Dear Subscriber,

Interns – sweatshop or diamond in the rough?

Child labour exploitation has been a global issue amongst human rights activists. They have gone to the extent of asking consumers to boycott goods manufactured in sweatshops. In particular, nations like India, Bangladesh and some African countries have been pointed out. Some extremists are now extending their definition of child labour to include internships. Many believe that interns are being exploited.

Internship is a very useful training ground for young students who seek to complement their narrow curriculum with job training. Internships are mostly beneficial to employers if there is a feedback mechanism and periodic appraisals of the young recruits (interns). They should also be paid adequately to keep them motivated and happy to learn. They should not be seen as spare tyres or exploitable.

Unity bank is highly committed to small and medium scale enterprises and would like to encourage them to utilize the opportunity of engaging young, energetic and driven youths as interns in their business establishments.

The Lifestyle section of the Digest outlines what could be lost as well as the steps to begin to benefit from internships.

Rain rain go away little farmers want to play

It is true that rice farmers are under a lot of pressure as more than 25% of the harvest was supposedly washed away by floods. However, many tongues are wagging and eye brows are being raised. This is because cynics are of the view that some farmers are using the flood excuse as a cover for defaulting on intervention loans. Unfortunately, insurance does not cover “Acts of God”.

This edition of the Unity Bank Digest provides the usual interesting mix of business and social news. Look out for the breakdown of business news such as why Nigeria’s trade deficit widened by 328.03% and social news such as ex-royals Harry and Meghan’s latest venture.

This issue of the Unity Bank Digest captures these and many other developments.

It promises to be a good read.

Enjoy!