Kommunales Integrationsmanagement NRW
Ministerium für Kinder, Jugend, Familie, Gleichstellung, Flucht und Integration des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen
Ministerium für Kinder, Jugend, Familie, Gleichstellung, Flucht und Integration des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen

Make a fresh start as a businesswoman thanks to 
apprentice speed dating   

“Thanks to my apprenticeship as a wholesale and foreign trade clerk, I’m getting to know the German vocational training system from the ground up. I’m gaining practical experience at my training centre and learning the necessary technical language. This apprenticeship and my previous studies will give me a promising professional future here in NRW.” 

The summer holidays are just around the corner and apprentices seem to be a long way off. This is the situation in many companies ahead of the new training year, which begins in August. This is also the case in Mönchengladbach. 

A speed dating event promises to be a last attempt to find potential candidates before the summer break. Case manager, Jessica Heckel, sent the young Cameroonian Sandra Kouotou Ntentie to the event. She didn’t need to accompany her because she was sure that so much self-confidence, coupled with a likeable demeanour, dynamism and potential would be acknowledged. Mrs Heckel prepared her for the interview and practised with her. 

Sandra Kouotou Ntentie sets quite a pace. This also convinced the apprentice’s employer in Mönchengladbach

Sandra Kouotou Ntentie is an English and French native speaker. She learned German to a B2 level in just one year. She was convinced that an apprenticeship would provide her with key knowledge about the German education system and additional language skills. In fact she came away from the event with several offers and decided in favour of the company Heinrich Schmidt GmbH in Mönchengladbach-Odenkirchen. 
This major local player considers itself lucky: in the young Cameroonian woman, it has found a qualified apprentice as a wholesale and foreign trade clerk. The company has, therefore, realised domestic potential. 

Finding her way around and gathering information, learning the language, finding advice centres and making contacts were the young woman’s goals following her arrival in NRW in March 2022. She did not give up in the face of rejections or apparent dead ends. Such confidence and inner composure also stemmed from her connection to a church community. The next thing on her to-do list was to have her Master's degree in administrative sciences recognised. And she managed that too. That sort of energy is above average. 

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