A Day with the Leaders

(Journey of an Entrepreneur)

WeConnect in Association with Westford University College and ADAM Global

So, I am really excited to write about the event I attended recently IT WAS SUCH A VALUEABLE LEARNING EXPERIENCE!

This event was held by Westford University College in collaboration with ADAM Global. Westford University is an educational institute based in UAE with offices and learning centers in Sharjah, Ras Al Khaimah, Dubai and Abu Dhabi as well as an established presence in India, Lebanon and Sri Lanka.

I was invited to the First Weconnect event held by Westford University Sharjah and ADAM Global as a Blogger since my Genre of writing is Entrepreneurship, Personal Growth and Motivation (which was quite relevant). Frankly, speaking I wasn’t sure what to expect but, what I learnt at the end of the event was much more than I thought. It was so relevant for everyone whether you were a student or an aspiring blogger.

Even before I start writing about the event I would suggest by saying that we really need to encourage students to be a part of such Events and Seminars where successful leaders and entrepreneurs come together to share with students their journey towards achieving their goals (Which is definitely a bumpy ride for lots of entrepreneurs but, since it is their passion that drives them everything becomes blur for them other than their end goals).

So, this word ENTREPRENEUR is so familiar but, what is it? Why are Entrepreneurs thought to be so fearless and focused as compared to other people?

An Entrepreneur is a person who doesn’t wait for resources, courage and foundations to be built but, they built it on their own. They are fearless, risk takers, organized, problem solvers and most importantly before they come up with an idea they research about the needs of the people in the market. They find a gap in the market (in marketing terms) which needs to be filled with an efficient and effective idea.

Let me share a picture of an Entrepreneur who has recently inspired me on another level!

Our Entrepreneur and Guest of the event, Mr. Ben Samuel (CEO AND FOUNDER OF FIT ON CLICK).

FitOnClick.Com: A discovery platform that brings all the fitness, wellness, and sports facilities under one platform to simplify your search for finding the perfect fitness facility for your fitness journey. Whether it’s looking for the right gym, wanting to put yourself to test at a kickboxing class, yoga for flexibility or CrossFit for solid functional training, Fit On Click gives you an awesome mix of all these and more.

Such a focused man (TBH, I have read a lot about courageous people but, another quality of his that was WOW was his humble tone).

So what is this Initiative about?

Weconnect is an Initiative taken by Westford University College and ADAM Global to bring together business leaders and Entrepreneurs who can share with the students pursuing bachelor’s degree in business management on  how their will power drove them to make a difference in their lives and whether anyone encouraged them or not they followed their passion and talent.

I would like to thank Westford University College and ADAM Global for giving a platform to these inspiring figures who have first-hand experience in going out to accomplish their dreams and aims.

It not a cake walk it takes up a lot of courage, sacrifice and focus (most of the people who have made a difference had to sacrifice their sleep and routine to get to where they are today) so before you start this journey you should know you will have to give up a lot to get what you dream of getting.

Our Guest Mr. Ben Samuel (CEO and FOUNDER OF FIT ON CLICK) and Our Chief Guest Mr. Cornel Fourie, (HEAD OF HR AT THE DUBAI ISLAMIC BANK).

Not a moment passed where I wasn’t inspired and after talking to a couple of students I felt they could relate to my experience of feeling so motivated to make that difference in my society by helping one another to passionately follow their dreams.

The event started with Mr. Ben’s speech. He mentioned a number of positive traits one needs to build to be able to become successful but, the three traits that make you lose your passion or rather make you lose opportunities were

1)     FEAR

2)     OBSTACLES

3)     LACK OF CONFIDENCE

And as I listened to him I could remember so many people who gave up their dreams because of these three elements. So this was clear in my mind that I need to overcome all these three in order to become a successful blogger.

Mr. Ben’s success story of how he started his business after winning a lucky draw when he hardly had means to provide for himself also indicated how we always say “ I wont win this, I am so unlucky” I understood that most of our shortcomings are there because of our own mentality. “ I am not good enough, I cant do it, but I don’t have money” all these phrases that we tell ourselves become a part of our mindset and we keep pushing ourselves down whereas, other people put aside this negativity and keep telling themselves “I CAN AND I WILL DO IT” nothing stops them.

