Interning with DOWA over summer 2021 was one of the great opportunities I had during the tough times (pandemic period). They made it possible for me to develop my skills and to contribute to their growth just from the comfort of my home. 

Through the internship I virtually met and worked with other interns from different parts of the world who are passionate about making an impact and want to contribute to the development of Africa in different sectors. 

This internship enabled me to improve my professional communication skills, as I was constantly communicating with the other interns and my supervisor in the program who were all in the US while I was in the UK throughout their internship period. It has taught me the importance of both accountability and time management. These skills have been very helpful throughout my academic and career journey. I am grateful to have had this opportunity.

This internship with DOWA has given me a very unique opportunity to work with people that I wouldn’t normally have the chance to. I have learned new skills such as professionalism, problem solving, and collaboration. Throughout the internship I had a great team supporting me throughout the entire time, helping me whenever I needed. Through DOWA and my partner company TRIBE I grew so much professionally. Since the internship was outside the typical realm of jobs in my chosen major I had the opportunity to improve skills that I normally wouldn't be able to. I was able to work with the team and the other interns learning about what impacts TRIBE has in Africa. 

Even today, a year and a half after my internship, I keep up with what they are currently working on and it is amazing to see their impact. Collaborating with fellow interns was a great experience for me as it was the first time working with my peers outside of a school setting. During my internship I worked on the marketing aspect of TRIBE to grow their reach, this included making graphics for their Instagram page and writing blog posts to be sent out to their email subscribers. One of my biggest takeaways from the internship was team meetings and learning to work in different work environments. 

Overall my internship with DOWA has left me with great skills that I have carried over into both my personal and professional life leading to a successful future. 

My internship with DOWA was an amazing and all-around growth experience. I learnt to build core values of leadership, selflessness, impactful innovations, Can-Do attitude, Excellence, Integrity, teamwork, and most of all the importance of doing what you can to grow and develop Africa. I worked alongside an amazing team that shared these core values and supported me to develop mine throughout the whole duration of my internship.

I learned so much between my experiences working with Dowa and my partnered company Data Scientist Network (DSN). These experiences have helped so much in my position as a Teaching Assistant that I went back to the same company summer of 2022 for another opportunity to learn and develop more and it was wonderful. The networking and lesson through DOWA were wonderful in enlightening me about my motherland Africa. 

The internship significantly improved my knowledge and interest in developing impactful innovations that solve problems around Africa and the world at large. I learnt Solution design and documentation, how to perform and organize research, and soft skills in Natural language processing. I am very confident that the skills and values instilled into me during the internship will help me in my future endeavours as they already have started since completion.