Staff Spotlight: Mike Mulindwa Ssempa, Deputy Director of Recruitment & Admissions
Akilah prides itself on developing strong, skilled women leaders. But behind every great leader is a great teacher. In our “Staff Spotlight” series, we ask instructors and staff what inspires them about the work they do.
Mike Mulindwa Ssempa is the Deputy Director of Recruitment & Admissions.
For the thousands of young women who apply to Akilah every year, one man is working day and night behind the scenes, coordinating their admissions journey — Akilah’s Deputy Director of Recruitment and Admissions, Mike Mulindwa Ssempa.
Mike leads the Recruitment and Admissions Team that works tirelessly all year to encourage young women from around Rwanda to join Akilah. He oversees information sessions, campus visits, and Akilah’s Open House and manages the admissions process, from the online application to the acceptance letter.
Mike initially started working for Akilah as a math instructor, and after a few years in the classroom, he joined the recruitment team to push Akilah’s new and ambitious recruitment goals. Mike is the engine behind the big increase in Akilah’s student intake, which tripled last year to more than 400 new students.
I was an instructor for two years, and it was inspirational for me to see how I influenced the young girls in the classroom; I could see their ambitions grow in terms of going out there and contributing to society. I thought, what if I can influence even more girls by promoting this opportunity to girls and women around Rwanda? I wanted to go to the entry point, talk about this opportunity to a lot of girls and women, and make sure they benefit from what Akliah is offering. That’s why I decided to join the recruitment team.
The best part of my job is to see the students’ transformation when they join Akilah. They come here with so many aspirations when they first apply, and when I talk to them a few months down the road, they are already telling me how much they have changed, how they are starting to see new opportunities. Their confidence is growing, and they are starting to realize all the doors that are opening for them.
I see my work now as an extension of what I was doing in the classroom. In class, I worked to open their minds and encouraged them to think beyond what they were used to. Today, I promote Akilah’s model to young women, and I get to see the transformation they go through.
We talk to thousands of women every year, and we always tell them the same thing:
At Akilah, learning is not about memorizing things for your exams, it’s about practicing skills that you will be applying in your future job. We have a strong career readiness program, which will help connect you to potential employers, job opportunities, and internships. Our programs are built to create professionals within the biggest sectors in Rwanda: ICT, small business, and hospitality. You graduate with highly technical skills — and with increased confidence and English skills. We can see that our model works — nearly 90% of our graduates are employed within six months of graduation. And on top of it all, we offer a loan service for those who need support covering their tuition.
We are working to recruit new students all year around, making sure we reach girls everywhere who are interested and eligible to join.
In the summer, we visited 135 top-performing secondary schools in Rwanda, including 16 out of Rwanda’s 18 all-girls schools. Through these visits, we had over 5,000 high school seniors show interest in joining Akilah. We are now conducting campus visits, where we invite groups of those students to come and visit us in Kigali.
“At Akilah, learning is not about memorizing things for your exams, it’s about practicing skills that you will be applying in your future job.”
We are still hosting information sessions around Rwanda. At the same time, we invite prospective students to come visit our campus so they can experience Akilah for themselves. Almost everyone who visits our campus ends up applying.
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