Immersive cultural internship up for grabs

The UK’s number one Caribbean food and drink supplier is offering an immersive internship opportunity with a unique placement.

Welwyn-based Grace Foods UK and its parent company GraceKennedy have opened applications for the 2025 GraceKennedy Jamaican Birthright Summer Internship Programme, designed to reconnect second and thirdgeneration Jamaicans living in the UK to their heritage.

The 2025 programme will allow one university student of Jamaican descent from the UK to join three other students from Canada and the US for a five-week professional and cultural internship in Jamaica.

The summer opportunity offers the lucky candidates a unique chance to work with a GraceKennedy subsidiary aligned with their career goals while deepening their connection to Jamaican culture through immersive Heritage Pathway tours, exploring historic sites, natural and human resources and the island’s beaches.

Caroline Mahfood, CEO of the GK Foundation, which coordinates the programme on the company’s behalf, said: “Connecting with the next generation is very important to GraceKennedy. Many second and third-generation Jamaicans are familiar with our delicious food and world-renowned music but have never had the opportunity to experience our culture in a way that allows them to make deep, long-lasting connections with Jamaica. That’s the aim of the Birthright Programme.”

The successful UK applicant for the 2024 programme was Tariq Brown, a final-year finance and business student at the University of Sussex. Tariq spent five weeks in Jamaica this summer learning about his heritage and progressing his career as part of the programme.

See www.bit.ly/GKBirthright for application details or email gkfoundation@gkco.com with enquiries. The deadline for applications is 30th November 2024.