Kalaripayattu performance at IC 2010

the morning of D-day, delegates from 110 member countries started arriving for the opening ceremony of the 62nd Annual AIESEC International Congress, 2010 in Hyderabad, India.

The AIESEC International Congress, every year, sees coming together of some of the most powerful brands and young leaders from the world over making it one of the highly anticipated youth conferences in the world.

After a grand welcome in the traditional Indian way – by lighting a lamp, the audience was mesmerized by some breathtaking performances portraying the arts from different parts of India – Bharatanatyam, Kalaripayattu and a very special performance by little kids on modern India’s anthem “Jai Ho” ! The Indian Corporate world was graciously represented by Mr Shivender Singh of Fortis, Mr Amit Shahi of India Future of Change and Mr V Rajanna from Tata Consultancy Services.

Global Village at IC 2010

One of the biggest challenges in hosting the International Conference in India was to provide a comprehensive feel of Indian-ness to the delegates. Since, India has in the past and still holds a stereotype of being a mystical land full of ‘elephants’ and ‘snake charmers’, the idea was to use this image to our advantage and deliver an experience which people would remember for the rest of their lives.  If we had any doubts about this, they were all resolved seeing the colors, energy and the fun at the Global Village and India Night at the Taj Krishna Hotel. For me personally, India Night was one of those moments when I felt super proud to be born in this country. Watching people from 109 other countries cherishing the phenomenon called India was simply amazing.

IC 2010 was special in so many ways. It saw the biggest Youth to Business forum so far and the launch of AIESEC 2015

AIESEC 2015

vision, both of which are huge achievements for the organization. The very process reflected the agenda theme: Celebrate and Unleash. I had never seen such a huge amount of dynamic energy at one place. No one was holding back to contribute. Of course, it was History that was being made.

It won’t be wrong to say IC 2010 was a path breaking achievement for AIESEC and would rank among one of the best conferences ever delivered. All this won’t have been possible without the efforts of AIESEC International Team 2010-2011 and the extremely diverse, 60 member strong Congress Committee. But I guess, what made this conference a huge success and extremely special were the delegates.

India Night at IC 2010

Finally, a month after IC, now that we’re fully engrossed in our chores, another phenomenon is in the making some 5000 kilometers away from Hyderabad in Nairobi, Kenya. The stage is set for another wonderful, life changing experience next year and we send our best wishes from India!

Nakul Asija

Manager, Social Media Marketing

AIESEC International Congress, 2010

I discovered AIESEC in my early years at university. By that time I have moved to a ‘big city’ to get a better education for the real world, longing for dreams of big corporations and professional success.

My involvement in AIESEC challenged the core of my beliefs. It took me to other developing countries before it took me to the developed world, and that marked me forever. I realized that my call, my vocation was not in the hard business sector working for an international corporation, but in the social sector as an active catalyzer of the new, of what is yet to come to make this world a more beautiful place for all of us to live in.

Delivering PAI Election Speech

My journey in AIESEC was very diverse and colorful; from working in projects of education and values in Peru, to facilitating in several conferences in Germany; from being responsible at national level for sales and business development in Ecuador, to leading the national AIESEC network in Macedonia; from enabling AIESEC in the African continent to find a core activity to increase sustainability of its operations, to leading the global AIESEC network.

The journey was long, the stories many, the impact unmeasurable, the memories tattooed in the way that I live my life. 

I will forever carry with me that sense of success that comes when you belong to something bigger than yourself, something that is making a difference, that is truly having an impact. That is what AIESEC represents for me, the space where I learned to let go of myself and my ego and finally be one with the moment, with the purpose, with the intention.

The core of AIESEC’s purpose lies on the impact that the organization has on each one of the individuals that form part of it. Apart from the direct impact that a growing number of initiatives AIESEC runs everywhere in world is having, it is the individual development of each one of its members what makes this organization so unique. A place where dreamers are transformed – by own decision – into agents of positive change, leaders of the next, drivers of a new society that is more fair, inclusive, considerate and compassionate. 

Thanks to the space that AIESEC offered me, today I can freely and peacefully stand for what I believe. Thanks to the platform provided by AIESECers themselves (I guess one of the coolest things about AIESEC is that the space is created by young people for young people), today the little kid from Rubio has traveled to 73 countries, speaks 3 languages fluently, drives several social initiatives, and has developed a life-learning attitude that allows him to be happy and strive to make others happy as well.

