After 10 years of passionate and voluntary service as President of our Foundation Board, Rasheed Abdullah hands over the presidency to Boris Billing. In this blog post, both share about the past decade and give an outlook on what is ahead of us.
Rasheed, when did you first learn about BOOKBRIDGE and what was your motivation back then to engage?
Rasheed: I first came in touch with Carsten from his explorers trip to Mongolia along with few other rover scouts from Germany. I was then in charge of the Office for World Scouting for Asia Pacific in Manila. His idea of BOOKBRIDGE emerged from his Rover Trip experience, to create learning Centres with sufficient books, to meet a growing demand for reading books in the rural areas of Mongolia. My interest than was to support this community project which was very close to Scouting and working with Communities.
When you joined the board as its President back in 2014, BOOKBRIDGE had been active in Mongolia and Cambodia with a few learning centers only. What are you proud of when you look back on the last 10 years?
Rasheed: Since I was in touch with the work from the time of its initial days to the start of BookBridge project and the creation of the Foundation, I was very much familiar with the work for over 6-7 years. Hence when I was asked to join the Board and to take the position as President, the Foundation’s work was not new to me. However, frankly speaking, I was still hesitant as I was doing a full time job. But on the trust and confidence from Carsten, I took up the position and I believe I was able to be of good service and to make more contribution after I fully retired in 2018. Although I came in with mixed feelings, and the three key project areas being in Asia, I am happy that I was able to contribute in terms of Asian experiences and my Scouting work in those countries, particularly in terms of Country co-ordination, being my specific BookBridge portfolio in addition to being its President. The ten years in the Board and all what was achieved or accomplished, including the hard times during Covid, was surely a collective effort of the full board. I cannot attribute of my own efforts and I must acknowledge the understanding of everyone in all what we did or attempted including the major changes we brought in after the Covid including the organizational structure, particularly to meet the need of the day.
What are the major learnings you take away from your time as president, Rasheed? What should your successor Boris know?
Rasheed: The best learning that I carry back is the respect and co-operation that was extended to me by everyone although I was the only Asian sitting in the Board as a full member. There was give and take and agreeing to the majority views quickly rather than sticking one’s own ideas and opinion. That made all discussions easy and to arrive conclusions fast. There was complete harmony and team work and keeping to the spirit BOOKBRIDGE vision and mission.
Boris, when did you first learn about BOOKBRIDGE and what was your motivation back then to engage?
Boris: I heard about BOOKBRIDGE from a friend. Upon meeting Carsten, I really liked the idea to support social entrepreneurs whilst making a leadership development program out of it.
In 2024, you take over the Presidency of our Foundation Board from Rasheed. How do you imagine the future of BOOKBRIDGE and what contribution do you want to make towards it?
Boris: I see very positively into the future, especially looking at the impact we create. We have the opportunity to make a big impact at a high quality level with the means and resources we have. On the one hand, we will continue to develop social enterprises whilst empowering talents and leaders to act as change makers.
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