Our Chief Guest Mr. Cornel Fourie (HEAD OF HR AT DUBAI ISLAMIC BANK) took over and had us all surprised due to his words. Since he is the HR Head he guided all of us regarding what do employers see in fresh graduate and how can you get ready to impress your interviewer and win the job. He started with quoting how his inspiration were Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi (who were great leaders of their times). 

He also shared how DIB and FIT ON CLICK have come together to celebrate sports through different tournaments that has helped DIB Employees to be consistent in staying active, losing weight and has also brought families together.

He further enlightened us on how HARDWORK has got him here. Sounds so simple right? Hardwork well yeah that’s the way but, is hardwork the only way to become successful

He further simplified hardwork

H:  HUMBLENESS

A:  ASPIRATION (ITS WHAT YOU WANT TO DO)

R:  RESILIENCE (keep going) AND REWARD

D:  DREAMING (If you stop dreaming you stop living, but be realistic        

about your dreams)

W:  WISDOM (be wise and simple)

O:   OPPORTUNITY (Don’t underestimate yourself and take measured risks)

R:   RESPECT (Don’t lose the values that your parents have taught you, love and respect everyone)

K:   KNOWLEDGE (read, read and read to gain knowledge)

He emphasized most on reading as much as possible, watch news and read newspaper especially for our generation since we have lost connection with reading about the world news unlike our older generations.

Then the Live Questions started, students pursuing bachelor’s degree in business management asked some interesting questions from our Guests.

  

 1)   How to be successful as an Entrepreneur/ Banker?

BE TRUTHFUL, TRANSPARENT AND HUMBLE

2)     Challenges Businesses face in the UAE?

COMPANIES NEED TO CHANGE THEIR STRATEGY AS PER THE CHANGING TRENDS OF THE MARKET SINCE UAE IS A LAND OF OPPORUNITIES YOU LEARN A LOT. YOU CAN CHANGE AS PER THE FEEDBACK OF YOUR CLIENTS.

3)     How has living in big cities helped you?

YOU INTERACT WITH PEOPLE OF DIFFERENT BACKGROUNDS AND MINDSETS. MR. BEN SHARED HOW HE CHANGED FROM BEING A SHY INTROVERT TO A CONFIDENT EXTROVERT.

4)     Are you an Optimist/ Pessimist?

BOTH OUR GUESTS SAID THEY ARE OPTIMISTS AND MR. CORNEL ADDED THAT HE IS A DREAMER AS WELL (GOT A ROUND OF APPLAUSE, SINCE WE WERE ALL AMUSED BY HIS THINKING)

5)     Growth of Sports retail Shops in this era of social media?

MR. BEN SHARED HOW HE BROWSES ONLINE FOR PRODUCTS BUT, BUYS THEM FROM THE PHYSICAL RETAIL STORES. ITS ALL ABOUT HOW DO SPORTS BRANDS CHANGE THEIR MARKETING STRATEGY FOR THE ONLINE AND OFFLINE CLIENTS.

6)     How have people become more aware about fitness especially in the corporate world?

MR. BEN ADDED, HOW THE UAE GOVERNMENT HAS SUPPORTED THEM THROUGH DIFFERENT SPORTS EVENT (30 DAY CHALLENGES AND FITNESS CHALLENGES) TO MAKE PEOPLE AWARE OF THE EVENTS. THIS HAS HELPED FITONCLICK TO MOVE FROM 3 CORPORATE COMPANIES TO 100+ COMPANIES TODAY.

7)     What do employers want in fresh graduates?

MR. CORNEL SHARED, GOOD CV, CONFIDENCE, GENERAL KNOWLEDGE AND HAVING THAT “X-FACTOR” THAT SETS YOU APART FROM ONE ANOTHER. HAVING A POINT OF VIEW SUPPORTED WITH FACTS.

8)     Why should students start their career with internships?

TO HAVE A FIRST-HAND LEARNING EXPERIENCE AND GAIN CONFIDENCE.

9)     How to build a Network?

