So, what is WYBLP all about?
Westford Youth Business Leadership Program (YBLP) is an initiative brought in by WUC to motivate students to engage in a prototype future, understand their present, and uncover as well as discover a sense of purpose, through the learning and sharing experiences for the future by the real-world leaders that come in our program. This highly interactive 4-weeks leadership course is tailored to address the fourth industrial revolution requirements that are needed by companies in today’s world.
Personal Branding, Digital ToolKit, Decoding Entrepreneurship, and Building Leadership are the current hot topics that will be discussed at length by well-renowned speakers globally from the industry. Giving students a platform to network and learn from the game-changers themselves.
Since today’s generation is passion-driven, the insights and learnings from this program would help students make rightful decisions for their career path and reduce the anxiety of the parents too. Since the program is going to be online, parents can also witness the learnings of their child, and this alone provides a sense of relief to the parents to understand the knowledge their child is gaining.
Thus, WYBLP is carefully tailored and researched, keeping in mind the aspirations and inspirations of the youth today. The pandemic has provided multiple challenges of communication that the young graduates have been deprived of worldwide, therefore, with the amalgamation of Skill-Based activities, collaborative learning, and blended social interaction, this program has covered that gap. Students learn to engage with each other worldwide and get a sneak peek at what the Westford family attracts at a global level.
Elaboration on the Topics Covered in this Program
Personal Branding: Speakers from various fields join us to provide us with an understanding of ourselves, Personal Branding is not just a topic, but a week-long journey that a student goes through and understands as well as develops themselves through the process.
To be a leader, one must have emotional intelligence and for that to intervene, one must first understand themselves, and so the first week of leadership does, just that. Helps you discover yourself.
Personal Branding is the hashtag you give to yourself. It is the knowledge you have about your interpersonal and intrapersonal skills and how you enhance them. If you want this hashtag to go viral, you need to learn the tricks of the game and be the change you wish to see in yourself.
No longer is the term “Branding” limited to just businesses, it has now become an individual phenomenon.
Melanie LaPointe, a Learning & Development Specialist in DE&I | Advocate of SDG5 | CIPD L5 L&D and a speaker that came in our WYBLP session to enlighten students had also shared her experience and said:
“I was a part of Westford University College’s Youth Business Leadership Program for which I contributed as a Panelist for the Wellbeing & Work-Life balance discussion. I also delivered a Masterclass on Identifying one’s strengths, for which students from around the world connected, it was rather thrilling. I was highly impressed by the quality of comments and questions asked by the students, which to me testified to their brilliant minds and great determination to make a successful career for themselves. It was a real privilege to connect with youth globally, as they represent the world of work of tomorrow. I cherish opportunities to support the younger generations in making choices for an impactful career and better world for all. They are our hope, and we must listen to and support them. Thank you, Westford University College, for having me, it was a real honor.’’
Digital Toolkit is a way for individuals to understand their presence in the marketing, media, and communications world. With the support of the digital toolkit, we can bring sensible awareness among the youth and tailor their minds to empower themselves rather than destroy themselves by using social media or many such platforms by changing their perceptions and their mindset.
Digital ToolKit week will provide a platform for the youth to understand the dynamics of social media and how it plays a key role in shaping and framing one’s identity. Flo Akinbiyi’s experience coming as a speaker and talking to our students sounded like this "I was a part of Westford University College's Youth Business Leadership Program where they connected with experts in various fields from all over the world to give their students the best possible learning experience and to prepare them for the future. Not only did I enjoy being a part of the journey, but also realizing the gap Westford was trying to cover for students from all over the world was amazing. Something, which was unknown to even me. Glad that I could be a part of such a phenomenal program"
De-Coding Entrepreneurship is a week wherein we understand how entrepreneurs of tomorrow are supposed to act, react and enact themselves to ace their life.
