[Interview] Mercy Cheruiyot: Graduate, Bolt Drive4WITech initiative, Kenya

Mercy Cheruiyot is one of the graduates from the recently launched Drive4WITech initiative campaign to empower women in tech across Africa by Ride-hailing firm Bolt.

The campaign was launched in March this year targeted at jumpstarting careers for women in the tech space regardless of their field. As a concrete step, Bolt offered 12 internships to women across Africa. From Operations to Marketing, PR to Engineering.

Among many applications received, you were selected to intern with Bolt in the Drive4WITech initiative. How did you feel when you were selected? 

Grateful, I knew the opportunity will help me grow professionally.

What area did you specialise in during the programme? 

City Operations.

Tell us about the experience and the new skills you learnt during the programme? The experience was mind blowing. I had a chance to onboard new drivers and walk with them till they make their first trips and the general driver lifecycle,understanding city operations for car tracking companies at a deeper level and got a chance to do reactivations for ZLT drivers.

What impact has Drive4WITech had on you and how will it enhance your career? I’ve had a chance to interact with an amazing operations team for ride hailing that shared vast knowledge on operations analysis and finding insights from data. Since my specialty is in the field of data, the skill I got from bolt will help me a great deal in my projects.

How do you plan to use the knowledge gained to your advantage in the tech industry? My plan is to use the analysis knowledge I gained to make recommendations systems and advance data oriented projects.

Did you have any challenges interning at Bolt? 

None at all. In any case, I enjoyed it.

The Drive4WITech initiative positions Bolt as an inclusive and diverse organization. How immersing was it for you? 

It was good. I felt included in most operations and tasks done by the company. The diversity offered was incredible also.

Did the programme meet your expectations? 

To some degree yes.

What is that one thing you will miss about interning at Bolt? 

The operations team, I made friends with the team.

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