A look back at our 2025 Octopus in Colour internship

Careers

As we prepare to welcome interns to our 2026 Octopus in Colour programme, an intern from last year's group looks back on her experience. Spoiler alert: she loved it! Jump to:

What the other interns said about their time with us
An interview with Sai, the programme head
Advice for future interns

As part of Octopus Energy's outreach to young talent from underrepresented groups, the company runs an annual Octopus in Colour Internship exclusively for young Black professionals, with the ultimate aim of increasing diversity and representation in the world of energy and tech.

In the 5th year running(!) there were 30 brilliant interns (including me - hello, I'm Sade!) across the London and Manchester offices, gaining practical experience in compliance and law, asset management, content creation, data science and more.

Octopus In Colour interns at a wind farm

Interns chose from a selection of 19 different departments and were with Octopus for 8 weeks in total. After some training, we all got stuck into live project work. Apart from socials (like bowling and games nights) and site visits to wind farms and the Octopus R&D centre in Slough, we each gave a presentation in front of senior leadership, our mentors and the rest of the cohort in our final week - these included a mix of reflective run-downs of projects we'd been working on, and innovative new ideas for the business! Scary but rewarding.

The 2025 Octopus in Colour interns explore a wind farm

Here's what the interns said

"What were your proudest achievements from this internship?"

"One rewarding thing was receiving shoutouts from my managers for the way I've handled challenging calls and emails."

CHINO, OPERATIONS INTERN

"One of my proudest achievements is creating an investor invite from scratch. I had to learn some basic coding, coordinate with external contacts, and design the invite so it was clear and professional."

JAYDA, INVESTOR RELATIONS INTERN

"I'm really proud of drafting important legal documents that have been used by the business, and receiving very positive feedback!"

AMRAN, LEGAL AND COMPANY SECRETARY INTERN

"It was exciting to complete a project on racial perspectives in renewable energy - an area which is under-researched and can make a big difference"

TIFFANY, DEVELOPMENT INTERN

"As well as learning a lot from a great team, I developed machine learning models that outperformed existing ones for forecasting energy demand and consumption."

STEPHEN, DATA SCIENTIST INTERN

"I used a financial model to pull out all the correct data for a report (which actually went out to external stakeholders!)"

ADRIENN, OGEN PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT INTERN

Greg Jackson meets Octopus in Colour interns

Interns from the Octopus in Colour 2025 internship have dinner together

How the internship has evolved

Sade, the 2025 marketing intern, interviews Sai, the head of the programme

Sai, an Octopus Vulnerability Specialist, is used to going the extra mile to match people with what they need.

She first joined the OIC internship programme as a mentor and organiser, planning and creating rotas for Ops interns. Originally launched in 2020 by senior leaders Ruby, Suraj and James, Sai saw a way to make the internship go further, building connections across all departments and becoming the go-to person for any questions.

Reflecting on her own past experience as a young Black girl navigating the completely new world of energy and tech (where Black people only make up 2% of the industry), she asked, "Why not use this internship as an opportunity to get even more people who look like me on board? This could grow into something that really makes a difference in our community."

I'm Folasade Imole, the 2025 OIC Marketing Intern, but everyone calls me Sade!

Whether helping to host workshops that show secondary school students how many job opportunities green energy has to offer (lots) or thinking of ways to use gamification to boost customer referrals, I'm plugged right into the creative energy that spreads the word about what Octopus does to our audiences, both in-person and online.

Eager to help tackle environmental issues and empower people to make positive behaviour changes, the opportunity to intern at Octopus Energy was instantly an exciting one to me. Scroll through our Instagram and TikTok pages and the playful, people-centred approach Octopus takes to outrageously good customer service is clear as day. The biggest UK energy supplier -- and they don't compromise on putting people and the planet first? Sign me up.

I love all things creative and storytelling which led me to my Comparative Literature degree, had me firmly based in comms at a previous role with an environmental charity, and, most recently, led me to this internship at Octopus.

Sade: How did you end up leading the programme?

Sai: Octopus leaves you to steer the wheel, and my passion for the programme made it worth it! I dedicated my spare time to this programme and then people started seeing the value in what I was doing. In time I moved from mentor to organiser, before becoming programme lead.

Sade: Who's on the mentorship and organiser teams?
Sai: The organisers are a team of like-minded people from across the business, passionate about inclusion, representation and championing diversity. It's like a tree - different departments are different branches, all rooted & unified in exact same mission.

Sade: Which departments get the most applications?

Sai: The tech and data internships: it's between tech & OE Generation (legal, asset management, portfolio management).

Sade: 5 years in, what do you love most about the programme and what lessons have you learned?
Sai: Showcasing the magic of young Black people doing great things when given the space to do so, and seeing buy-in from the whole business, including senior management. One lesson: Make others see your vision by acting on it. My perspective allowed me to see the opportunity; you have the experience and connection to what you're doing - others may not.

Sade: What's the vision for the OIC Internship Programme? What are your goals for the future years?
Sai: To inspire more of the same - OE France has now started doing the Equality Internship and ideally it will be filtered across even more countries and areas of the UK in the future. Ultimately, the aim is to inspire more people to give opportunities to people who look like us; a beautiful chain reaction.

Sade: Which 1 tip would you give to future applicants? What makes a good intern?
Sai: Apply based on your genuine interests!!! Octopus asks interns for cover letters over CVs because the focus is on you as an individual and your appetite to learn, not past experience.

When you're hired: don't restrict yourself. If you want more out of the experience, you have to step out of your comfort zone. Talk to people, say yes to opportunities. You can't lose - you're here already!!