Female students taking STEM Courses to Benefit from EABL’s new Apprenticeship Programme

Female university students across East Africa taking courses in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) are set to benefits from a newly launched apprenticeship programme by the East African Breweries Limited (EABL) to give them a learning opportunity.

Female students from technical universities and colleges will be the beneficiaries of the programme, which is also designed to expose them to the supply world in East Africa’s largest manufacturer and get them interested in working in it.

Announcing the launch of the new initiative in Kenya, KBL Managing Director Mrs. Jane Karuku said EABL was engaging the gear in elevating and empowering female talent, because the company acknowledges that a diverse culture is intrinsic to the success the business.

According to Mrs. Karuku, the company is always striving towards achieving gender balance by making deliberate decisions that are aimed at that goal.

“Last year, women constituted a third of our workforce here and I am pleased to say that the number has gone up to around 40 percent this year. We remain committed towards this and it is for this reason that we are pushing the empowerment agenda further,” added Mrs. Jane Karuku.

She further noted that EABL recognizes the need to nurture and grow young talent by creating opportunities such as the STEM programme as part of their responsibility to the community.

Companies have in recent years been challenged to take practical steps to empower women and to show their commitment to the push for gender parity by making available equal opportunities for both men and women.

In the field of STEM, The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) reported last year that there remains a huge imbalance in the participation of women in comparison to men, particularly in higher career levels.

In the engineering field for example, women are taking up one in four of the slots in engineering courses, with scholars noting that the number of women earning STEM degrees declines as they move through the educational ladder.

There are similar trends in the medical field as well: available data indicates that only one in three doctors is a woman. Slightly more than a third of the 6,664 doctors and dentists registered with the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board (KMPDB) by 2018 are women.

Further data by UNESCO reveals that the number of women researchers is also low in other science fields in Kenya, including natural sciences (14 percent), and engineering and technology (11 percent). 

In addition to the STEM programme, EABL also has another running initiative dubbed ‘Spirited Women’ spearheaded by Mrs. Karuku. The initiative was launched as a means of inspiring and empowering young professionals within the organization.