News South Asia

Wipro to induct 150 interns in South Africa this year

India′s third largest IT services company Wipro today said it would enroll 150 graduates for internships in South Africa in 2014, double from 70 last year. In 2013, Wipro had inducted two batches of 30 and 40 interns each in South Africa.
 
“The internship program is becoming a crucial enabler of Wipro’s growth in Africa. For us, the program is about nurturing talent for local leadership and ensuring that we have the right people on board – people who understand local culture, local markets and local customers across the African continent,” said Saurabh Govil, senior VP, Human Resources. “We look for people that fit the entrepreneurial spirit of Wipro – those who have a willingness to learn and a creative and innovative bent of mind.”
 
Post completion of the initial three-month theoretical training, the interns are interviewed for an apprentice role on live projects, and once placed, they receive supervised on-the-job training and mentorship for another three months. At the end of this, their performance is reviewed and qualifying interns are absorbed into Wipro′s operations in South Africa.
 
Govil said, the program gives a “very high chance” for the interns to get absorbed into the company. The Bangalore-based company has fully absorbed the 30 interns from the first batch of 2013 as full-time employees.
 
Wipro has been undertaking several such initiatives in various markets where it operates as it looks to become ′truly global′. The company has an ‘India Gateway’ internship program for the UK, and also a program called ′Global 100′, under which it would hire 100 best talents from various foreign colleges and universities every year, and groom them for senior leadership roles.