Every single activity I performed in AIESEC was a learning point. Every single failure and every single success represent a milestone on the development of my potential and talents; from being responsible for the coffee breaks in a small conference for 20 people in Venezuela to leading the global headquarters office; all of them, when looked from today, contain part of that incredible and hard to find ‘thingy’ that makes AIESEC so unique in its role of enabling young people to explore and develop their potential for a positive impact in society.

Today I host spaces from the believe that we can make this world a more beautiful place starting by ourselves (http://BeautifulIndividuals.com), support local communities develop a sustainable economy while reinforcing and perpetuating their cultural uniqueness through community-based tourism (http://weekeego.net), explore the new way of making social businesses with other fellow AIESEC alumni (http://emersense.org), and so on and so forth.

Today my day-to-day life feels meaningful and useful.

Today I thank AIESEC for its major role on my journey and my present.

Today I invite you to join and/or support AIESEC in the fulfillment of its role.

I am doing it. It is worth the time, it rewards the effort.

Once an AIESECer, Forever an AIESECer

Love tons

Dey Dos

President AIESEC International 2006-07

http://deydos.com

At first sight, all what you get is basically pictures of people coming from different countries working on understanding a different culture and sharing a life time experience after they graduated. I just wanted to experience the same and decided with two friends of mine to check how we can make it possible in the AIESEC office of our university (Institut des Hautes Commerciales de Carthage, Tunis).

Approaching the stand of the organization during their recruitment in October 2006, the first contact was a bit “disappointing” since that we were told that the only way to apply for an internship abroad is to get involved in several local activities/initiatives and go through a “Global Learning Environment“. The guy was so serious about it that time I had to dig from deep inside of myself some motivation to get involved in an activity that will take as he said “5 to 10 hours of my personal time”.

All what came after can be described as a breath-taking experience that I will definitely recommend to my children. I can write a whole book about it but I will try to summarize as much as possible.

So for the last 3 years and 9 months during which I was part of the AIESEC network, I was:

• Leading a team of a local project which consisted in creating a socio-cultural magazine for the students of our university, professors, sponsors that will tackle topics related to: their daily life, students’ program that they can be involved in, global issues, and yes how AIESEC can help local, national and international communities to evolve better.
• Doing a learning CEED (Cultural Envoy for Exchange Development) in Local Committee Antalya (Turkey) during the summer 2007 to get to know more about how the organization is being run there and creating a better self understanding about the international aspect of AIESEC.
• Managing the exchange department of my Local committee (Carthage) and working in improving the previous performances through running recruitment campaigns in the campus, advertising and most importantly discuss with some corporate partners their “Employer Branding Strategy”.
• Doing a contribution CEED in Local Committee Chicoutimi (Canada) and trying to get back on track a local committee where almost everyone left. From marketing calls for their “Career Day” to local trainings about the AIESEC procedures/operations to a total discovery of a freezing region of the World called “Québec“. An experience that shaped my way of understanding cultural differences and being asked to re-start something from the scratch.
• Leading the National organization in Tunisia: A role that allowed me to be the first representative of AIESEC at a National level and a key speaker when it comes to the government and media. An experience that taught me a lot about the youth in my country, their hopes, their understanding of the nation and especially: How they want to contribute to the development of a National entrepreneurial mindset. I believe my term was not successful compared to what I planned along with my team (7 Vice-Presidents and 4 National Support Team Members) but once  we compiled the annual reports, we understood that we created a rich pipeline for our successors: +6Months of financial reserves, +40% of Growth for the exchanges realized in a term (31st of July 2009 | 30th of July 2010), showcasing what AIESEC is in all the main media of the country (TVs, Radios, Web), increase of the National membership and especially the AIESEC understanding in our external environement. I got enough lucky as well to be leading AIESEC Tunisia when we were hosting the “International Presidents Meeting 2010” where I had to give the opening speech and welcome more than 107 countries in my region. A dream of a lifetime that a normal university student will never get the chance to understand.

• Attending more than 20 Conferences on National Level, 10 on an International one and being able to attend trainings given by brilliant professionals who believed in what AIESEC is doing everyday to shape the future of the World.

