What is a micro-internship?

“Micro-internships are short voluntary learning and development opportunities. Each one gives students the opportunity to observe and assist with a notable project.

The aim is to develop employability skills, add to your portfolio, and offer the opportunity to make new professional contacts.” This definition was shared by the Oxford University Careers Service.

How does it work?

As we design a programme for one of our high school partners, we scope courses that are uniquely tailored to the economic environment they are in. Each course is paired with one of our 200+ partner companies to design and scope a micro-internship project for students to complete in groups with their classmates.

The micro-internship project allows students to practice their newly acquired skills and embed the concepts they have just learned. It also gives them a chance to practice important 21st-century skills necessary for them to thrive in the workplace.

Why our partners work with us.

Our partners range from local startups to global corporates. Find out why they choose to work with iX LaunchPad.

Close the skills gap.

One of the key issues in business today is the skills gap. There is a significant gap between traditional education and the skills needed in the workplace. By starting early with programmes like ours, businesses are starting to close this gap.

Preskill future employees.

In order to close the skills gap, it is becoming crucial for the industry to step into educational spaces and offer assistance with gaining those skills necessary for today’s – and tomorrow’s – workplace. This also helps to surface tomorrow’s workplace stars.

Engage in scalable training.

Hiring interns – especially high school students – is admin-intensive and fraught with risk for both businesses and interns. iX LaunchPad offers a scalable training solution for businesses to pre-skill and train future employees without risk, deploying resources, or difficulty.

Who are our previous micro-internship partners.

Axians

Axians is a global information and communications technology company, keeping the world connected through telecommunications, cloud and data centre infrastructure, enterprise networks, digital workspaces, business applications and data analytics, and cyber security.

Investec

Investec exists to create enduring worth for their stakeholders: clients, people and the communities in which they operate.
Their journey is one of organic growth and strategic acquisitions, from a small finance company in South Africa in 1974 to an international organisation.

iNaturalist

iNaturalist is one of the most popular citizen science data portals in the world. It’s a joint initiative of the California Academy of Sciences and the National Geographic Society. One of the world’s most popular nature apps, iNaturalist helps people identify the plants and animals around them.

Apply to be a partner

Hear from our students.

The micro-internship programme enabled me to understand the key elements of business development. Moreover, this is a form of career exploration which can support me in identifying which field I would like to work in and study.

Yassin Saad

GEMS World Academy

iX LaunchPad is a very fulfilling, informative and fruitful experience. Apart from just imparting knowledge, it equips us with present-day skills and working experience which are valuable assets and useful for careers to be pursued in the future.

Aishwarya Balakrishnan

GEMS Millennium School

The programme allowed me to deepen my knowledge in the area of business. Doing this Business Consulting course opened the door to my future career and taught me that this is a field where problem-solving and risk taking is key.

Khushi Rahemani