"Looking back at my Maher El Bakry Emerging Leaders Award (MEBELA) journey at IDP, I have to say it has been a fantabulous experience, which has helped me grow both personally and professionally. Along with my leadership skills, I also gained confidence in my ability to succeed in my career.
The Maher El Bakry Emerging Leaders program is IDP’s flagship mentoring initiative that develops IDP team members from around the globe. It is annual and offers recipients mentorship sessions with the IDP Global Leadership Team (GLT) and funding towards a study option in the recipient's area of interest.
The Maher program provides recipients regular connects – providing us the opportunity to report progress and challenges we face – as we walk down the path of development.
Our global leaders are very compassionate and are there to help us overcome any difficult situations. I loved how they were committed to the program – even during a time as challenging during the pandemic.
With every session I had with our Global Leadership Team (GLT) and our talented fellow Maher recipients from across the globe – I learned and gained so much. One particular session that impacted me was a mentoring session taken by Neil Pearson, our Chief Digital Officer. On attending this session, I was able to reflect on my journey at IDP as well as my personal life. Neil’s pointers really helped me overcome my fear of public speaking - helping me present well at my Maher program graduation. An unforgettable experience really!
As part of the program, I studied digital skills training and provided training to our customers and the wider community. I plan to take the Microsoft Office Specialist: Expert Certification Exam to become a Microsoft Office Certified trainer and participate in the Bett Asia conference to experience digital teaching and training in the region.
My short-term career goal is to grow into a senior IT management role at IDP, while in the long run, I would like to progress to a digital skill content creator role.
Since the beginning of my career with IDP, I have always felt that this is a great place to work, learn, grow, and thrive in. Through my journey at IDP and my time here, I have been able to develop my technical, interpersonal, leadership, management, problem-solving, and communication skills.
I would like to express my gratitude to IDP and our global leadership team for providing me this opportunity. It’s hard to put into words how being a Maher recipient feels like – being identified as an emerging leader in a growing global organisation and given the opportunity to be mentored by our global leaders. Simply amazing.
Would you also like to be part of an organisation that prioritises your growth and learning opportunities? Join our team today." - Sopheak Nuon, IT Assistant Manager, IDP Education.
