“Strength lies in differences, not in similarities,” Stephen Covey once said.

Diversity, if well managed and properly used, can be a powerful tool. Understanding this, the Young Expert Programmes Bureau has made diversity the core of its programmes. Twenty-one Young Experts from different countries including India, Kenya, Laos, Liberia, Mali, Mozambique, Peru, The Netherlands and Uganda, all made it to the second year of training of Batch 25. After having its first year of online training and coaching sessions, this was the first time the full batch was meeting in person. On the day of the kickoff, the room was filled with smiles and laughter. We all walked around the room greeting one another as we tried to catch up on activities of the past year.

The first week of the training was focused on Personal Development. In a fun and interactive way, supported by our trainers, we reflected on our MBTI personality types and the goals we had developed for ourselves in the first year. In one-on-one peer interviews and later as a group, we also discussed the successes and challenges we faced achieving those goals. For many of us, reflecting on our successes was unusual – we are used to focusing on our failures instead. But that was the goal of the exercise; reminding us to count our successes too.

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In the following weeks we had several other interactive training sessions that covered topics like Cross-Cultural Collaboration, Putting Your Strengths to Work, Communication, Leadership, Managing Without Power and Entrepreneurship in Practice.

The programme lasted three weeks and although it was intense and sometimes overwhelming, each session was educational, interactive and fun. The trainers did their best to fit the sessions to our needs and this was quite different from what I'm used to. Where I'm from, instructors rarely adjust lesson plans to fit the students' needs, instead, it's more about the instructors' needs. But this was a different approach that was designed specifically to help us flourish and we did that as a team. For me, that was the highlight of the training – the bond we formed as a batch. Holland somehow became familiar. 

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During my first weekend I also had the pleasure of meeting Fleur Engelberts, Program Director at Startupbootcamp and Asceline Groot, Community Manager at ImpactCity. Emergi’s relationship with both organizations began when we were chosen as one of the ten startups to participate in the ImpactCity Startupbootcamp Accelerator Programme in March of last year. The programme itself was an amazing one, and even though it has ended, both organizations are still very supportive. After several online meetings, when I finally met Fleur in person, I was greeted with a warm hug and a hot cup of tea. Still highly interested, she then asked about Emergi and the progress we have made, and after listening, quickly offered her support and some suggestions on how we could test some assumptions. A much appreciated value indeed. 

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I also found it remarkable how passionate Asceline is about climate action. We spoke about innovation and how important it is for startups to have the right environment to grow. Amazingly, this is what both ImpactCity and Startupbootcamp provide for startups and it was an honor to have visited both organizations and experienced the warmth and support of their communities. 

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Elvis T. Thomas was in the Netherlands as a part of YEP (Young Expert’s Programme) Return Training in the Netherlands for batch number 25.

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