Igniting The SPARK

(Above: Present at the press conference were (from left) ECM Libra Foundation chairman Datuk Seri Kalimullah Masheerul Hassan, Leaderonomics CEO Roshan Thiran, and Epsom College Malaysia headmaster Martin George.)

Organisations join hands for Malaysian youth

ECM Libra Foundation, Leaderonomics and Epsom College in Malaysia partner together to run a leadership programme called SPARK Leadership Programme (SPARK) for under-privileged Malaysian youth across the country.

The partnership was announced at a press conference on Oct 14, 2014 by ECM Libra Foundation chairman Datuk Seri Kalimullah bin Masheerul Hassan, the Leaderonomics CEO Roshan Thiran, and Martin George the headmaster of Epsom College Malaysia.

“A lot of kids need to be inspired, to try to be greater, to achieve things in life,” said Datuk Seri Kalimullah during the press conference.

Developed by Leaderonomics, the programme will be experiential in nature. This includes projects, game-based learning, field trips, sports activities, engagement sessions, and leadership sharing by prominent Malaysian leaders, including Tan Sri Tony Fernandes of AirAsia. There are numerous growth and development opportunities for the participants.

SPARK aims to achieve the following:

• to provide an opportunity to deserving students from all over the country to discover their true leadership potential
• to enable Malaysian youth to learn and practise leadership
• to inspire future leaders amongst Malaysian youth by challenging them to apply their newly learnt leadership skills to community projects that will make a difference in their communities
• to encourage the active sharing of ideas on issues and challenges of shared concern and interest, and work on impacting their community with the guidance of selected mentors

LEAD Challenge

The LEAD Challenge will be an integral part of the leadership programme. Here, the participants will be divided into teams, with each team allocated a sum of cash to design, develop, and execute a live community project during the duration of the programme.

This challenge is specially designed to ensure that participants can quickly apply the things they have learnt throughout the programme, and are able to integrate these skills and principles into their personal leadership journey.

SPARK aims to help the participants develop their attitude, self-awareness, critical and creative thinking, communication, and confidence through the LEAD Challenge.

“How do we ignite a spark in these children so that they can go out and make a difference in the community that they live in? That is what SPARK is about,” said Thiran.

George added that throughout the duration of this programme, the participants will be living together as a community in the boarding houses of the Epsom College Malaysia.

Epsom College has a state-of-the-art premise, with sports facilities, a swimming pool, a dance studio, and a fitness centre.

This is where they will learn to live together and get along with people from different backgrounds and also learn to stretch their own expectations through developing skills, communicating and solving problems together.

Through SPARK, these three partners aim to show children that it is possible for them to achieve great things in life.

“Children just need someone to believe in them.” – Martin George

The SPARK Leadership Programme will run from Dec 14–23, 2014 at Epsom College Malaysia. The programme will be open to 100 participants, composed of Malaysian youth aged 13–16, selected from all over Malaysia. Participants of SPARK will be fully sponsored. For more information on SPARK, you may contact Marcus Lim at marcus.lim@leaderonomics.com

First published in English daily The Star, Malaysia, 18 October 2014