I feel honoured of being part of such an adventure, even if it is not that easy to keep my self motivation up during the last years since the tasks were always challenging and the people I work with were always having different perspectives or analysing and understanding procedures/actions/tasks.

Being able to go through an intense journey of discovery where I had to leave my comfort zone several times and see what is beyond my own limits was something that you get to live everyday in AIESEC.

Now the organization is evolving to a new era with a new vision which will be shortly created, possibilities are still unlimited and I am deeply convinced that the future of the organization, that taught us the way to grow, will be even better and being the first choice of youth leadership for organizations all over the World is something that our members will not miss.

A story which will never happen without the support of every single person that I met in: Tunisia, Morocco, Turkey, Germany, Canada, Italy, Egypt, Malaysia and Jordan during my daily AIESEC life, and Local/National/International conferences.

Way to go for AIESEC 2015, I will follow the story from where I will be for the coming year…Yes did not end my AIESEC experience yet and I will start my one year internship in the city of Utrecht, Netherlands with a Global Management Software provider as as “International inside sales representative”. I wanted to go for an internship, and here it comes in the right time after going through a “Global citizen eXPerience”.

Thank you AIESEC for waking up the leader inside of me and Good luck for what will be a milestone in the history of the organization: AIESEC 2015.

Mohamed Ali Chebâane

The excited young student I was, was of course more than happy to work in such environments, the more diverse the origins, the more interesting the team.  But it didn’t take long, until the different working styles and opinions on what should be a priority and what shouldn’t did emerge. And it has been the same since then, in every team I’ve been working in until know. No matter if we came from different countries, belonged to a different age group, different gender, or simply had grown up in different circumstances. In my opinion, there is only one way to make sure that we don’t let the differences separate us, but actually use them to get closer together, and to create something of value for everybody. We have to stay open for other ideas, keep being critical about our own opinion and points of view, and really strive for a goal that is beyond our own ambitions. If we do so, I strongly believe that 1 + 1 can be 3, and I’ve seen the results that a team can generate if its work is based on mutual respect and a drive to achieve something together.

The IC CC 2005 at the Taj Mahal. Sarah is second from the right in the bottom row

Throughout my amazing experience with AIESEC, I learned that there’s never only one way to do things, and this is something I still remember every day. Surrounding myself with diverse people, and getting to know new and different realities, has helped me to confront a variety of job roles and situations in life. I am very thankful for everything that I have learnt during my involvement with AIESEC, and I truly hope that the current members will enjoy both the good times and the challenges during their learning journey with AIESEC.

Sarah Renfer

Bio: Sarah is originally from Switzerland, where she first got involved with AIESEC at the University of Geneva. While studying International Relations, she took several leadership roles in Switzerland, did a Development Internship in an NGO  in Mumbai, India, and completed her experience by working on the national board of AIESEC in Spain. She now lives in Zurich and works at Apple Switzerland, taking care of business development initiatives for the swiss education market.

After a morning full of sessions in their Growth Netowkr (GNs or Regions), delegates participated in a tree planting ceremony that was planned in collaboration with the hotel. Media, Telugu movie stars, CC members and the delegates joined together to celebrate our value of Acting Sustainably.

Hugo Pereira, President of AIESEC International, attended the event and addressed the members of the organization with an inspirational keynote. He noted,

“It is a great feeling to be in India for the AIESEC International Congress and see the genuine effort that AIESEC leaders from 107 countries are making to be carbon-conscious at a conference of this scale.”

Delegates planted saplings with young leaders from all over the world. They were excited to get their hands in the mud and plant a tree that will lead to off setting the carbon footprint of this conference. (Some delegates forgot to take off the plastic on the saplings and had to replant the trees! But there will be some beautiful trees there soon).

The event was lively and full of impacting moments. Manveer Grewal, who leads the Indian delegation that planted their sapling right next to one planted by Tunisia, said that,

“This was an amazing experience – it put all of us in the right frame of mind for the rest of the summit. It really feels like the world has come to India for ten days!”

To be honest, most of my time in university was not spent in classes but in the AIESEC office.  At the initial stage of my AIESEC journey, I was very active in social projects with the hope to make a change, to learn more about leadership skills and make new friends. Slowly, I began to realize that I can do more than that and I want to. So, I took a giant leap and applied to serve on the national committee of AIESEC Malaysia. It wasn’t an easy ride because many people had doubts of whether I’m capable or not. There was so much criticism but I was determined to do the best and with strong support from my fellow team mates, I managed to overcome every challenge that came for me. I devoted a good six years for AIESEC in Malaysia and in those years, I learnt so much about people, I tasted failures and I achieved things that I never thought I could. AIESEC has also become a gateway to many new places, to discover the differences between cultures and embrace the value of diversity.

