The National Social Security Fund (NSSF) has today announced a University Mentorship Programme to connect professionals in various fields with students across 11 universities in Uganda through an online portal for mentoring as they prepare to join the job market.
NSSF Managing Director Richard Byarugaba launched the Mentorship Programme today March 04, 2019 at the 2019 NSSF-Monitor Career Expo that kicked off at Makerere University (MUBS).
“The Mentorship Programme will open a whole new world of opportunities that to students at Universities especially finalists by earning from the best in every professional field. We have a wide range of mentors from our partners at Nation Media Uganda, Kampala Capital City Authority, Post Bank, Housing Finance Bank among others. Students will have a wide choice to choose from,” Byarugaba said.
Nation Media Uganda Managing Director Tony Glencross, KCCA Ag. Executive Director Eng. Andrew Kitaka and MUBS Principal Prof Wasswa Balunywa were also part of a panel of Chief Executive Officers who officiated at the opening of the Career Expo.
“The Career Zone is a portal through which students will connect with their mentors for hands-on and personal career guidance in a field of their choice. They will also get access to online career advice recourses and internship opportunities and is accessible free of charge. At the Fund, we are very grateful to our partner Monitor Publications Limited for making Career Expo possible,” Byarugaba said.
The NSSF-Monitor Career Expo is an annual initiative that empowers university students with knowledge to start and sustain profitable careers.
It is also designed to prepare students for the work place and equip them with skills and knowledge to increase their employability as well as cultivate the spirit of entrepreneurship.
Now in its 8th edition, the expo will take place in 11 universities around the country namely; Makerere University, Makerere University Business School, Nkumba University, Ndejje University, Kampala International University, Kyambogo University and Muteesa I University.
Others are Uganda Martyrs University Nkozi, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Islamic University in Uganda and Gulu University.
Tony Glencross said that they will continue to mobilise students and promote the initiative on their platforms including profiling the guest speakers in order to reach more students especially those whose universities are not beneficiaries this year.
“The key problem for us as employers is that students leave university unprepared for life after graduation. My message is that you do not have to wait for employment. You can either be an entrepreneur or position yourself to be employable. Either way, opportunities for the well prepared exist,” Glencross said.
Eng. Kitaka also commended both Monitor and NSSF for organizing the Expo and engaging KCCA as a major partner. “We are a perfect partner because we find a lot of synergies between youth programme we are running at KCCA such as our employment bureau and what the NSSF-Monitor Career Expo offers,” he said.
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