never seems to stay in one place. On one hand, the mayor is right in saying there are plenty of job offers that are waiting to be filled in retail and food industries, however is also losing sight of the fact that the case with professional jobs is a bit more different.

Our readers have also had mixed reactions to the statement, either putting the blame on a lack of willingness to work or simply on the outrageous economic fall Britain is still dwelling in. Read on:

"Being a foreigner myself and having worked very hard in this country for over 10 years in a low-paid, unrecognised sector (Hospitality, and specifically the Housekeeping side of it --that is, the most essential yet unglamorous part of it) where no English would set foot, I can but agree with Boris; and there are certainly some people whose trouble in finding work is laziness. But are they the majority? At the same time, I have seen a lot of people from this country work hard & long hours --providing the job suited them--, and some of them do try to adapt to new parameters.

On the other hand, I am now also one of the nearly 3 million unemployed, have been also working hard (for near 3 years) at trying to get employment, but there are always more candidates than vacancies, with criteria for employment being always higher --and I am NOT unqualified, unexperienced or unadaptable (or indeed a youngster)... So imagine the non-qualified! Mister Mayor therefore has to be wrong in asserting that the jobs are out there, that we just need to bend down and pick them..."

Some suggest a closer relationship between Britain's politicians, employers and the youth will provide a better understanding of the British economic needs and how they can be met by the new generations of workers:

"Boris Johnson has generalised the youth and there are some people that are desperate to work. It's politicians that are giving youth a bad name and it is unfair on the people that genuinely want to work and that is the majority of people but companies simply don't want to employ English workers because they will pay more in wages. It's simple economics. I think politics is very under representative of the youth and need to be more directly influenced by younger people. Then they will understand what is really happening with the younger generation of people!"

While a dim appetite for taking on jobs might be one of the reasons young people of Britain are without work, there is a wide range of other factors that contribute to youth unemployment:

"Securing an interview presently can come across as such an achievement as many people do not even get that far. Consequently, the number of people and even youngsters on JSA has increased, it's no wonder they have no energy as an end result. However, it does not help that Mr Johnson is making such statements by comparing the UK workforce to "hard-working foreigners" as there are so many adverse factors already affecting people finding jobs. Our London Mayor needs to take a back seat and introduce plans to create more jobs rather than making statements that have the opposite affect."

Some are taking a rather different view, agreeing with Mayor Johnson in saying that work motivation is a crucial factor and that sometimes you just have to be bold and change the usual career path:

"I retrained as journalist after my Software Engineering degree in London in 2008 and ended up doing quite a few internships (because the job market tanked) when I was job hunting, eventually I got sick of interning (basically unpaid work) so I decided to do some voluntary work with an NGO in Bangladesh. Now I'm working in Dubai in PR. Sometimes a drastic change of scenery (or a swift kick up the backside!) helps to bring things back into perspective when you think your career options are limited to one region or country. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to chip in, for all his craziness, Boris Johnson is absolutely right about the poor work ethic of modern British youth."

Others go as far as saying that  Britain might lose the lead if it doesn't keep up with the enthusiasm of other emerging countries:

"Unfortunately, how crude it may sound I agree with statement. If people do no realise this, the development of countries like  China and Brazil is going up while the relatively UK is declining. People cannot be surprised (am not saying in the near future) but in the feature if they, for example, cannot find themselves travelling as much as before but having tourist flooding in to this country."

What is your take on this debate? Is Britain indeed slacking with job offers, disregarding the economic crisis that is still on-going? Or is the situation really as bad as not being able to keep up with the pool of young talent fresh from universities? Give us your comments here.

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Are You Ready? Bringing Enterprise In Education Posted on Thursday 26 January 2012 at 11:46AM by trrpaipai

Enternships is a big fan of initiatives that bring enterprise and business innovation forward. We love those that involve young people even more and this is precisely what 'Are You Ready?' is all about: a comprehensive programme and campaign to create an urgently needed culture of enterprise in education.

Their approach is to harness ‘enterprise’ as a vehicle for transformation – raising aspirations, developing skills and bringing the community together through schools and colleges to create a more prosperous future. The 'Are you ready?' experience and belief is that young people need to be enterprising, develop an entrepreneurial mindset and have the confidence and ambition to take on the challenges and opportunities of life in the 21st century.

