There is no difference of opinion when it comes to the variety of benefits one gets as a re
sult of attending professional development events. As my personal experience of attending Global Youth Summit 2018 organized by International Young Leaders Assembly (IYLA) at the World Bank, I could experience all the benefits I was looking forward to. I had a chance to meet young leaders coming from all across the globe, listen to their stories and experiences. Among the speakers in the panel, there were people as young as 16 as an inspiration for the youth. One of the speakers who is a successful young social entrepreneur, shared an interesting story. She, as a 24 years old CEO of her company, went to attend a meeting with a potential partner organization who had never met her in person before. When she arrived, they told her that they’re actually waiting to meet the CEO of the company. To their surprise, she said that she’s the CEO they’re waiting to meet. What a remarkable achievement at such a young age.
All the speakers being young social entrepreneurs, had great success stories but with some lessons as well. One thing that I observed from the experiences shared by the speakers was that every one of them had gone through failures before finally making it to the real success. What kept them motivated to achieve their
objectives was their passion and enthusiasm to pursue their goals.
At the end, there was an open session for the audience to share their key takeaways with the panel. When I got the chance to speak, I thanked the organizers for arranging this amazing event and shared two of the many useful takeaways. First, always remain persistent and consistent in chasing your dreams without the fear of failures. Second, no matter what your age is, you can still make a difference, if you want to.