The most intense AIESEC experience that I had and will never forget was my term as the congress committee president of the largest international congress of AIESEC which was held in Malaysia for the first time – AIESEC International Congress 2009. It was an exciting roller coaster ride together with 51 amazing individuals and they all came from different parts of the world. These people have made my life so colourful and interesting by showing me things that was once alien to me. We shared a common vision and they stood by me to make a dream come true.

To me, AIESEC is like a gold mine! There are plenty of opportunities for you to grab if you want to explore new things, develop yourself and unleash your potentials. To those who have not experienced AIESEC, I strongly encourage you to try. If you never try, you will never know for sure how AIESEC can change your life.

AIESEC has changed my life in an amazing way. If I could still choose again, I would still choose to be in AIESEC.

Geralynn Wong

Malaysia

AIESEC is a great opportunity that helped me be one of the change-agents in my society. Since 2006, I had the opportunity to attend many international conferences, expand my networking, acquire experience, share knowledge and also develop myself personally & professionally. Every time the water fell on my shoulders during my elections a wave of emotions accompanied it.

Being Project manager, Local Committee Vice President Talent Management (LCVP TM), Local Committee President (LCP), Member Committee Vice President Local Committee Development and Talent Management (MCVP LCD & TM) and now MCVP TM & Expansion is very challenging but at the same time an outstanding and enriching experience! An experience which if full of learning, discovery, eagerness to learn and achieve, happiness, positive thinking and of course responsibility toward the people and the countries you are working for. When I see my members develop themselves, apply for Leadership positions, drive their LCs and countries towards growth, great achievements and results and  impact others, this makes me the happiest person everJ I do believe in one sentence: The more you give to AIESEC , the more AIESEC gives to you back !

For me, these are some key messages that I want to share :

A Leader is not just about Harmony / Is about Driving Performance

A Leader is not just about Following rules / Is about having a vision

A Leader is not just about playing Fair/is about winning

A Leader is not just about being Popular/ Is about being Respected

A Leader is not just about Tradition/ Is about Innovation

A Leader is not just about Success / Is about Improvement

A Leader is not a Privilege / It’s a Responsibility, It’s my Responsibility, Your Responsibility, It is Our Responsibility

Today, I am grateful to AIESEC for being a great learning platform. Thanks AIESEC for being here to change my life, become a Change Agent and have a Positive Impact in my society and the World.

KAOUTAR MOUDAR

MCVP TM & Expansion AIESEC In Jordan 2010/2011

Working with AIESEC, I have attended numerous conferences in Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Botswana, Uganda, Togo, Ethiopia, Brazil, Italy, Spain and Tunisia as either a Chair, a Facilitator and Delegate, felt like I had done it all, at least that is the satisfaction I got.

Through this organization, I have meet thousands of people from across the universe stretching form the beautiful beaches of Athens to the magnificent deserts of Tunisia, there is no where you can live my experience if you were not an AIESECer, and what fascinated me of all is the spirit of togetherness, brotherhood and love exhibited by AIESECers in International Congresses.

The experience people might have taken for granted to me was and will always be precious, from day 0 as famously referred to the Opening ceremony / Plenary, the Country Roll calls, then sets in Global Village, other than testing bites, photo moments and food from different countries, this is probably a golden chance to know something from those many countries. If you ask me what stuck in my mind I would share two elements:

1. Diversity

Diversity is diverse. I have seen it in play, moments that are taken for granted have melted my heart. Take for instance when delegates from AIESEC India are hugging and smiling with their neighbors’ of Pakistan, it is a precious moment indeed.

I have seen diversity; I mean if you have attended the Global village before, you know what I am talking about. When you see all these people, all the majestic smiles, all the beautiful colors, all the bites and cultures, all the music and roll calls, what do you think is behind this whole global village concept. I would like to request the bearers of AIESEC to preserve this event in future, its going to be one event the world waits to celebrate annually, that is my prediction. As an African, I saw Peace, Understanding, Love, Opinions and opportunity in all those moments and vowed to make them part of my life forever.

