Cardano first joined the #10000BlackInterns Programme in 2020 and we were happy to continue our partnership with the programme in the summer of 2021. The #10000BlackInterns initiative brings together leading players across a wide range of industries to address the chronic underrepresentation of black talent in these sectors.

Since its launch, the programme has garnered extraordinary support, with companies offering internships to black students in the United Kingdom as a way of attracting a more diverse range of talent across sectors. The focus of the programme lies on providing crucial work experience, and offering black students an accessible career path. It is available to candidates from a wide range of academic disciplines.

Impressive CVs and candidates

Here at Cardano, our own practice is to assess a candidate’s potential by focusing on their ability to think, their ability to work with new information, and their overall work ethic. We were highly impressed by the calibre of the CVs we received and the candidates we interviewed, and extended an offer to four candidates, who joined us as interns during the summer.

Networking opportunities and a mentor relationship

We hope this will be a hugely positive experience. In addition to offering the interns an opportunity to work alongside current team members, we wish to provide them with a clear picture of our activities and mission, access to training resources, interactions with senior managers, networking opportunities and a mentor relationship that will continue after the internships have come to an end.

Some statistics to highlight the success of the programme as a whole:

• 2,165 eligible applications were received from black students from across the UK.
• 360 offers were made.
• Most firms doubled their commitment of one internship and ended up taking on two interns. We took on four for the summer of 2021.
• 41% of applications were from those identifying as female and 44% of offers were made to those identifying as female. This is double the normal rate of 20% in the investment management industry.
• 59% of applications were from students from non-Russell Group universities.

“Never a dull moment”

Somachi Ngoka our marketing intern from the #10000BlackInterns program wrote a short blog post about her experience with Cardano.