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After graduating from BizAcademy, I intended to follow the salesforce.com tradition of philanthropy and give back by sharing my BizAcademy journey with you. After a break over the weekend, when I actually sat down to write about my experiences in the program, I was simply overwhelmed. There have not been many stages in my life where a period as short as one week has influenced me so much or allowed me to make connections in so many new ways. I did not know where to start – the list of things I have discovered and learned in this program is endless - what it means to be an effective leader, focusing on team building, taking risks, what it means to be in a corporate structure, that there is no limit to where you can take yourself if you truly applied yourself and how ‘lack of resources’ are SO not an excuse for being unsuccessful.

A Piece of Blue String

At that moment, a single blue thread of wool string tied on my left hand brought a smile on my face and reminded me of having achieved a great deal. That little tied piece of string was one of the last activities we did at BizAcademy, more importantly it represented the connections I had made in the week. You can learn business skills such as presentations, public speaking and the corporate structure from anywhere, but what truly stood out for me were the connections all of us had made in just one week and how much everyone had learned from each other.

Owais 1Winning Team’s Secret

There was always going to be one team who would present the best solution to the Dragon’s Den panel on the final day. I feel truly privileged and humbled to be a part of that winning team. Our team mates from ‘Success Force’ included Jason Dam, Luke Dingwall, the lovely Johanna Garvin and myself. I met these wonderful people only just a week ago but it feels like I have known them a very long time. Jason was always the passionate one with bright new ideas and stories, Jo’s amazing personality was the fabric that weaved all around of us to ensure that we put in that little bit of extra effort, and Luke was one who made sure all of us smiled and supported each other. I personally thought we came together as a team because we first listened to each other and allowed individuals to shine on their own while providing a little guidance or support where it needed a bit of tweaking.

‘It’s like telling a story to your mum ’

I was having trouble in explaining one of my sales idea to the team and kept making it sound far too complicated. My mentor, Derek Laney, stopped me and said, ‘It’s like telling a story to your mum.' This is just one example from many that highlights the training and amazing support all the BizAcademy students had received in the program.

Highlights

We had wonderful guest speakers and presenters who took time out of their busy schedules to join us and share with us during the week. For instance, the influential speeches from people like Rob Zimmerman of salesforce.com or Henrik from Spotify highlighting the risks they took to get to where they are now. There were certain educational sessions, which I found fascinating. The ‘Present Well’ session, taught us how to deliver a perfect presentation in a business environment, how to run a real focus group for marketing, using effective questioning skills. In short the amount and level of support we had at the academy, was incredible.

SuccessForce & mentorsThanks to Everyone Involved

I am sure every single participant of the program would agree that BizAcademy is a world-class program, which should continue to help and support individuals no matter where they come from or what types of challenges they have to defeat. BizAcademy allowed us to achieve and learn a lot in short period of time. I would like say kudos to the partners of BizAcademy, like salesforce.com, Workventures and Cerebral Palsy Alliance, you deserve a big pat on your back for the effort you put into the program – without you this experience would not have been possible!