Kolapo Kafilat; People Operations Intern- Cowrywise
Some three years ago, I walked into my brother’s room, and I informed him about my intention to save some spare money I had, but I didn’t want to use the local Kolo’s anymore. It was on this day I heard about Cowrywise for the first time. My brother had just told me about Cowrywise and also shared his amazing experience with using Cowrywise for savings and investment purposes.
I downloaded the Cowrywise app, signed up, and he made a transfer into a USD mutual fund for me while he took my cash. That was my first point of contact with Cowrywise and since then, it’s been leaps and bounds only. 👌🏼
Later that year, I became a Cowrywise Campus Ambassador, and three years later, I became a People Operations Intern at Cowrywise. I definitely didn’t see any of these coming three years ago but it’s been a wonderful experience being a part of the Cowrywise family. 💙
I recall the exact position I was in when I got the offer letter. It was around 3:45 PM on that sunny afternoon. I was worried that I wouldn’t be accepted for the internship program since we already know Cowrywise doesn’t send rejection letters to undergraduate internship applicants. I was panicking because I thought not having any experience in Human Resources could have been a setback for me so I started telling myself that it was fine if I didn’t get in because at least, I tried. As soon as I got the email, I screamed out loud. 😂 I didn’t even bother reading the email at first, I just knew the fact that I got it meant I got in.
The Internship
I resumed at the Cowrywise office bright and early on my first day at work. Of course, I got a little lost on the way since it was my first time coming to Cowrywise’s all alone from my house, but I was able to figure out the best routes for me within three days. A while after I got to the office, I met our intern manager Timi Joel, a Growth Associate at Cowrywise. He proceeded to onboard me and my fellow intern, Delight. It was fun and we got to find out that we had a lot in common; we attend the same school, we are in the same level, and other similarities.
After the onboarding session by Timi Joel, he introduced me to my line manager; Liz Adesigbin; People Operations and Admin Lead at Cowrywise (actually my second introduction because I met her while I waited in the reception). She took me to the office where we had another session, we spoke about my expectations/goals, while she shared hers with me, and we created an aligned expectation which helped ensure that I had an amazing internship experience.
My Internship Experience
Quite frankly, it was everything I expected and more.
Before I came in, I had some thoughts about the HR field, and being at Cowrywise’s people operations team rocked my whole world.
You see, I thought HR was just there to bring people in, manage them, and snip, and cut off relations at the end of contracts. Believe me when I say I was surprised to find out there was more to it. As my manager says, People Operations is the engine that allows an entire vehicle to move forward.
The world of People is so beautiful and it’s interconnected to everything else in the organization.
A quick gist: In HR, confidentiality is a must. So if you think you’d be getting some tea, move along🙈
During my internship experience, I created and reorganized different databases to make them easier for the reader to understand and work with. I also worked with the HR Manager; Ebenezer Akintomide so I could understand how payroll systems worked, automatically deducting taxes and pensions from the gross salary using the employee information (I didn’t see any of the actual figures, of course!)
During the onboarding session, Timi mentioned that we would be working alongside other departments but I didn’t think about it until a few weeks later. I ended up working with finance on a few tasks and also worked with the Growth team (peep the Twitter header on this page 🙈) and some #FutureSelf campaign videos. It was a wonderful, well-rounded experience, I got to see and live my career in the real world. I couldn’t have had it better.
The Future?
These few weeks have been exhilarating, to say the least. I’ve met and networked with so many wonderful people from different walks and understand all the effort that goes into making Cowrywise the best place to work, thereby making me have a lot more appreciation for the team, the company, and the Cowrywise mobile app.
I’m confident that organizational/industrial psychology is the right path for me.
As I enhance my career journey, my mission is to make a wonderful culture at any place I find myself, to build a community, and to foster brotherhood amongst every team member.
Thank you Cowrywise for being my people, my culture, and my community. 💙
