PwC in the Caribbean’s data science internship programme has attracted interest from over 180 applicants in 22 countries, including 131 applicants from the Caribbean region.

Responding to the growing need for diverse skills to solve the complex challenges facing businesses today, PwC in the Caribbean launched the internship programme in February to help university students and recent graduates develop their technical and professional skills. The goal is to build the specialist talent pipeline in the Caribbean to support better integration of digital skills in organisations in the region.

Working with PwC’s team of data scientists and consultants, participants will gain hands-on experience as they contribute to the development and implementation of data science projects and assignments. The internship programme not only provides an opportunity for learning and career development, but also networking, coaching and mentorship with a leading global professional services organisation.

“We are thrilled to see so much interest regionally and internationally in our new data science internship programme,” said Zia Paton, digital services leader, PwC in the Caribbean.

“We have shortlisted 11 candidates and already onboarded three interns who are based in PwC’s Barbados and Trinidad firms. We will be hiring more interns in the coming weeks and for those who were not successful in this first wave, we will be supporting them through making connections with other organisations that are embarking on similar integration and skills development programmes. The interns selected will be working closely with our strong team of data science experts in the Caribbean region, and across our PwC global network, as we look to help develop the talent pool of data scientists in the Caribbean.

Kevan Rajaram, senior manager, data scientist, PwC in the Caribbean, added that PwC is excited to welcome the first group of interns to PwC firms in the Caribbean.

“They are gaining real-world experience working on challenging projects that range from data architecture design to advanced data visualisation creation, and machine learning modelling – across multiple industries including financial services, retail, public sector and more,” he said.