Tech skills marketplace

The Industry Innovation Lab at CMU-Africa manages a tech skills marketplace to provide world-class tech talent to African start-ups. This program helps startups hire CMU-Africa students as interns from May to August. Interns may work in person or virtually. CMU-Africa provides co-funding with the startup to support the intern.

CMU-Africa student skills

CMU-Africa students are enrolled in three different types of master's degree programs:

The students have expertise in data science, software development, artificial intelligence, IT-entrepreneurship, cybersecurity, and information technology.

How the program works

  • Startup submit an application, which should indicate the startup’s tech need which matches the profile of CMU-Africa students
  • CMU-Africa reviews applications, and selects appropriate startups for participation. Check selection criteria for details.
  • The selected startups will be notified to post internship opportunities on the Corporate Internship Portal for CMU-Africa students to apply.
  • CMU-Africa students apply for these opportunities based on their interests and skills
  • The startups interview, select, and "make offers" to successful candidates.
  • Students work at startups from May-August, working on a mutually agreed upon set of contractual deliverables.

Benefits to the startups

  • Access to three months of engineering talent
  • Co-funding of interns ($600 USD per month from CMU-Africa and $100 USD per month from the startup)
  • The opportunity to assess a potential future employee

Selection criteria for startups

  • Be registered and operational in Africa
  • Have a well-defined tech need matching CMU-Africa's student profile
  • Have a well-defined ICT project that is relevant to our student’s career aspirations and well developed to allow both the student and the startup to grow
  • Appoint a dedicated team member to supervise and mentor the intern
  • Has been in operation for two to five years, and able to co-fund the internship cost, equivalent to $100 per month
  • Ready to provide the CMU-Africa intern a three-month employment contract with a documented scope of work
  • Ready to participate in two post-internship program impact tracking surveys

How to apply 

Apply today. Please note that CMU-Africa accepts both remote and in-person positions.

Program timeline