Leadership Ability essay for MasterCard foundation Scholarship

Q: We want to know how you demonstrate your potential for leadership and your ability to give back to your community. Tell us about any positions of leadership or responsibility you have undertaken in the last five years. Please include details of the position you held and what you did individually to make a change.

Answer:

to become an effective leader

I firmly believe Leaders are made not born. My quest to make a positive impact for change started when I took up the position of Provost Marshal of the Peer Education club during my one year compulsory service to Nigeria as a Corps member from July 2015 - April 2016. I was charged with the responsibility of maintaining orderliness at all times during gatherings. Haven received basic training on Peer Education as it concerns the Prevalence of the dreaded HIV/AIDS, I took a bold step to setup a Peer Education club at the school where I did my primary assignment. Interestingly, this club turned out to be the very first of its kind in that school at the time.

I recruited close to 20 pupils from among students, then organized weekly sessions where I educated these adolescents on the HIV/AIDS scourge including ways they can stay safe, I took them through effective communication skills, ways they can be more assertive and good personal hygiene practices. This was my way of giving back to the school community for hosting me during that period of time.

Currently, I serve as the financial secretary of my church's youth ministry called the Catholic Youth Organization of Nigeria. As an advocate of effective human capacity development, one of my key contribution here has been inviting a patron of the organization to take members (who comprise of youths within the 14 - 25 age group) through a mentoring session. The effect of this has been hugely appreciated.

I co-founded the African Energy Advocacy Initiative (AEAI) in 2016. Through this initiative, I and my team are pushing for the availability and ease of accessing cheap, reliable and sustainable alternative energy for the populace in rural areas within Nigeria. This we believe would help in attaining the UN's goal 7 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals by the year 2030. This is the reason I want this scholarship to pursue an MSc in Sustainable Energy to be empowered with the right tools and leadership qualities to become and effective advocate.

Ugbashi, I suggest that you reverse the presentation of your leadership experiences in this essay. You need to reel in the reviewer and make him interested to know more about your leadership skills. So it would be best to start the essay by presenting your most recent leadership undertaking instead. I was impressed to read that you co-founded an initiative in your home country. This is the type of leadership skill that often sells the reviewer on an applicant. This is the strongest part of your essay. Don't bury it at the bottom of the page by presenting your weakest leadership stories first. Those should be buried at the bottom of the page instead. The idea, is to present the idea that you have strong leadership potential within you. That won't be accomplished by the presentation of the weak and less impressive organizational leadership experience that you have had. More importantly, the AEAI clearly shows that you want to give back to your community in a manner that is most effective for your cause. That is what the prompt requires and that is what should be served upfront instead of at the bottom. You can use this essay as is in terms of content. It is the positioning of the paragraphs that need to be altered for maximum effect.

@Holt

I really appreciate your taking time to give an effective feedback, it has been helpful. I will do as you have suggested.

Thank you.