How it all started

It’s been six years since they launched their first enterprise programme and the ‘Ready’ model and ‘Inspire’ enterprise training are now internationally acclaimed. The original project, Rotherham Ready, won the prestigious Enterprising Britain competition for ‘creating a culture of enterprise’ and Rotherham was named the ‘Most Enterprising PlaceinBritain’ 2010 as a result.

The national programme ‘Are You Ready?’ won the StartUp Britain ‘Best Enterprise Support Award’ at the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards in 2011. This project received very good feedback from OFSTED too – after HMI spent a week in 2008 looking at how it inspired schools and colleges to give enterprise education a high priority.

This team believes that education has a key role to play in helping young people prepare for the challenges and opportunities of life in the 21st century and that supporting them to be ‘enterprising’ is a key part of their development. Can't argue with that!

How they do it

The 'Ready' target has a bold and unique take: they target young people – from four-years-old right up to young adults of 19 – to ensure a progressive development of enterprise skills, qualities and knowledge. Attitudes and mindsets are formed at an early age, so it is critical that we start developing enterprising skills, qualities and knowledge in the primary years and ensure it progresses through secondary education and beyond.

The idea is to train teachers to develop enterprise through the curriculum and as part of school culture so that enterprise is not seen as a bolt on – it is seen as an approach to teaching and learning and a way of giving relevance and meaning to the curriculum and school life. The ‘Inspire Pioneers’ tour aims to take this acclaimed training programme around the UK, working with teaching practitioners from Early Years to Higher Education.

The campaign

In November 2011 a campaign was launched and HM e-petition to highlight some of the major challenges faced by young people and our society. The campaign and e-petition call on the government to do three things:

1. Make enterprise and entrepreneurship education a key part of all young people’s learning entitlement through the National Curriculum.
2. Make enterprise and entrepreneurship education part of teacher training and development.
3. Make enterprise and entrepreneurship education part of the Ofsted inspection framework.

To find out more, please visit www.areyouready.org.uk/campaign where you can download the briefing paper and also sign the e-petition!

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Business in You: new campaign launched by Prime Minister David Cameron and StartUp Britain Posted on Monday 23 January 2012 at 12:31PM by trrpaipai

Everyone is capable of setting up a business; you just need to find your passion. This is the message in the new campaign being launched today in Leeds by the Prime Minister and StartUp Britain, whose co-founder is Enternships’ CEO Rajeeb Dey.

StartUp Britain will join the Prime Minister in Leeds this morning to spearhead the new campaign, which aims to inspire and support the people of Britain into becoming  entrepreneurs.

“Enterprise is what we do in Britain. This is the year that, more than ever, we've got to go for it", said Cameron who is determined to “get behind Britain's grafters, doers, hard-workers and entrepreneurs”.

The ‘Business in You’ initiative comes in support of other projects the government has rolled up for small firms and would-be entrepreneurs, including making the government's disused office space available on short-term leases to them. This campaign will provide help in the form of free video tutorials, workshops and web-based seminars.

The message StartUp Britain co-founder and Enternships CEO sends is clear: “The jobs and growth will come from entrepreneurs and thus I'm particularly keen to send the message out to young people to look at entrepreneurship as a viable and rewarding career path and that in the midst of the bleak employment market entrepreneurship provides hope and opportunity”, says Rajeeb Dey.

The campaign is championed by successful businesses and entrepreneurs, including Huddle’s Alastair Mitchell, Paul Lindley from Ella’s Kitchen, Moonfruit’s Wendy Tan-White and Richard Moross, Moo.com.

Whilst unemployment continued to increase  a change has also been registered in terms of work patterns with the number of self-employed people and part-time workers rising considerably. A possible scenario might be that people have decided to take control of their future, become entrepreneurs and start their own businesses. This campaign launched by StartUp Britain and the Prime Minister aims to highlight that support is out there to help them fulfil their ambitions.

StartUp Britain and Enternships are a big fan of such projects because, as founder Rajeeb Dey puts it, “young people have the ability to not only take a job but in fact make a job; let’s make 2012 the year of the entrepreneur."

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Breakthrough Initiative Boosts Entrepreneurship in the UK Posted on Friday 13 January 2012 at 13:25PM by trrpaipai

Saving the economy? Driving innovation? Piece of cake! Enternships is proud to announce a new partnership with Santander Group in a new initiative that is bound to bring the best graduate talent to work with the fastest growing SMEs in the UK.

