Blog

At our annual dinner on 4 February, we celebrated the achievements of our members. Congratulations to all our winners and thank you for your hard work and commitment to JCI London in 2011.

The Peter Ancell Award - Eyad Hamouieh
For the member who, through his own initiative, goodwill and lack of thought for personal gain, puts into effect such valuable projects as will enhance and ultimately contribute to international understanding

The John Aspinall Award - Niraj Shah
For a member whose personal example in the organisation of a project or events shall have added most to the reputation of JCI London as an organisation capable of training the business leaders of the future

The Presidents Cup - Vincent Espitalier
To the member who has done most to enhance the stature of JCI London, preferably but not necessarily in the international field.

The Gerald Bodmer Award - Raani Virdee
Awarded to a member of less than 2 years standing, who has shown, by involvement in Chamber activities, a strong commitment to the organisation and an intention to stay involved.

The Karen Pheasant Award - Nadene Jones
In recognition of the most outstanding member of the Executive Committee.

The Leslie Fellner Memorial Award - Diana Lowe
For the outstanding achievement in the year by a member other than the President or Deputy President in furtherance of the Chamber's service to and reputation in the City of London

The Horizons Award - Anke Brandts
This award recognises innovative ideas, individual enterprise or other contributions which help Chamber members overcome mental barriers to success or help them broaden their horizons.

The London Jubilee Award - Lydia Bartaud-Nel
Presented to a member who has done the most during the year to encourage others to join the Chamber.

The David Woodgate Award - Soraya Bowen
Recognises a member who has done the most to promote the ethos of Junior Chamber

The Prentis Award for Excellence - Mehnaz Siddiqui
Awarded to a member for his/her professional and excellent performance in many aspects of Chamber activity.

The Belgium Staines Memorial Award - Sandor Kovacs
To the member of over 3 years standing who, through an unselfish commitment, promoted the spirit of solidarity and friendship in Junior Chamber.

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On the 3rd of February everyone came together to celebrate the achievements of JCI London throughout 2011 under the leadership of local president Sarah Beckwith.

The masquerade themed evening began with a welcome drink and then the boat set of on its cruise down the river Thames, taking in such sights as the Houses of Parliament and Tower Bridge. 

As guests sat down to enjoy their dinner MC Ian Johnson oversaw proceedings. We had words from our international guests who had travelled to London to be here for this event, demonstrating the strong links between JCI London and its twin chambers. Sarah introduced her awards to JCI London members, recognising their achievements in 2011. Nadene Jones, President of JCI Ignite, was presented with a gift of the chain of office. Nadene and other members have worked tirelessly to establish a new JCI chamber in London. As Sarah and JCI UK 2012 National President, Solveig Malvik, presented Nadene with the gift Sarah received a surprise award of her own. As she read the inscription on the back of Nadene's chain she read her own senatorship number! A lovely moment as Solveig presented Sarah with her JCI senatorship.

After dinner entertainment was provided by after dinner speaker Ola Aralepo who was very amusing. As 2012 JCI London President Simon Bucknall pointed out no one minded the February Freeze as they enjoyed the celebration. Of course, the dinner culminated in Simon being presented with his chain of office and being inaugarated as JCI London President 2012. Simon was particularly taken with the feeling of optimism evident on the night as JCI London heads into 2012.      

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The community team has landed! well the start of a team at least. The JCI London Community team had our first meeting on Wednesday 8 Febuary, the discussions centred on what is it we want to achieve and how are we going to achieve it.

There was a healthy dose of realism added in there, as we tried to get to grips with what we meant by community and then how on earth we communicate this to other JCI members to get them all excited and motivated to help us achieve this years vision. There was an excited flow of ideas after this Community Director, Soraya set out her aims and objectives and invited our input. There is clearly already a lot planned and in full motion so look out for some fun easy things that you can get involved in and make a difference in the world with hardly any effort.

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 The year begins for me  on 1st February and marks the start of the great work JCI London Community team needs to do to make an impact in our communities on a local, national and global level.
January has flown by with the planning and thinking behind how we (JCI members) tackle the problems we see in the world the today-a HUGE task!!! Which leads onto my anthem for this year for when I start feel my drive and passion being challenged and I will play this song, check out the lyrics and you will see why.

My anthem for 2012 is: Alicia Keys 'Superwoman'

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JCI invited Spidergap® entrepreneurs Alexis Kingsbury and Paddy Mann to present and discuss their lessons learned at a recent evening event attended by over 40 JCI London members and guests. Attendees have said that this was a highly informative and inspirational talk, covering the presenters’ experiences from deciding to set up through to their exciting current activities - tweaking the solution and model to turn a great idea into a great money-making business.

