OANDO GRADUATE TRAINEE PROGRAMME

The Graduate Trainee programme is designed to develop tomorrow's leaders today and guarantee a constant stream of highly skilled and professional employees with a good understanding and commitment to the Company's vision and mission.

Subsequent to highly competitive selection process, short-listed candidates will undergo a structured, broad-based training programme involving formal learning and on the job attachments for 12 months. At the end of the programme, successful candidates will be considered for permanent positions in the company.

REQUIREMENTS
Prospective candidates will be professional, passionate, ambitious and able to demonstrate a high level of integrity. They will be team players, who have respect for other team members and must possess the following:
- Bachelors or Masters Degree with minimum of Second class lower division (2.2) in any of Engineering, Sciences, Social Sciences, Arts, Accounting and Business Studies.
- NYSC Discharge Certificate
- Minimum of 3 B's and 2 C's in WASC, SSCE or GCE O level in one sitting, which MUST include Mathematics and English
- Age: Not older than 26 years as of 31st December 2009.

The programme is open only to graduates who completed their Bachelor's degree studies in the last four years.

HOW TO APPLY
If you are interested, kindly go to www.brassconsulting.net/gtp and complete the application form. Also attach a copy each of your:
- Bachelor's degree and
- WASC/SSCE/GCE certificates only

NB:
The deadline for submissionn of all applications is Tuesday, 10th November, 2009. Only short-listed applicants will be contacted through thier email address and/or by sms to the telephone number provided.

Traditional women’s craft improves rural economy in Nigeria

For more than 200 years, the women of Ogotun, Nigeria have been making mats woven from the stalk of the miraculous berry (Thaumatococcus danielli). The unique, colourful weaving patterns were so distinctive that the market value of the mats was good. By 2006, however, rising costs of living meant that income from the farm was not enough, and with competition from synthetic mat products, women’s incomes dropped sharply.

This prompted the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) to involve Ogotun in its “One Local Government, One Product” scheme. SMEDAN, together with SIFE-OAU (a university based NGO) and the weavers and community leaders in Ogotun, carried out a needs assessment.

The challenges were: low production levels, high labour requirement, little expertise in modern techniques, and the dying interest in weaving. However, there were also opportunities: farmers cultivate the raw material, and the women weavers have a strong attachment to weaving as their traditional occupation. Two weavers were selected for a two-week modern weaving training in India in August 2008. These Indian-trained weavers are now mentoring 30 other weavers in the community. This has led to a range of new woven products.

Now the challenge is to create sustainable marketing opportunities for these products. SMEDAN has organised exhibitions, and SIFE-OAU has taken the products to Singapore and London. The last 12 months has shown that weaving is contributing to improving the economy of the town, significant at this time of global financial crisis. This would not have been possible without active support from key stakeholders. The women weavers have now organised themselves into a co-operative. We hope that in 2 years time, the table mats in most offices in Europe will be from Ogotun