Breakthrough Enternships is part of a larger program which provides investment for fast-growth SMEs and supports local enterprise and community initiatives in order to help create jobs, inspire tomorrow’s entrepreneurs and fuel a private sector-led economy.

The problem: It’s ironic that in the current economic climate employers are struggling to find good people while graduates are expressing concern over their ability to access the jobs they want. The Breakthrough programme’s Enternship initiative addresses these recruitment issues while providing not only valuable experience for the next generation of businesspeople but also fresh recruits for today’s talent-hungry employers.

The solution: Under this programme, Santander seeks to identify and support successful, fast-growth SMEs as they work to break through to the next level. Spanning across four to five years, Breakthrough will make £200 million available for investment in up to 50 businesses that fall under the category of ‘Growth Champions’.

What’s in for the enterns

Enterns can gain valuable first-hand experience by contributing to a business where their drive and education can make a tangible impact. They can also find a route into smaller companies that may not otherwise benefit from a typical graduate recruitment programme, allowing Enterns to work more closely with senior staff. Getting that first break can often make all the difference between landing a promising career and remaining on the shelf, and having the Santander brand on your CV could make all the difference to an employer.

What’s in for the employers

Businesses taking part in the scheme gain access to the valuable skills of an enthusiastic entern who is keen to learn and make a contribution. Santander will fully fund the placements, also handling the associated administration and marketing. In addition, there is also the longer-term benefit that results from matching motivated graduates to businesses looking to fill permanent positions.

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Enternships Roundup: What's New In The World Of Internships And Youth Unemployment Posted on Thursday 12 January 2012 at 10:58AM by trrpaipai

Lots of media coverage in the past few months and plenty more to come we suspect. Considering the latest figures in unemployment and the ongoing economic instability, the terms graduate jobs and internships will pretty much be on our lips on an ongoing basis. Elliot Whitehead, who has been our entern for the last three weeks or so, was in charge of monitoring the news and keep us updated with the latest developments. Here's what he gathered.

According to data from the Office for National Statistics, youth unemployment in the UK rose to a record high of over 1 million in the third quarter of 2011. This is a worrying statistic for the so called 'lost generation' and there has been some interesting articles and debate in recent press regarding unemployment, internships, students and graduates.

The eternal debate

 The paid vs unpaid debate continues, and the issue looks set to become more prominent with campaigns such as the NUS's 'Unpaid internships: We can't work for free' which calls for an end to unpaid internships, gathering steam.

Furthermore, both the X Factor and fashion houses were in the press for facing claims of using unpaid interns. HRMC sent cautionary letters to 102 fashion houses that exhibited during London Fashion Week in September, but did not name them publicly. Personally, I feel that the issue is more complex than 'pay all interns!' (although generally I feel that at least expenses should be paid) as for some start ups and smaller companies this is not possible. When this is the case these businesses must make sure that their interns gain some valuable experience in return for their work, although really this should  be the case in all internships whether paid or not.

However I do worry that some so called 'interns' are often seen as free disposable labour by employers, and many graduates often ask when will this cycle end and how many internships will they need to do before they get a proper job?  For example, I have a friend who got their dream job through an internship, but then I also know someone else who worked for 6 months unpaid with no expenses and was not offered a job at the end so felt rather exploited as her work was almost the same as some of her paid co-workers.

Signs of change

There needs to be a positive change towards this and the government must encourage it. If their work is valued, this should be shown through pay and/or a structured learning experience for the intern. Some good news related to this is Nick Clegg's announcement of the 'Youth Contract', a £1 billion scheme aimed at helping young unemployed people find work or education opportunities, which seems encouraging and will come into action in April 2012. The Youth Contract will provide at least 410,000 new jobs for 18 to 24 year olds over a three-year period, and there will be 160,000 job subsidies available worth up to £2,275 each for businesses who take on an 18-24 year-old from the Work Programme.

Meanwhile, David Cameron announced a new £250 million scheme for businesses to be given the power to design, develop and purchase the vocational training programmes they need. Furthermore, one article states that one in three London SMEs is to hire in the first quarter of 2012 and another that Britain's youngest SMEs could add £360 million to the UK economy.

International progress 

There has also been some big news regarding internships internationally. Firstly The White House announced its Summer Jobs initiative, with the government pledging to provide almost 180,000 paid jobs, internships and other “employment opportunities” through training and mentoring programs by this summer.

