Exactly a week ago (25/11/2020), JCI London held its first virtual AGM which had over twenty people in attendance. This included members, non-members and senators.

As usual, the president for 2021 together with the board members were elected. In no particular order, here are the members of the 2021 board with their individual reasons and aspirations for their role:

"I’ve always seen myself as a natural leader and a change agent. Over the years, I have served in various leadership capacities and excelled whilst taking on these positions. Salient amongst these is being recognised as a leader within the financial technology (fintech) field by Techpreneur Magazine.

I have been part of JCI London since mid-2019 and got elected as Finance Director later that year. I have committed to fulfilling my duties and responsibilities since taking on the role of Finance Director. Some of my achievements so far include;

1. Suggesting and implementing strategies to strengthen the internal financial reporting structure of the London Chamber. 
2. Expanding JCI London’s network to BPP University through featured posts and publications.
3. Part of the pioneers of the first-ever JCI London Governance Committee (voted on and passed at the 2020 AGM)  

My vision and goals are;

1. To ensure the continuity of the great standards set by former JCI London executives  
2. To commit to setting a path so that JCI London is steered in the right direction
3. Develop a strategic plan and work towards its completion
4. Serving the community and making a positive impact with JCI London."

"I’m a big believer of empowering young people and professionals to create positive change within their communities which, in return, will have a wider impact on our cities and countries. This aligns with the core of JCI London’s mission and I will be proud to be part of this vision and mission, and work with its members that share common values and passion to develop themselves and improve their communities and give back to them, along with experiencing and bringing new cultures closer together.
I believe I can bring the experience I have built from the different voluntary work I have done along with my experience from my professional work in the consultancy sector to support this noble mission of JCI. As a volunteer at the British Red Cross, I learned how to be empathetic and do my best to help people in need. And in my role as a VP of Membership and recently as a VP of Mentoring at Toastmasters International (an organisation that promotes public speaking and leadership) I learned how to convert guests to become members and increase the club membership, and also to influence people to show and become their best. As a Director for Engagement & Growth at JCI London, I will be aiming to supporting the board and membership growth and ensuring that I apply the best practices for keeping JCI members
engaged. I will be committed to leading activities that enable members as well as the board to connect and network with each other and other external organisations inside and outside of London and pursue opportunities to collaborate and develop projects that bring positive change to the youth. I will also identify the key needs of the London community and focus on developing strategies for high-impact projects that will deliver results to the community. In addition, I will be leading JCI London’s Top Outstanding Young People (TOYP) programme for London and the Active Citizen Experience (ACE) initiative for JCI London."

"I’m a big believer of empowering young people and professionals to create positive change within their communities which, in return, will have a wider impact on our cities and countries. This aligns with the core of JCI London’s mission and I will be proud to be part of this vision and
mission, and work with its members that share common values and passion to develop themselves and improve their communities and give back to them, along with experiencing and bringing new cultures closer together.
I believe I can bring the experience I have built from the different voluntary work I have done along with my experience from my professional work in the consultancy sector to support this noble mission of JCI. As a volunteer at the British Red Cross, I learned how to be empathetic and do my best to help people in need. And in my role as a VP of Membership and recently as a VP of Mentoring at Toastmasters International (an organisation that promotes public speaking and
leadership) I learned how to convert guests to become members and increase the club membership, and also to influence people to show and become their best. As a Director for Engagement & Growth at JCI London, I will be aiming to supporting the board and membership growth and ensuring that I apply the best practices for keeping JCI members engaged. I will be committed to leading activities that enable members as well as the board to connect and network with each other and other external organisations inside and outside of London and pursue opportunities to collaborate and develop projects that bring positive change to the youth. I will also identify the key needs of the London community and focus on developing strategies for high-impact projects that will deliver results to the community. In addition, I will be leading JCI London’s Top Outstanding Young People (TOYP) programme for London and the Active Citizen Experience (ACE) initiative for JCI London."

"My goal for the new year is to connect and network with JCI members a lot more in order to get to know them and fulfil their development needs.
I want to create a safe space for members who are struggling to deal with the global pandemic and things which are affecting their lives, including their mental wellbeing."

"As a Business Development & Partnerships Director, I aim to strengthen existing partnerships and create new exiting ones that would help to make JCI London chamber stronger and move the organisation into new heights in 2021. More specifically, I hope to secure successfully corporate
sponsorships for Top Outstanding Young People’s Program; it is important to speak in a positive tongue, especially during these unprecedented times, and recognize outstanding achievements of young people. In addition, I am excited to start with our new Trade and Development Programme.

I am a driven person whose strongest attributes is my determination. I am a hard-working and very passionate person who has a quite diverse background which includes experiences in customer service and event management, HR and finance, PR and being part of the film industry through music composition as well as supporting artist roles. My strengths are in customer relations and networking. Furthermore, when I started working for myself I learnt, and still keep learning more and more, how to be an excellent multitasker, to see the big picture, to have positive
mental attitude despite difficult circumstances, to have the willingness to experiment, to be unafraid of failures and always, no matter the situation, to find a way to be resourceful. I hope to form into a great leader and be an inspiration. Last but not least, in my role I will focus on identifying ways in which JCI London can be the organisation that unites all sectors of the society to create sustainable impact and lead activities that focus on business and entrepreneurial development."

"My vision and goals for JCI London events for 2021 is mainly to create new ways of interaction between members through social events. My plan is hosting two social events per month (one every 2 weeks), the first is a night out in a bar to have a drink, the second is a day activity (visit to new places around London). All these events will contribute to help members get to know each other and build a good relation between them. These events will encourage nonmembers to join JCI London as well by spreading our activities on social our platforms.
Note: For the first few months of the year and because of the restrictions due to Covid-19, my plans are to keep the social events virtual.
I believe that I am a good fit for this position because of my practical experience in organizing events during working in Events management company in my previous job. In addition, my experience being an Events Director in JCI London during 2020. I have good communication skills
that I will be investing in this role to achieve good results."

"Having come from a long and successful business development and sales background, I can bring a whole range of skills to the table. Creating partnerships with local, private and public sector organisations. Working collaboratively with the internal team to organize workshops with external
institutes to help members achieve their personal and career goals. Utilize these workshops and events to gain traction on increasing members by promoting strong relationships and a robust digital marketing plan."

Indeed, the team are all looking forward to starting 2021 with all our members and begin the implementation process of our "Thinking Forward" vision what was revealed by the newly elected president.