Year 2 students from the Faculty of Business of City University of Hong Kong (CityU) have dominated the Young Leadership Development Programme organised by the AIA Foundation this year. Five students claimed three of the four major awards up for grabs, outperforming all other participating local institutions.

Louis Ching Ka-kit, Eman Lam Yi-man, Joe Kwok Lai-yi, Marco Ng Yiu-fung and Candy Tse Fung-ling were selected to join the programme after a careful selection process and interviews at the beginning of the year. They undertook leadership training with participants from other institutions from April to August. The training included workshops focusing on enhancement of interpersonal, communications and leadership skills, social services, outdoor adventures, meetings with established leaders in society and company visits.

Each team from the different institutions had to submit a report after the training session. The report submitted by CityU representatives, a personal financial plan for an individual, received the Best Report-Writing Award. Judges said the report was well written with a clear flow and comprehensive consideration on all the required elements.

The CityU team also received the Most Outstanding Team Award, a goal they had set before training had begun. Their devotion and team work won acclaim from the judges. The award is recognition of their capabilities and good work.

Joe also beat the other participants in the programme and took home the Most Outstanding Young Leader Award. Joe has always been very active in social services. She said her achievement had boosted her self-confidence. She added that she would make good use of the knowledge and experience she had gained from the programme in her study and work.

Joe conceded she had a lot more to work on before she could become a successful leader.

“I met a lot of university students in the programme and reflected on my strengths and weaknesses,” she said. “I also met some accomplished leaders in the programme and, by talking to them, I understood that I had to work even harder to be successful. Both my teammates and I have learnt a lot in this programme.”

The Young Leadership Development Programme is organised by the AIA Foundation. The progarmme has trained more than 300 university students since it started in 1996. It is aimed at developing the problem solving, strategic thinking and team-building abilities of young leaders and providing them with the opportunity to participate in community services that arouse their sense of social awareness.

In addition, Don Chan Yin-pat, Year 3 student of the School of Law and Fan Wing-shan, Year 3 student of the Department of Accountancy, received the AIA Foundation Scholarship in recognition of their academic excellence.