In India, SNDT University is planning on introducing a compulsory internship programme for its postgraduate students to make them more employable in the future. I think programmes like this are a great step in the right direction and feel that universities should work more with businesses in these ways to make their graduates more employable. The government should help this wherever possible to make sure that the young people of today do not become the 'lost generation' after all.

A positive future?

In conclusion , I feel that whilst there is still room for progress to be made (for example I would like to see perhaps a more concrete legislation or financial backing from the government regarding paying interns) it seems that with the Youth Contract and the other campaigns announced positive action is being taken.

Furthermore, with public pressure on companies exploiting unpaid interns and reports showing the SME and start up sector having the potential to do well, 2012 could be a good year for interns and graduate employment as long as these initiatives are fulfilled. It is also important to remember one's own entrepreneurial spirit and if you can't take a job then make a job! So finally here are some encouraging examples of young people in entrepreneurship tackling unemployment themselves.

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Enternships Case Study: A Developer's Story Posted on Wednesday 21 December 2011 at 09:49AM by trrpaipai

Rosie Harvey finished her postgraduate studies in Computer Science last year and, after a short break, she started looking for work to get some real-world experience. Soon enough she came across Enternships which helped her find something better than the usual internship: an enternship.

I used lots of different websites to try and find something as there seemed to be a reasonable number of opportunities available without having to investigate recruitment agencies. I was told about Enternships by a friend as a good place to look, especially for jobs with tech startups. Generally the problems I faced when finding jobs to apply for was in the experience and expertise required. The majority of the Enternships I found, whether paid, unpaid, full-time, part-time, or somewhere in between, were very willing to concentrate on potential and willingness to learn rather than standard experience which was very reassuring to see. Becoming an intern seemed like an ideal way to get some really good experience that I could then use to get a permanent job.

"Becoming an intern seemed like an ideal way to get some really good experience."

When applying for jobs I make sure my CV is up to date. Then for each job I tweak it to make sure it's very easy to see that I meet as many of the criteria as possible, even if it's just mentioning specific programming languages that are in the job description (as long as I've actually had experience with them!). For interviews some good examples to think of are how you have dealt with bugs in code, to see how you solve problems, and something you have built and the steps you took in making it show how you approach it. I started an Enternship at Xylyx Ltd (www.xylyx.com) at the start of September as a Developer intern. Xylyx is a startup that deals with online payments, as well as things like digital ticketing. So far I have created websites using WordPress, edited code and written a web-based application with Java and JSP. I've really been enjoying my time there and my brain is completely filled with all the learning.

Working in a small company means we can easily talk, and bounce ideas off each other, and provide a different perspective on all the various things going on.

It's really great working for a small company because I can be incredibly useful and have actual responsibility; it certainly fully dispels the notion of an intern making the tea and doing photocopying and not much else. Some marketing interns started at the same time as me, and my boss was keen to ensure we communicated and interacted as that is often a difficulty between departments in a company, especially technical. It being a small company means we can easily talk, and bounce ideas off each other, and provide a different perspective on all the various things going on. It has also given me much more of an appreciation of what's required for marketing and sales which feeds back into being able to make the technical side better and more in tune with the company's thinking and approach.

My company has made a real effort to help us develop and improve in a very relaxed and friendly atmosphere.

There is a great deal of debate over unpaid interns currently but I can definitely say that I have benefited from my time so far (and it isn't over yet). My company has made a real effort to help us develop and improve in a very relaxed and friendly atmosphere. We can easily approach my boss with business ideas if we feel the urge; as we come from different backgrounds, our approaches and ideas can provide new and interesting avenues for discussion.

One of the major reasons to become an intern is to get a good reference and this will be much more certain and glowing if you are reliable.

We have had a few interns come and go while I've been working for Xylyx and some of the main things I have noticed is how bad people can be at communicating. If you can't make it in one day, or you're going to be late, or something is stopping you from completing an assignment, it is so much easier to mention it straight away. Don't feel bad about it, don't forget until it's too late. One of the major reasons to become an intern is to get a good reference and this will be much more certain and glowing if you are reliable. I have found that with the relaxed approach to interns it doesn't matter if you miss a day or two, or you have some problems, as long as you're honest about it and let people know. It makes everyone's lives so much easier. Make sure you get a friend or a parent or someone to check your spelling and grammar as well!

