The grocery store company Carrefour has teamed with Strathmore University and the University of Nairobi (UoN) to hire graduates for its on-the-job training program. Carrefour launched its first location in Kenya in 2016 and currently has 20 locations, making it one of the major supermarket chains in the nation by sales and branches.

Nine graduates from the two colleges will be initially hired by the store, who will train them for two years while paying them salaries as full-time employees. The hiring process is expected to begin in October.

“The strategy is to hire fresh graduates and train them for 2 years – after an assessment of their performance, we offer a full-time, mid-management permanent role, for those who finished successfully,” Carrefour’s local franchise holder Majid Al Futtaim Retail said.

Candidates for the program will go through a rigorous 24-month on-the-job training period, which will include rotations across, among other things, the merchandising, e-commerce, and in-store operations divisions.

Ten additional prestigious colleges in nations like Egypt, Georgia, Jordan, Pakistan, and the United Arab Emirates will also offer the program.

“By offering comprehensive on-the-job training and exposure to different facets of the business, we aim to fast-track the career progression of these graduates and build a strong leadership pipeline for the future of retail,” Christophe Orcet, Regional Director of Carrefour – East Africa, Majid Al Futtaim Retail, said.