Alexis and Paddy are the creators and owners of Spidergap® - an easy to use online tool for gap analysis (gap analysis works by comparing two views - for example 'where we are at' and 'where we want to be; the results allow you to prioritise actions and measure improvement). They also run a management consultancy as a way of funding their goal of creating scalable products (such as Spidergap) that will support their shared vision of a better quality of life.

Paddy and Alex presenting some of their lessons learned from starting an online business. You can watch a video with highlights from the first 20 minutes.

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You have just a few days left to sign up to the highlight of the JCI London social calendar - our annual dinner on 3 February.

A night of fabulous food, company and entertainment aboard the Golden Jubilee Boat.  As well as the usual evening's festivities of the Presidential Inauguration, JCI London Awards and speeches by three JCI Presidents, we now have a brilliant after dinner speaker confirmed - see Ola Aralepo's biography below.  All this followed by dancing the night away in a nearby club!

Tickets are selling fast at just £65 for a welcome drink, three course meal, half a bottle of wine and the evening's entertainment aboard the Golden Jubilee.  Don't miss out - sign up now at www.jcilondonannualdinnner.eventbrite.com

Speaker's Bio

A shy and self-conscious sort just five short years ago, Ola Aralepo has emerged as one of the most exciting young entertaining speakers in the UK.

In Glasgow last autumn, he 'out-humoured' hundreds of fellow speakers to be crowned UK & Ireland Champion of Humorous Speaking by Toastmasters International.

A public speaking coach and trainer by day - stand-up comedian by night - Ola tries to make sense of the human condition in a spirit of love and irreverence. As we go to press, he is a Quarter-Finalist for the Laughing Horse 'New Act Of The Year', a prestigious competition which has yielded the likes of Rod Gilbert and Jack Whitehall.

Meanwhile, at weekends, Ola is a transport worker - where he simply tells people where to go.

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It has been another amazing year for JCI London.  Here are just some of the highlights:

• Hosting more than 100 local events covering all areas of opportunity (on average more than 2 per week!)
• Raising over £300 for Nothing But Nets via events such as Penny Poker, the pub quiz, Loch Ness Marathon and the Penny Jar,  in addition to buying over 20 bed nets direct for trainers/speakers...i.e. over 50 lives saved in Africa
• Launching a new website with blog, which has over 90 posts
• JCI London gaining over 2000 fans on the Facebook fan page and over 350 followers to the twitter account
• Having a very active council of 18 members, with many JCI London members also being active on National Board (and the same set to continue in 2012).
• Over 70 new members joining in 2011
• Large delegations of 12 members attending European Conference in Tarragona and 18 at World Congress in Brussels
• Introduction of Roundtable format business events, giving members intimate access to business leaders, willing to share their personal stories and advice in small group discussions
• Successful Go For It! event running again in May, with TOYP winner Sabirul Islam as keynote speaker
• Three members being recognised for their volunteering activities via the JCI UK ACE (Active Citizen Experience) scheme
• Representation at the Staines Memorial in Staines in June and the JCI Belgium Staines Award service in December
• Live Like a Londoner Twinning Weekend with attendees from four out of our five twin chambers experiencing the hidden gems of life in London
• JCI London being represented at pretty much every international event possible, including the European Academy, ASPAC, Crayfish Conference, UN Summit, Know-How Transfer, Americas Conference, European Capitals Meeting and Beat of Berlin
• Hosting of three official JCI courses (Presenter, Trainer and Achieve), plus many members graduating from courses in other locations
• JCI London members taking part in all major national events, including inspiration day, the marketing academy, presidents and deputies day and national convention
• Organisation of the first JCI UK South Leadership Academy with 11 London graduates
• Having entrants in the JCI UK National Public Speaking, Debating and Extempore competitions
• Establishing a new chamber - JCI Ignite London (official launch on 16 February)
• Being awarded five National Awards/Certificates of Merit
• Awarding two senatorships - Tina Strack & Solveig Malvik
• JCI London being 100% efficient!