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Startup Secret Santa: Wacky Gift Ideas For Your (Future) Work Mates Posted on Friday 16 December 2011 at 13:28PM by trrpaipai

Yes, it’s that time of the year again. Whether you work in a startup already or are planning to in the future you will need to show off your creativity by any possible means. Enternships will give you a hand with this and spill the beans about this year’s Christmas gift ideas that will make the guys at work nominate you for the most original Secret Santa ever.

And because working in a startup actually allows you to get to know everyone in the team, make sure you don’t just go for the generic funny office present. Not saying they don’t make cool gifts, but at least try and make it a bit more personal.

You spend about 8 hours a day with them, you must surely have noticed some of their quirks. What does that person like? What are their day-to-day habits or topics they like to brag about? What are their near-future plans? Where do they like to go in their lunch break? What are they always getting when you go for drinks after work?

With just a couple of twists you can easily find something that will put a smile on your colleagues’ faces. Here are a few suggestions which you can conveniently customize to fit each person in part and because the work they’re doing says a lot about their personality we broke everything down to roles:

The Founder. She started a business from scratch therefore she must be very driven, innovative and passionate about what she does. These rare specimens will be very busy people and need something that can help them organise their schedule but everything has moved online now so they must surely have an app for that. Well, it’s also winter and when travelling they will probably want to keep their hands warm but be able to quickly handle the phone when needed too.

In this case why not get them a pair of gloves that lets them use any touchscreen device as if using their fingers. We found a pair over here and they’re under a tenner too!

 

 

The developer. I know what you think: ‘This is easy! Just get them a geeky computer thing or a video game and that’s that!’ Think about it, this is what everyone else is expecting you to do, right? Why not surprise them buy getting something a bit less digital that will still reflect their artificial intelligence interests.

How about this Earth-friendly robot made with sustainably harvested cherry wood inspired by the Japanese Shinto Kumi-ki puzzles. A far cry from the normal plastic and battery-powered robot army, the Cubebot will be there for him whenever his coding stress levels threaten to hit the red spot.

The Social Media Guru. Forget what I said earlier, in this case you are allowed to be predictable. These guys are the all-talkers, all-knowers and most probably the all-likers too. We thought it would be a cool idea to enable them to ‘like’ stuff in the real world too and keep the Zuckerberg signature at the same time. This set of Like and Dislike stamps should prove quite in handy for that – just cross your fingers he’ll use the right stamp on your Xmas postcard!

 

 

 

The COO. They are the hands-on people: speak typography and colour alignment and they’ll think you’re bluffing. Lists, planning and managing are more likely to spring up in their vocabulary so make sure you keep that in mind. These guys are like the engine that keeps everything up and running, the control tower that overlooks all operations on ground and above.

Wouldn’t it be super useful if they had a universal device to let them run the entire show with the click of a button? I bet COOs are not the only ones interested in something like that but in the meantime you can make them their very own universal remote control keychain that will at least allow them to turn off that annoying track playing on the pub’s radio.

 

 

The Interns. These guys are here to learn. Admit, you’ve one been in their shoes and it wasn’t very pleasant to always feel watched and analysed and wondering whether the work you’re doing is right. Give them a confidence boost with these magic illusions cards that will make them feel like they’re the ones who hold the secret wisdom for once.

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Enternships Case Study: A Financial Story Posted on Monday 12 December 2011 at 12:08PM by trrpaipai

Enock Koola is a former intern at Amoo Venture Capital Advisory, a boutique firm supporting pre- and post-VC technology startups with strategic direction and business development. He has taken the time to answer a few questions, revealing how his enternship lead him to be offered a full-time position in a funky financial firm.

How did you come across Enternships?

I was referred on to the website by a friend. He had used it and thought it would be a good tool to use in search of a summer internship.

What made you decide to do an internship?

I was interested in VC/PE and felt an internship will provide me with insight on how either VC/PE work and whether it was a perfect suit for me.

What are the challenges you’re facing when looking for an internship? What’s the most difficult part?

The most challenging issue is finding the right internship to apply for. There aren’t many internship programs for working in the PE/VC sector.

How did you go about the application? How do you usually prepare your job applications?