BECOME A PART OF MEETUPS (NETWORKING MEETINGS) AND BE ACTIVE ON LINKEDIN

10)  Which Industry to join as fresher?

MR. BEN ANSWERED THAT THERES NO PARTICULAR INDUSTRY FIND YOUR PASSION AND TALENT COMBINE BOTH OF THEM AND IF IT MATCHES WITH YOUR QUALIFICATIONS THEN GO AHEAD OTHERWISE START WITH INTERNSHIPS BEFORE APPLYING FOR A FULL TIME JOB AND SINCE ITS YOUR CAREER DO WHAT YOU LIKE DON’T FOLLOW SOMEONE BLINDLY.

11)    Story behind why did Mr. Ben Samuel start FitOn Click?

HE WAS LOOKING FOR GYMS CLOSE TO HIS PLACE ONLINE BUT, DIDN’T FIND ONE AND PAID FOR A GYM THAT WAS FAR AWAY LATER, HE GOT TO KNOW HE HAD TWO GYMS CLOSE TO HIS PLACE BUT, THEY DIDN’T HAVE ENOUGH FINANCES TO MARKET ONLINE. THAT IS WHERE THE NEED AROSE AND FITONCLICK STARTED. A PLATFORM FOR THE GYMS TO CREATE AWARENESS AND MARKET THEMSELVES.

Personal time with the guests (Shared why I started blogging) although we sat with them for 30 minutes while it was the refreshment break. Had a good chat with Mr. Cornel and Mr. Ben.

After the successful event I got a chance to interview the Guests (OMG MY FIRST EVER INTERVIEW IT WAS SO INTERESTING) I spoke to them personally about their suggestions to the youngsters.

The questions I asked them were the most asked questions by all of you.

1)     How to pursue your dreams when most of the employers say “you don’t have experience, we cant hire you”.

“It is the reality so you need to start with interning at firms that belong to your industry of interest. A lot of people think if my first job doesn’t help me accomplish my goal in so and so number of months then I will quit it. That is not the way you need to work for sometime before you decide whether it will be beneficial in the long run or not to achieve your goals” said Mr. Cornel (THE HR HEAD OF DIB).

2)     The new generation is slowly rejecting the idea of 9-5 job culture by building startups what traits do they need to build along with the startups?

“DO IT IF YOU WANT TO, If you want to build a startup do it with passion, hardwork, humbleness and focus. I did it and you all can do it, you are the young generation theres nothing that can stop you other than your own will power” Said by, Mr. Ben.

3)     What if your dream isn’t giving you enough money for a period of time how do you know whether you are on the right path or not and until how long should you continue to follow it?

“Don’t measure success by the amount of money or the weight of your wallet. Success is what makes you happy and keeps you going, follow your heart and pursue what you are good at whether someone approves of it or not. Take opportunities as they come”. Answered Mr. Cornel.

OVERALL IT WAS A GREAT EXPERIENCE, I learnt a lot from the two experienced and humble leaders.

I understood the importance of leading from behind (quoted by Mr. Cornel). Servant Leadership where, you lead from behind and let your people move ahead this way you become their support and voice. This builds faith and trust in the leader which takes the business towards growth and success.

My Definition of success completely changed that day. Success is not the measurement of how much money you have it is how many people have you helped in your life to move ahead. It is a team work not an individual’s growth.

WOW! IT IS THEIR MINDSET THAT SETS THEM APART FROM SO MANY PEOPLE. It was a great event.

A special thanks to WESTFORD UNIVERSITY COLLEGE FOR INVITING ME OVER. All in all a well-organized event, respectful and supportive staff and the student volunteers did a great job as well. An example of great team work and focus.

Let me conclude with the message from the Executive Director of Westford University College, Mr. Hanil Das: “We surely had a perfect start to an exciting initiative. Our guests Ben and Cornel have done a fabulous job to bridge the industry-academia gaps to inspire our students. This platform was created with a vision to prepare our students to face the challenges out there in the business world. Our students have enjoyed the journey organizing this event and are looking forward to many more to come. We thank and congratulate all stakeholders involved in making this event a grand success”.

Email Me @ makwritesblogs@gmail.com

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