Thank you to all those who have contributed to and supported the chamber in 2011.  Please do come along and help us celebrate at the Annual Dinner on 3 February: http://jcilondonannualdinner.eventbrite.co.uk/

Want to get involved and make it happen in 2012?  You can find out more at our meet the council event on 17 January:  http://www.jcilondon.org.uk/events/2012-01-17/350-meet-the-2012-council-and-how-to-get-involved/

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It has become a tradition for JCI London to have an event where the current and future council come together with our past presidents and senators. This year a total of 23 past and present members (among them 10 past presidents and 13 senators) convened at Chez Gerard on the Southbank for an evening of great food, company and conversation.

The event is a chance for attendees to exchange knowledge, experience and ideas across the generations. Anyone who is a senator or who has been a president of the chamber will retain a keen interest in our activities and it is great to be able to build relationships and connections, not to mention being able to tap into their wealth of knowledge!

We were lucky to have many esteemed members and senators among us on the night and after hearing from the current council (me) and future council (Deputy President Simon Bucknall), National President elect Solveig Malvik, Past National President Barry Miller and International Vice President Lesley Young also shared their thoughts.

The highlight of the evening for me was the awarding of a senatorship to 2007 JCI London President Tina Strack. A senatorship is a life-long membership of JCI awarded only to those who have made an outstanding contribution in their years of membership. Tina was suitably shocked by, but incredibly deserving of her award.

Tina was instrumental in the reinvigoration of JCI London, taking on the role of president shortly after moving to the UK and having already been president of JCI Vancouver. Using her knowledge of JCI from Vancouver, Tina set up processes to ensure the smooth running of the chamber. She implemented new ideas such as a newsletter and monthly chamber meetings, which gradually built the number of active members. The chamber would not be where it is today without Tina's energy, enthusiasm and team spirit in her year as president.

Thank you to all our past presidents and senators for their continuing support of the chamber and making this year's event such as success!

JCI London Senators

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The last JCI London business visit of the year took a group of dedicated members to a West London Underground depot on a freezing December Friday morning at 8.30am, but boy was it worth it.   Living in West London, I had no idea that there was a huge manufacturing facility just 15 minutes walk from my house.

The work the team do there is simply incredible.  When an ˝emergency˝ occurs somewhere on the network, i.e. something that could cause major delays or line closure, the team at the depot can manufacture a replacement part in just 12 hours, something that would take a commercial company 12 weeks.  The team deals with on average three such emergencies every week!

From the smallest sign to the largest rail junction, they are all manufactured on site.  There were machines for all types of processes (some invented and built on site!) and the skills of the workers there were obviously varied and complex.

Everyone on the tour was left gobsmacked by the fascinating facts about and enormity of the task of taking care of London's tube system.  For example did you know...?

• The London Underground was built by American mobsters in order to launder money.
• There are over 900km of track on the London Underground and each kilometre is walked by a member of the London Underground team checking for faults every 48 hours!
• The majority of day-to-day repairs and maintenance have to be done in a window of just four hours overnight between the last and first trains. This includes the time it takes to walk the engineers and all their equipment to and from the site of repair between stations, often over a mile.

A huge thank you to our guide Dave Banks and Business Director Simon Bucknall for organising such a unique and captivating visit!

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This week we meet Tina Strack, JCI London President 2007 and one of our newest senators.

Why did you join JCI? I joined JCI because a friend from Uni was a member and told me about it. He and I were both members of fraternities at University and he explained it to me as being quite similar so I thought it would be a great way to meet people while developing my leadership skills.

What is the most interesting JCI event you've been to and why? Probably European Conference in 2007. I have never been around so many interesting, friendly people in my life. I remember that you could walk up to any person and just start chatting with them. I highly, highly recommend attending one of these.

What do you enjoy most about being a JCI member? For me, its always been about the people. I have met such lovely people through my time at JCI - people who interest me, who support me, who challenge me, who make me laugh and most importantly, who I enjoy spending time with.

Is there anything you have done as a JCI member that you never would have thought possible before you joined? For me it would be taking on a leadership role. I've been involved with membership organisations all my life - student government, my sorority, clubs at University - and I never really had the courage to take on a leadership role until JCI. For me that aspect of JCI has always been such a strength of the organisation - it gives you a safe place to spread your wings and try things that you might not be able to do in work life. I still can't quite believe that I've managed to be President of two chambers.

What does becoming a senator mean to you? Its still a shock! But its such an honour and most importantly means that I will have a connection to this organisation and its amazing people forever. The funny thing is that on the evening I received my senatorship I had been telling Sarah how difficult it is when you hit 40 and you need to "let go" of JCI. This means I don't have to! I'm really humbled that JCI London felt I deserved this recognition - THANK YOU!

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