I made sure I had done my homework. I researched and studied the company to know more about the role and the company. I kept up with the latest global financial news.  I made a specific CV and Cover letter to the companies I was applying to in order show my understanding of their businesses.

What do you think is the most important part in a job application? What helped you get the internship you applied for?

In my opinion, making yourself aware of the business and role you are applying for and whether it suits you is a very important key step in getting the job. I got the job because I researched the company and the position and I was very passionate about VC which I think came across in the interview.

What are the top 3 things you’re looking for on an employer’s profile/internship listing?/Why did you choose to intern at Amoo?

1. Track Record
2. Early responsibilities
3. Long term goals

I chose to intern at Amoo VC Advisory as I believed it was a great opportunity to learn more about VC, opportunity to work on real live projects and because the company was small, I believed I would get more responsibility and possibly even manage my own project. In addition after my interview and meeting the director and associate, I liked the atmosphere and the long term plans for the company.

What was your role there? What kind of projects did you work on?

I applied for the sales & research analyst role; this involved working on live projects. Some of my key tasks included analysing business plans, building financial models for start-ups and supporting entrepreneurs in their fund raising process. Furthermore I attended several tech events a week and this provided me the opportunity to interact and meet very inspiring entrepreneurs.

Has the enternship helped you get closer to your career goals? If so, how?

My career goal is to one-day start my own fund with an African focus. The internship allowed me to work with smart, creative and innovate people, gave me the opportunity to gain a better understanding of VC and how they work.  I enjoyed working in the VC environment and supporting clients through their different fund raising round. The internship ignited my entrepreneurship spirit and has fuelled my desire to start my own firm.

Was the internship worth it, would you do it all over again if you could go back in time or is there something you would change?

The entire experience was a blessing and I am grateful for that opportunity as I learnt valuable transferable skills. I would definitely do it all over again and again.

What would be your best piece of advice to give other students/graduates looking for internships?

Internships are good as they give you an insight and the opportunity to realise, adjust, and validate your career goals.  Sometimes we are not sure what exactly we want to do and doing an internship allows you to see whether the role suits you and if it is the right lifestyle for you.  Moreover employers nowadays look for graduates with experience so doing an internship gives you a competitive advantage over the other graduates.

What do you think about the work Enternships is doing in helping students finding internships?

I think it is great what Enternships is trying to do; it allows students to discover their entrepreneurship spirit working with small and dynamic businesses. Especially nowadays where unemployment is at an all-time high, we need such platforms like Enternships to help students get internships.

What is your piece of advice for us at Enternships? Is there anything we could improve on to help candidates in their internship seeking?

The website is great but I think the site could do with a better interface. Also there weren’t as many financial roles when I was applying. It will be good if Enternships could get even more mid-cap companies to recruit through their website.

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Start Your Own Business At Zero Cost Posted on Thursday 08 December 2011 at 11:49AM by trrpaipai

Ho ho ho! Christmas is just around the corner and it's a time when we all become more generous. So are the guys at Entrepreneur First, offering young graduates the chance to start their own business and receive all the support throughout their journey. Competition is fierce but with just enough determination and that little extra from Santa you're in for the challenge of your life. Read on and apply!

If you're a recent graduate and you know you can "put a ding in the universe", Entrepreneur First is for you. We take the country's most talented graduates and provide them with the tools, networks and resources they need to launch a high-growth startup.

This is not work experience or an internship; this is starting your own business from the very beginning.

You don't need a team and you don't need a ready-to-launch idea. We'll help you build both. We're looking for determination, passion and raw talent.

What you get:

• A top UK entrepreneur as a mentor
• Cutting-edge training delivered by entrepreneurs and investors
• Access to top-tier angels and venture capitalists
• An extraordinary peer group of other aspiring entrepreneurs
• It's completely free to participate (no cash fee, no equity taken) - but it will be tough, both to get selected and to succeed. If you have what it takes, make sure you apply online before December 31.

*About Entrepreneur First *

Entrepreneur First's mission is to make high-growth entrepreneurship the most exciting career option for top graduates. We provide a programme that supports recent graduates to build startups - from building a team and refining an idea to securing finance to scale up. 

Launched this year, Entrepreneur First is backed by Microsoft, Silicon Valley Bank and McKinsey, as well as some of the UK's top entrepreneurs. We're a not-for-profit funded entirely by sponsorship, so we can offer the programme completely free of charge to the most talented graduates.

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