The Economic Empowerment Committee held its 2nd Careers Workshop on the 15th of January from 9.30am to 3.30pm at the Tabligh Auditorium. The workshop was aimed at students between the ages of 14 and 20. The day long workshop featured 14 professional from different fields and 2 career counsellors.
The workshop began with a welcome address by Sis Zainab Alidina, a member of the Economic Empowerment Committee. This was followed by an icebreaker game which got all the students to get to know each other better and to interact with the professionals. After a quick summary on the how the workshop was going to be structured, each of the professionals got the chance to introduce themselves and their profession to the participants.
Sis Fatima Sherali, one of the career counsellors for the workshop then introduced the career counselling options the students had and gave out more information on funding available for students who wish to study further. She also explained to the students the different education options they had available to them and how different organisations were willing to sponsor their education via grants and loans. She requested Dr Jiwaji, a professor from Open University and one of the professional for the workshop to speak to the students about the importance of education for future success in their careers. This interactive session with Dr Jiwaji was one of the highlights of the workshop.
The exceptional talk by Dr Jiwaji was followed by a break where participants got the chance to interact with presenters and each other in an informal setting over tea and snacks. Each presenter was then assigned a class room where they would hold their interactive in-depth career information sessions. These sessions were 20-30 minutes each and gave the students a chance to speak to the professionals about their respective careers in a small group setting. These sessions were conducted throughout the day and students got to pick what professionals they wanted to speak to. The career counsellors were also on hand all day speaking to students in one-on-one sessions about their career dilemmas and guiding them on possible options.
At Salah time, the sessions were put on hold while everyone went to pray. After prayers a well-deserved lunch break was taken, the lunch break once again gave the participants and professionals a chance to interact and network with each other over an informal setting. The sessions resumed after lunch, giving students a chance to speak to a few more professionals before the workshop winded down.
Each professional got a chance to hold their in-depth career sessions in their own unique ways; some opted for an informal talk with Q&A after the talk, while others opted for a participants guided talk where participants got a chance to pave the path the talk took. The “careers in media” sessions conducted by Br Mohamedabbas Somji, on the other hand took a different route with video and audio clips of the different careers available in the field. Students got to learn something new from each of the sessions they attended.
The professionals that attended the day workshop to conduct the in-depth career sessions with the students included the following:
Br Murtaza Nasser – accounting
Br Mustafa Tharoo – law
Dr Noorali Jiwaji – physics and astronomy
Br Hasan Dewji – Human Resources and law
Sis Neelam Nathoo – nutrition and Reiki therapy
Sis Zahra Mohamedhussein – medicine
Br Mohammed Abbas Somji – media
Br Miqdaad Ramani – banking
Sis Haleema Lalji – education
Br Irfan Rashid – pharmaceutical and analytical science
Br Assad Amirali – radiology
Br Mudassir Amirali – radiology
Br Hasnein Dinani – banking
Sis Mariam Meghji and Sis Fatima Sherali were the career counsellors.
The workshop was a huge success and the feedback from the students and professionals was remarkable. The EEC would to take this opportunity to once again thank each and every one of the professionals who took time out of their busy schedules to impart valuable information about their careers to all the attendees. We would also like to thank Sis Fatima Sherali for her support throughout the planning stages of this workshop and for volunteering to be one of our career counsellors for the day. The EEC would also like to thank all the participants for their high level of participation and enthusiasm during the workshop.
A special shout out goes to Br Imran Sumar and Br Karrar Rashid for the numerous hours they put in to make this workshop a success. We really could not have done this without their help.