Sarah Kamal, the newly elected president of JCI Bangladesh, sits one on one with ICE Today’s Verve and shares her vision for the future.
As the newly elected President of JCI Bangladesh, what is your vision?
JCI’s vision is to be the leading global network of young active citizens, and my vision as the National President is to develop leaders for a changing world. A cradle for the young leaders, we at JCI are here to nurture our members to become stakeholders in every sector of society. For me, the utmost important thing for the year 2020 and beyond is support our members to accelerate growth and enhance their positive impact in the nation. We also want to become advocates in policy-making, being the voice of youth and collaborate with all sectors of the society; government, business and civil society to build relationships that benefit our members and society as a whole.
What are the future prospects of JCI Bangladesh?
I think the prospect of JCI Bangladesh is beyond imagination, imagine a youth-driven organization which is not limited to Bangladesh by border only, but present in 120 countries, with 5000 local organisations and 200,000 active members. We have the power to step up and become genuine agents in building better leaders, generating positive change. JCI stands as a global organization for young leaders to shine and become agents of positive change through business skills, international network, individual development and community in action.
What new initiatives do you plan to take during your tenure as the President of JCI Bangladesh?
The current set of programs and events that we have are Youth Leadership Conclave, Inspire Women, Pre Budget Discussion, Ten Young Outstanding Persons of Bangladesh (TOYP), Be the Change and many others. In addition to those, I would like to take new initiatives on holding different skills and development training for our members, increase membership engagement and new programs for entrepreneurial development and to highlight the achievement of JCI Bangladesh globally in various JCI international conferences.
How are you facing the transition as the newly elected President of JCI Bangladesh?
One of the most fantastic thing about JCI is the president’s one year tenure. No matter how good you are in your respective leadership role, there won’t be a second term. Hence, the President becomes Immediate Past President and part of the board by default. The election of the new board takes place at the end of a year, so the last two to three months you go through the transition process. I love the current challenges I face as the President. I am blessed with fantastic board members and dynamic Local Presidents. Each day through their extraordinary dedication and the hard work, our members encourage me to excel and give my 200% for my beloved organization; JCI Bangladesh.
Being a leading woman yourself, how do you plan to inspire women empowerment and entrepreneurship in your field?
The population ratio of male and female in Bangladesh is almost 50-50. You see after 1988 Bangladesh has not elected a male Prime Minister. Our Honorable Prime Minister is female, so is our leader of the opposition party and the speaker too. As for JCI Bangladesh is concerned, about 40% of the total member base is female. Hence if you look carefully, you will see a different leadership role of women in JCI Bangladesh. We have designed an event focusing only on women. We showcase and celebrate women from different sectors and their accomplishments. We recognize their contribution through the award program in various areas. And I believe that we are women, the word “Impossible” does not belong in our dictionary. Hurdles may come your way but its how you challenge yourself to be the best version of yourself and give your 100% in whatever you do. We have to be our own inspiration.