I have indeed been prepared to always walk ahead when it necessitates, because I can gladly say that I have had the opportunity to work in the most culturally diverse environment that stretches from the hills of Algiers to the amazons of South America.

 2. Leadership

You will definitely want me to describe what leadership is, which is not my intention here, just want to share pure leadership examples I have seen manifested at the International Congresses I have attended. From the on set you will notice that a group of people we call the CC, have set out an ambition to make this the best conference experience ever. That can easily be seen through the relentless service they offer with great humility has always humbled me, and I envy all those who have had the opportunity to serve at that level. The dedication of sleeping later than everyone and waking up before everyone is impossible, dancing with people all night with a thought that you will be cleaning that hall exactly after the music stop to me is Leadership defined. In a summit that gathers over 600-700 international delegates, should be a challenge for any entity to organize, I do not know any Youth entity that does the same. The Facilitators coming out to deliver an agenda that empowers the organization for the next year running that is massive under a leadership of a Chair who ultimately makes the final decisions and that is Leadership defined. To all those who will have the opportunity to attend IC, just know that every moment you will have in that conference, is special and take full advantage to learn and make friends from across the universe.

Ram Hadji

Aside from three Turkish students, everyone on my team was from a different country.  Working together required overcoming our assumptions about communication, which we all learned the hard way when key information wasn’t passed on or we missed opportunities. I learned the hard way how culture shapes our expectations about relationships and collaboration when even the way I asked a question produced different rates of success.  This challenge was compounded when we worked with the other teams on the Congress Committee, comprised of about 65 people from 40 nationalities.  I will never forget the mad rush to secure 35 projectors to satisfy our presenting partners’ needs on Learning Networks Day, which I had the joy of directing along with an Indian colleague.  We stayed up all day and night with the managers from two other teams to ensure that every one of over 600 delegates was assigned to workshops they were interested in, that no workshop was over- or under-attended, and that the preparation met each presenter’s unique needs.  We passed out in the committee rest area at the end of the event, satisfied that we made the day a success with no partnership-wrecking issues.

AIESEC’s most valuable and unique asset is its platform where students have all the responsibility and tools needed to develop and execute exchanges, conferences and leadership development.  The key challenges for Congress Committee members are learning from the successes and mistakes of their predecessors, establishing a productive environment for teamwork among people from diverse backgrounds, and ensuring that the next Congress Committee can build on their successes.  Only in this way can AIESEC continue to improve as a network of students aspiring to become effective change agents.  Failing that – don’t forget the projectors!

Preston Rhea

Joined AIESEC September 2005
Helped restart Georgia Tech Local Committee in AIESEC United States
Local Committee President 2008
Heavily involved in student-led reform of AIESEC US, including drafting legislation for our first compendium and first MCP elections in 12 yearsCurrently finishing a year-long internship in Beijing, then moving to Washington, DC
Personal website: http://prestonrhea.org/
Also write at: http://braincanvas.org/

As THE human resource center of the world, India boasts a huge reserve of English speaking scientists, IT professionals and a general workforce. India has integrated with several cultures throughout its history and now is when that culture of integration and understanding has provided the greatest benefit. While other countries are struggling to understand languages and cultures, the diversity in religion, languages, customs and social classes has prepared its people to adapt easily to an ever growing international community.

The entrepreneurial spirit of its people is driving India’s parallel economy – the unorganized sector. If leveraged and transformed into the organized sector, this underdeveloped sector could help explode the Indian economy. More than anything else, this sector demonstrates the ambition the people of India generally have in their blood, always wanting the best for their family and their community.

                                                   Where does AIESEC fall into this? The AIESEC platform, which allows young people to develop and take responsibilities in running an organization, helps further educate the young people of India outside of the classroom. With ever growing education rates, it is crucial to educate young people in order to emerge as young leaders, who have the business savvy, the common sense and the drive to achieve more for their country. AIESEC International Congress, 2010 will bring together these leaders to discuss and learn about issues such as these as well as develop ways to grow as an organization. The Indian culture that constantly strives for excellence will be the perfect backdrop to help the organization to create its new long term strategic plan (AIESEC 2015) and inspire the next generation of AIESECers to take the lead, be entrepreneurial and develop a greater sense of cultural understanding.

The 62nd AIESEC International Congress 2010, India