Equity Bank Rwanda through the Equity Group Foundation (EGF), the Group’s social impact engine has today launched its signature mentorship and leadership development program, the Equity Leaders Program (ELP).
The Equity Leaders Program which is one of the programs under EGF’s Education and Leadership Development Pillar has launched in Rwanda by selecting 32 top-performing male and female students across different Districts where Equity Bank Rwanda has a branch presence.
The scholars who were selected based on the Senior Six National leaving examination results obtained from the National Examination and Schools Inspection Authority (NESA) will form the first cohort of ELP beneficiaries in Rwanda bringing the total number of beneficiaries within East Africa to 17,072 since the inception of the program. This includes graduates from Equity’s bespoke secondary school scholarship program, Wings to Fly.
The 32 scholars have just concluded a one-week induction process and will now proceed to join Equity Bank for a 3 months paid-internship program where each scholar will get a monthly stipend and will experience on-the-job training and mentorship within various departments. Outside the 3-month paid internship period, the mentorship and coaching engagement with the scholars will be maintained for the period they are in university.
Over 700 of ELP scholars have gone ahead to complete their global education in leading universities like Yale, Harvard, MIT, Science Po, Columbia among others. Most have proceeded to securing employment and senior positions in top companies such as a Vice President at Bain Capital, Director of Government Affairs at Astra Zeneca, Senior Consultant at Boston Consulting Group, Software Engineer at Bloomberg just to name a few. They continue to occupy senior leadership positions upon their return to the continent.
The Equity Leaders Program has been uniquely designed offering the 32 scholars an opportunity to apply for admission and full financial aid at global universities through admission into the College Counselling Program, a program that runs for 3 months and is aimed at exposing them to the global universities’ admissions process.
In addition to the skills training, ELP aims to empower young academically gifted scholars through mentorship and leadership development and is also keen on spurring personal and professional development, creativity, innovation, and community engagement amongst the scholars thus moulding them into forward-thinking young professionals with an ethical focus on giving back to their communities.
