Samara worked as a Government and Public Affairs Intern for her placement year at European headquarters, a role she found through LinkedIn.
For the competition, interns were challenged to demonstrate how they have made genuine business impact through diversity, equality and inclusion projects. They then had to present their work through a 10-minute presentation focusing on their experience with the company, social media engagement, how they have involved themselves with diversity, equity and inclusivity projects, as well as a business improvement idea. This was then judged by a panel of Enterprise Mobility's senior leadership.
Samara’s submission focused on her personal story and how it impacted what she wanted to achieve at Enterprise Mobility, emphasising her upbringing in a low-income family and the challenges she faced, as well as some of my interests in culture and history.
As part of her work towards diversity, equality and inclusion, Samara organised an event which was hosted in Parliament celebrating the joint effort of Enterprise Mobility and the National Literacy Trust to donate books to schools in disadvantaged communities. She also participated in the Social Mobility event at Headquarters and even created a game to educate people about social mobility.
During her internship, Samara has been actively involved in Enterprise Mobility's Social Mobility Committee, aiming to help colleagues better understand what social mobility looks like and how important it is. career fairs and participating in a panel for International Women's Day, discussing what it's like to be a woman in the transport industry with university students.
For her business improvement idea, Samara developed a scheme called DriveUP, an alternative graduate scheme for graduates from low-income families without a driving license to join the company. The scheme involves working in three different areas in the company before transitioning to the standard Management Trainee Scheme in the rental branches.
Samara came first in the semi-finals, and then finished as runner-up against 7 interns from across the UK in the final and was recognised to be one of the best presenters on the day.
Congratulations Samara!
