Scholarship / The Less Resources, The More Networking - this is exactly how I developed a strong networking skills [2]

Chevening Networking Question

I believe that the less resources you have, the more you acquire networking skills in the process of achieving something. This is exactly how I developed a strong networking skills. It started with talking to people in my home town who can help me and my voluntary team. I had to listen to them and bring up the positive topics in discussions. That helped me build a trustful relationship with them and receive positive reactions from them. They're helping us till now to secure that food supplies for about 40 families in need.

In 2013 I was working as a sales representative in resorts and my job was about to invite as much as possible of foreigners to our company exhibition in Sharm El Sheikh. I had no selling skills or even know how to speak any language but Arabic. It took me a while just talking with different nationalities of tourists and listening to them. After less than 45 days, I started to speak English, Russian and Italian just by dealing with people from that countries and studying after work. My leads increased and also my conversion rate. I learned a lot through dealing with different cultures. I learned how to find the shared values that makes a solid ground we both can stand on and how to interact with others in a short time and convert this relation into touchable outcome.

In my current occupation. First situation, I was attending Hace hotel expo in Egypt. The main target was to build relations with the exhibitors and offer them our online platform. What helped me a lot is that I was well prepared. I attended for 4 days talking and discussing the needs and listening to the ambitions of these exhibitors. Finally, I've found something in common which is the future. After two months of negotiations and direct contact, the 185 exhibitors of Hace expo has signed up contracts with us. This networking experience taught me to be patient to get the best results. I had the chance to add value in my position. And helped me to gain credibility between the team.

The second situation was that we were facing a problem with marketing agencies who try to contact our clients to sell them their services. I have found that we can transform this into a win-win situation. The plan was to start communicating with these agencies and offering them our clients who need their services in exchange for, they will sell our service as a part of their package they're offering to their clients. That actually was such a breakthrough solution and we could make partnerships with 9 agencies.

That networking experience was so special because it accelerated our growth and was such a pain killer.

I am aiming to maturate my networking skills by joining the Chevening community. I am enthusiastic to join The Scholar Events Competition to build long-lasting relations with my fellows and use it in Egypt as soon as I get back.

Scholarship / I have practiced different levels of leadership during the last 8 years and in different channels. [3]

Please help me reviewing this, Holt. ASAP

Leadership and Influence - Chevening Scholarship Question

I have practiced different levels of leadership during the last 8 years and in different channels. It all started in my home town when I was 18, I joined a voluntary team securing amounts of food supplies for elderly people who have no jobs. The team collapsed for many reasons but my feeling of responsibility was catalyzed. I kept securing more food supplies, made a list of people in need and made a simple data base. I started to gather team members back and it was my first time to deal with conflicts and different ideas. I tried to gather them all around one purpose and actually it worked. I had the chance to lead them again and make roles and tasks clear for everyone. That helped us last till the present. This was when I developed a real sense of responsibility towards society and practiced my first influencing action.

I have been working for more than 9 part-time Jobs during my undergraduate period. That gave me a high sense of commitment. I noticed that many students has no chance to attend in college daily or even weekly for reasons related to their social conditions. First, I did a survey on the most critical areas in Ash Sharqia. I started to gather a team of 4 students and we talked with students who live in those areas and able to supply them by study materials. Finally we formed a team who delivers study materials for these students. We helped over 80 students and I secured part-time jobs for 12 of them. My biggest motivation then was to let no one down because these problems lead to non-affiliation that also leads to bigger problems of crime, social violence and maybe terrorism.

Fourteen months ago, in the company I work for now as an Operations Manager, our figures weren't satisfactory. We were losing good calibers and literally there was no income for two months. I began to gather data from all sections and I have studied every single detail for two weeks. I put a plan to change these statistics into positive ones. First, I started to hire 3 new employees in different positions and trained them myself. I gathered a team consisting of the heads of each sectors and we started together to implement some changes. I put growth rate target and divided that target into small targets to make them feel that our targets are achievable. Week after week, I kept motivating and selling them the future. After one month of hard work, figures started to transform positively. We improved our growth rate and all employees contributed to this tremendous improvement. This is my best mature engaging professional experience with leadership. It granted me transformational leadership mindset I will carry forward towards any endeavor.