Update September 2025

A successful start into the second semester of 2025

About two weeks ago, our Northbound interns landed in Switzerland, our virtual interns started working with their Swiss internship companies, and some Southbound assignments are already over, while others are in the pipeline. This means we are now in the middle of the second semester of the year. And there is also good news from our strategic committees.

New members of the Advisory Board

Three new Advisory Board members were elected at our association meeting in the spring. This is part of our rolling planning, as long-standing Advisory Board members will be retiring in spring 2026. We are delighted that Cyril Blattner, Marco Blumenthal, and Thomas Weber have agreed to volunteer their time to work with us.

As of September 1, 2025, four more new members were elected to the Advisory Board. We are delighted to welcome Rabecca Hatoongo, Ndapwa Kwedhi, Mukuka Mulenga, and Ilona Shikongo, committed representatives from Southern Africa, to the Advisory Board. They are among our senior alumni members in Namibia and Zambia. Their election is an important step toward strengthening our local footprint and the South-South program.

Northbound

On Monday, September 1, our interns from Namibia landed in Zurich. They will spend the next three months working at Cosanum, Motorex, SQTS (Migros), the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), and Zweifel Chips & Snacks, gaining valuable work experience.

We wish our five interns a wonderful time in Switzerland with educational insights, enjoyable encounters, and lots of new knowledge and experiences.

Southbound

The Career Starter Weeks are in the focus of our Southbound assignments in the second semester – in all three countries where B360 operates. This year, the semester began in mid-June with two experts working at the Tertiary School in Business Administration TSIBA in South Africa. Following the successful pilot in 2024, they conducted two Career Starter Weeks in Cape Town this year. Their report is already available on our website.

Two other experts traveled to Lusaka, Zambia, in August and conducted two Career Starter Weeks at the University of Lusaka (UNILUS). And right now, two experts are in Namibia for Career Starter Weeks in collaboration with Bank Windhoek. This collaboration is now in its third year – we are very pleased to have Bank Windhoek as a good partner at our side.

Their reports will soon be available on our website.

South-South

On August 21, B360's popular networking event took place in Zambia. Sabina Balmer welcomed more than 100 participants in Lusaka – B360 alumni, partners, lecturers, and national and international experts exchanged ideas during an exciting and convivial evening.

You can find impressions of the event here.

Virtual Internships

Also the virtual internships began on September 1. Four graduates from the University of Lusaka UNILUS have been working on their internship projects for Robotist Group, Roche, and B360 for around two weeks now. They will spend 12 weeks at the respective companies working on their projects, followed by another 12 weeks at a local company in Zambia. We are delighted that Liquid Telecom, MTN, and Zicta are supporting our hybrid internship program.

The internship was preceded by various training courses, which the four students from Zambia completed. They received intensive ICT training, took part in Career Starter Week at UNILUS, and were trained on topics such as office etiquette and data protection.

We wish our interns an informative and exciting time during their internships!

Virtual Interns 2024 – Special Award 2025

In June, we had the pleasure of welcoming some special visitors: the five participants in the Virtual Internships 2024 program embarked on their two-week trip to Switzerland. They had won this trip thanks to their outstanding performance during their internships. The trip was generously funded by the Staub Kaiser Foundation.

The two Zambian women and three Zambian men experienced many highlights and got to know Switzerland. Among other things, they visited Bern, Lucerne, Geneva, Zurich, and Zug, and took part in the B360 annual event.

We would like to thank everyone who accompanied our former interns and showed them our country. You can find the travel report with lots of photos here.

Job Search Support Program

The first round of our JSS mentoring program for this year has been running since May 2025. Ten graduates from various fields of study received intensive support in their job search from ten mentors. We are delighted that our program is bearing fruit and that six of the participants have already found employment.

After the CSW in Namibia in September 2025, motivated and committed job seekers will once again be selected to benefit from our mentoring program starting in November.

We would like to express our sincere thanks to our mentors from LGT and private individuals for their voluntary commitment and support of the graduates.

Outlook

All of our programs are up and running, and plans for 2026 are already well advanced. Recruitment of the Northbound interns for the first semester is almost complete. The expert assignments for the first semester of 2026 have also been largely defined, and detailed planning is underway.

We look forward to sharing news and updates from B360 with you again soon.

Best regards,
Sabina Balmer and the B360 team