De-Coding Entrepreneurship focuses on understanding the fundamentals of being an entrepreneur, the vision for opportunities, connecting and pitching investments, and developing business models that work in the real world. Further, you will get a real-life experience story from the businessmen themselves. The learnings received would encourage students to apply this knowledge when thinking of launching their entrepreneurial start-up. These are unforgettable life lessons that will be remembered forever. A Swiss Entrepreneur/Leader in this field, Matteo Boffa, who came as a speaker for the students had to say this to WUC "I was a part of Westford University College's Youth Business Leadership Program where I had the opportunity to present some of the startups that I have founded or financed in the last 5 years. I was able to perceive an incredible interest on the part of the young students and above all their curiosity in trying to understand how a business with a positive environmental and social impact can also be sustainable from a financial point of view. I am happy to have been able to contribute to this session and I hope my experience has motivated young minds to pursue a career or entrepreneurial path that can create a greener and better future for all".
Leadership Launchpad is the final week, wherein you are already prepared to run the show. This week gets you into networking mode, makes you aware of how to approach situations, and gives you the torch to shine like a diamond.
Our Leadership Launchpad week will get you introduced to the world’s leaders and their inspiring journeys. Leadership Launchpad is your rocket to acing the Leaderboard. It will help you in understanding the characteristics of a true leader and how, if you join Westford, you will be provided with immense opportunities to shine out and gain that confidence to become a leader. Vishal Menon, Entrepreneur, and a speaker that came for YBLP had to say this, “I was a part of Westford University College's Youth Business Leadership Program where I had the incredible opportunity to share my experience with a motivated group of students. As an entrepreneur, I'm always excited to share my mistakes and learnings with the next gen with the hope for them to have a better journey and build better careers and companies. The students from Westford are very engaged, eager to learn, and curious. They were passionate about learning which excited me even more. The conversations we had were quite insightful and fun. I highly recommend the program to both speakers and students alike.
Youth Business Leadership Program was one of the first experiences I had with Westford University College and to be honest, I wasn’t very keen on attending the lectures but, from the first day I was glued to the program. I learned so much, from insights into the business world to getting connected with many young entrepreneurs and their stories, which truly inspired me, making me grow more in life and be like them. YBLP was a game-changer for me and let me just reiterate, that this program wasn’t just all business lectures, every day was filled with new activities, new projects, and new learnings of life! I can’t thank Westford University College enough for bringing this initiative for us students, to really open doors for discovering the future for us. Vishal Menon, Entrepreneur, and a speaker that came for YBLP had to say this, “I was a part of Westford University College's Youth Business Leadership Program where I had the incredible opportunity to share my experience with a motivated group of students. As an entrepreneur, I'm always excited to share my mistakes and learnings with the next gen with the hope for them to have a better journey and build better careers and companies. The students from Westford are very engaged, eager to learn, and curious. They were passionate about learning which excited me even more. The conversations we had were quite insightful and fun. I highly recommend the program to both speakers and students alike.
Registering for the Youth Business leadership Program at Westford was truly one of my best decisions. A beautifully crafted program with corporate speakers around the globe is what makes YBLP so unique, in only 4 weeks the program helped me to peek deeper into myself as an individual and understand myself better. Not only did I learn a lot from YBLP, but I also received an 80% scholarship which was a cherry on top of the cake!
Sahil Dewani
BA (Hons) Business with Finance, LJMU
Registering for the Youth Business leadership Program at Westford was truly one of my best decisions. A beautifully crafted program with corporate speakers around the globe is what makes YBLP so unique, in only 4 weeks the program helped me to peek deeper into myself as an individual and understand myself better. Not only did I learn a lot from YBLP, but I also received an 80% scholarship which was a cherry on top of the cake!
Rosalyn Flory
BA (Hons) Business with Finance, LJMU
Such is the experience of not just the students but also the speakers that would like to come again and again to reach out to the youth of today and enlighten them on their journey to reach their goals.
So, what are you waiting for? Reach out to us, whether you would like to come as a speaker or would like your kids to join the program. Feel free to visit our website or contact us at yblp@westford.org.uk
Alexandra Datchanamourty
YBLP Student
