Similarly to previous years, the B360 Namibia 2025 Career Starter Week Program was run in partnership with Bank Windhoek. The Bank received approximately 370 applications for the program while a total of 47 students attended the 2 successive 1-week programs.

We want to express our deep appreciation to Bank Windhoek for hosting this program in their corporate building located on the outskirts of Windhoek. As we benefited from a top-class infrastructure (from modern meeting rooms to excellent catering and a very robust IT environment), we were able to concentrate on program contents.

Our special thanks to Ms. Toini Muteka (Executive Officer Human Capital) who kindly presided over the Certification ceremony in week 1 while Ms. Zelda van der Berg (Manager Talent Acquisition) and Ms. Emoreen Oxurus (Human Capital Consultant) took considerable time from their very busy schedules to bring the group up to speed on local HR practices.

Furthermore, some of the CSW students may be recruited by Bank Windhoek as part of their Graduate Professional Program – obviously a life-changing opportunity for the top students in the CSW program.

Some key takeaways

What stroked us most is the incredible journey of the students: after a mere 5-day program, we could see many of them who were insecure standing in front of the class on day 1, presenting their piece in the group presentation on the last day of the program loud and clear, including handling a Q&A session that proved to be the most challenging part of the exercise as usual.  More than anything else, we could feel a very strong sentiment of pride and a lot of hope for a better future for each of them individually and as a group of young adults. As we follow up on post programs developments, we have learned with joy that a handful of the CSW students have already started participating in real life job interview processes. Fingers crossed for these students.  Hoping they make it to the finishing line.

These groups of students voiced loudly their engagement for strong governance, committing personally to integrity and ethics. We could see their appetite for a sustainable economy with a strong focus on climate and reasonable use of natural resources.  Lots of challenges lying ahead though. As we offered individual coaching sessions, we noticed that many situations would greatly benefit from professional support We faced situations that unfortunately cannot be properly addressed in a 30-minute bilateral conversation.  Just a drop in the ocean indeed.

Working with this groups was a true privilege. A very humbling life experience for us.