In early October 2020, I received my official invitation letter to the prestigious AFRIKA KOMMT! Fellowship. I am among the 39 Fellows selected out of over 9,100 Applicants in AFRICA! I still can't explain how I felt on that very day, I was very excited and to date, I am still excited about this new challenge of my professional life. My fellowship will take place at SAP SE in the Product Engineering - Central Security department. SAP is one of the world’s leading producers of software for the management of business processes, developing solutions that facilitate effective data processing and information flow across organizations.
The AFRIKA KOMMT! Fellowship Programme is An Initiative of the German industry for Future Leaders from Africa. I recommend this program to everyone and anyone! I will share with you what worked for me in the application phase.
Key Tip: Be Authentic and Concise! This is a competitive fellowship so approach it with a winning mentality and put your best foot forward.
Tips:
- Read the steps of the application.
- Read the general requirements. These requirements are very important because they will help you construct your statements in the application, i.e, how to answer the questions. For example, if you write that you are a great leader, write how you have done it before or how you intend to do it,
- Read all the profiles. Yes! Spend time reading all of them, this helps you select the best profile that aligns with your career goals. Be sure to check out the preferred countries as well because some profiles have 'Preferred Countries.'
- The Presentation: Be concise -
- Just imagine you are having a casual conversation with one of your friends, and they ask why you want to join AFRIKA KOMMT! Your definite answer would be professional exposure among many other reasons. I started my statement with how I have always loved Germany because of the high industrialization levels and football(of course I did not mention Football because it was not relevant here). Industrial practices such as the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) fascinate me.
- State what you have done before in your professional life and quantify where possible.
- Clearly indicate your goals for the next 10 years. You can be specific on what you want to achieve in the next two years, AFRIKA KOMMT! notwithstanding. State why you think the goal is important to you and how you will achieve it. Then state how the Fellowship will help you achieve this. It's okay to state your long-term goals.
- State the skills you want to gain from the fellowship, why they are important to you, and how you have worked to improve on them before. For example, Leadership, have you been a leader before? Taken part in any training to improve this?
- State the specific profiles, that is, Company Y(Profile X): Your skills, relevant prior experience, and how you fit in company Y.
I am happy to answer any questions. I will write what worked for me in the Assessment Centre stage soon.
To apply for the AFRIKA KOMMT! Fellowship, click here. I wish you all the best!