Aminat's Virtual Internship Scheme experience at Dragon Light and Power

Dragon Light and Power accessed specialist digital marketing expertise from MA Digital and Social Media Marketing student Aminat

The Virtual Internship Scheme sees businesses and organisations teaming up with current students and recent graduates for a mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and experience.

The project

For this internship, Devon based electrical contractors Dragon Light and Power accessed specialist digital marketing expertise, in order to develop a practical plan to help promote this newly rebranded business.
The Virtual Internship was funded through the Digital Enablement for SMEs (DESME) project at Building Growth South West, which focuses on providing small businesses in Devon with digital tools and knowledge.
Ash Corsten, Managing Director at Dragon Light and Power, selected MA Digital and Social Media Marketing student Aminat Alegunleye from a pool of nine applicants, and the pair worked together to develop a blueprint for digital marketing success.

  • HBusiness: Dragon Light and Power

  • HStudent: Aminat, MA Digital and Social Media Marketing

  • HProject: Develop a practical plan to help promote a newly rebranded business

  • HLength: 38 hours

What did the internship involve?

The internship lasted 38 hours, which were worked flexibly to meet the needs of the business and fit around Aminat’s studies and other commitments.
Ash and Aminat chose to work on the project over 4 weeks, with regular online meetings, email communication and ongoing support from the team at the University, to ensure no question went unanswered. Their work together started with an initial briefing where Ash explained what he wanted for the company, and what he wished to achieve at the end of the project. Aminat felt this was helpful, giving her a soft landing into the project and from then on Ash said she confidently 'ran the show herself'.
According to the original briefing, the blueprint needed to focus on low-cost digital marketing approaches, which could easily be implemented by Ash and his team, without specialist marketing knowledge in-house.
Over the 4 weeks, Aminat undertook customer profiling, competitor analysis and situation analysis, before making practical recommendations for everything from content strategy, to free and nearly-free tools, and how to use paid socials effectively.

Impact for students and businesses

As small as the internship may sound, it was a life-changing opportunity for me because the things that I have learned through the internship, I would not have learned if I just sat down in class, read and studied. It gave me the opportunity to apply my knowledge in a practical way, take ownership of my work and develop a deeper understanding in my field.

Aminat, MA Digital and Social Media Marketing student

Before the internship we didn’t have a plan for how we were tackling social media for the business – it was hit and miss. Aminat has produced a fantastic blueprint for us, which really does tackle all of the gaps she identified through her critical analysis. It gives us the ways and means to develop and implement our social strategy. I think the internship scheme is fantastic. It gives the opportunity for businesses such as mine to really gain the help that we need and at the same time to give back to a student who was really trying to progress through her course

Ash, Managing Director at Dragon Light and Power
Plymouth Business School collaborates with external organisations, businesses and charities across all sectors. If you want to tap into our expertise, we are happy to share knowledge and ideas through initiatives such as the Virtual Internship Scheme. To find out more, please contact Dr Nigel Jackson , Associate Head of School for Knowledge Engagement.
This case study was written with Farah Amer, a student at The University of Plymouth. Connect with Farah on LinkedIn.