Three down and the fourth one followed suit… The news came from as far as Brussels this time, where the Junior Chamber International was holding its annual World Congress in early November 2011… The news: JCI Mauritius has won ONE award at the World Congress… Which one?? The Best Individual Development Programme Award for a Local Organisation… Once again, it was the JCI Curepipe Individual Development Programme for the year 2010 which won the Jury’s favour… For the many JCI Mauritius members who were following the conference live through the internet, it was indeed a moment of pride and a feeling of accomplishment when the name of JCI Mauritius was announced… and the pleasure was doubled for members of JCI Curepipe. A small candle can light up the world it is said, and the different representatives of JCI in Mauritians present at the World Congress showed that this award could create unity across different Local Organisations, by their common celebration of this award on the World Congress stage.

Many have asked the secret behind this Individual Development Programme (IDP), and how did it win
•    the JCI Mauritius award for 201 Best Individual Development Programme;
•     the overall Best Local Organisation Project for 2010 in Mauritius;
•    the JCI Area A Conference in Mali in April 2011; and now
•    the 2011 JCI World Congress Award for the Best Local Individual Development Programme.

FOUR awards for one entry is indeed a remarkable feat and its success really lies on simple foundations, namely on JCI Curepipe endeavor through its IDP to put its members ahead. One of the aims of our organisation is to prepare young active citizens to be the leaders of tomorrow, and what better way to empower them than to nurture them and make them grow in a healthy manner?

IDP 2010 had overall been a well planned set of activities, spread across the year, and targeting different needs of JCI Curepipe members. Hence, in line with members needs, they were provided with insight of Project management to help them better manage projects both in JCI as well as in their work environment. They were then provided tips on Presentation Skills, more specifically on how to prepare a presentation slideshow. This followed the needs of members to learn more about layout and format so as to produce professional presentation, both at work and in JCI. These events were successful ones and brought as reward more energy for subsequent ones.

The next event was an awareness session on Stock Market and Stock Purchase (SMSP). The theme required specialists speakers and JCI Curepipe secured the kind collaboration of the Director of CIM Stock Brokers, and his assistant, to give us insight about this complex, yet hugely remunerating sector. The event, as always was followed by delicious lunch, which got people talking about JCI Curepipe hospitality for a long time…

By that time, members were through with the “academic” topics and what was in store for them has since created a passion in many… what came next was a refreshing and creative course in Photography, under the catchy title of “T3P: Tips, Tricks and Techniques in Photography”. For 4 full weeks, the talk of the town was “aperture”, “focus”, “shutter speed”, “light control”, “rule of third”… and the excitement was increasing each week, as more and more techniques were mastered and participants felt more at ease in bringing out their creativity while clicking photos.

The next event of the IDP 2010 had more to do with the JCI Curepipe members’ persona and aura… the following event was about Grooming, Aromatherapy and Relaxation Massage, and was conducted by experts with several years of experience in the field. The idea behind the event was to create a feel-good factor in the members, while simultaneously helping them develop themselves more, personally.. Afterall, everyone needs to dress up once in a while for a special interview, or meeting or everyone feels stressed on some days, after a tough day. During the event, some wanted to know how to relieve tension and headache after a hard day at work, others how to dress up, and others still wanted to know what essential oil to use to create a feeling of relaxation… All were satisfied at the end of the day, though the one phrase that summed up this event was “We want MORE!”.

Overall, the 2010 JCI Curepipe IDP had been a pleasure trip, because it was about meeting the expectations and wishes of the members and aspiring members. The individual development sessions proposed were things members wanted, and topics which interested them. One regret though had been the inability to organise an awareness session on Negotiation Skills in 2010, due to unavailability of dates. Same was however carried out in 2011, much to the pleasure of many. My sincere thanks to the 2011 JCI Curepipe Individual Development Vice President for having taken this up as the first IDP event of 2011.

As the 2010 JCI Curepipe Individual Development Vice President, it had been my good fortune that so much trust was bestowed upon me in leading this ambitious programme over the year 2010. This was however never a one-man effort; the support of the 2010 JCI Curepipe Local Board and 2010 JCI Curepipe Local President as well as of all JCI Curepipe and other Local Organisations’ members and aspiring members in the various events can only be commended.

Similarly, no projects and no events would have ever taken place without a dedicated team working behind the scene to make things happen… The 2010 JCI Curepipe IDP boasts itself to have been one which gave development opportunities to a large number of members and aspiring members, empowering them in various positions of a JCI project. A hearty thank you needs to be extended to all those who worked very hard to make things happen. Thank you therefore Pricilla, Clarel, Arvind, Prashant, Yudish, Kamal, Nisheel, Kevin, Karuna, Deepika, Lenita, Zubin, Pravish, Sabrina, Jacques, Hashama, Renuka, Michäella, Nirvana, Ravish, Keshav and Vidushi for your support, goodwill and great vibes in making the events shape up so nicely.

Individual Development in 2010 at JCI Curepipe has been a great adventure. I found it to be time well spent, and the many smiles and satisfied participants to the various events a wonderful reward to the hard work put in. Winning an award at National level is great, winning an award at International level once is thrilling, but winning a World Congress Award is really a very proud moment. A special “Thank you” goes also to the members of the Jury of the JCI World Congress for having found this project worthy of recognition.

A candle can light up the World… and JCI Curepipe is happy to have helped create positive change by knowing that our endeavour has being appreciated as bringing a contribution towards creating better skilled leaders of tomorrow.

Kiran Bhujun C.Eng MIEI M.ASCE RPEM
2010 JCI Curepipe Individual Development Vice President
2011 JCI Mauritius National Secretary
2012 JCI Curepipe Recruitment Director