From a young entrepreneur to a CEO of a global company, from an LC member to a founder of an AIESEC country, from Australia to Colombia - find all those amazing stories our alumni share! You may find similar experiences, or some inspiration for the future Do you have an interesting story about AIESEC Alumni that you would love to share? Tell us about it! Uwe Doerken : My life in AIESEC I joined AIESEC in 1981, within four weeks of starting my business studies at St. Gall University in Switzerland. After some work on projects, my first management challenge was to revitalize the local committee as its LCP. We succeeded in doubling the number of traineeships and the budget. Read more... ................................................................................................................................................... Carey Benn : AIESEC and Me - an expose of my serious side I walked down the mobile staircase onto the tarmac of the Kenyan International Airport with some trepidation and a complete lack of expectations. 48 hours earlier I had boarded a plane to begin an adventure into the 'wild African unknown' as a participant on the AIESEC Exchange program. This journey begun in 1996. Read more... ................................................................................................................................................... Hans Maerki : Wanted: An Intercultural Experience In between flying to the Middle East for a royal meeting with the Sheiks and a business chat with Mr. Schroeder of Germany, AIESEC managed to catch hold of Mr. Maerki. Today Mr. Maerki is the Chairman of the board of IBM in Europe, Middle East and Africa, thereby heading a USD $28 billion business with more than 106, 000 employees in 124 countries around the globe. His long road to success includes three years spent with AIESEC, first in Switzerland and then one year with AIESEC International. Read more... ................................................................................................................................................... Kate Larsen : The Final Frontier, My time in China California’s Silicon Valley seems a world away from China, where I lived for two years building our AIESEC, non-profit, start up operation. The Silicon Valley streets are quiet while cars and guzzling SUV’s cram the highways. Beijing streets are busy with people walking everywhere from early until late. In Beijing many new restaurants and shopping centers lie empty. Despite the dot-com crash and recession, Silicon Valley shopping centers and restaurants are packed and one often waits to get a table. Read more... ................................................................................................................................................... Colleen Bowker : Why AIESEC shaped my life When I joined AIESEC in 1991 at a small university in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, my intentions were far from going on a traineeship. But many things happened during the course of my 6-year involvement.... Read more... ................................................................................................................................................... Heinz Albrecht : The Culture of Business From the SwissAir skies to the Buchberg vines: Heinz Albrecht Meet Mr. Heinz Albrecht. The man who negotiated several crucial agreements between SwissAir and Crossair and retired in 1997 as the Vice President of SwissAir, after spending 34 years with this world-renowned company. We met him at his country home in Buchberg, where he has also been Deputy President of the community council for the last 12 years. Read more... ................................................................................................................................................... Ted Kouri : AIESEC – The Entrepreneurial Spark I often get asked, “Why did you decide to start your own business?” There’s the long answer about a backpacking trip through Europe with my eventual business partner (also a former AIESECer), and the short answer about being too naïve to know any better. However, the real reason stems from my experience with AIESEC. Read more... ................................................................................................................................................... Ricardo Trujillo : The Leadership School I define myself as a person with perseverance, who struggles, simple and most of all a leader – and a good part of what I have is owed to AIESEC.... What I am most grateful to AIESEC is its great virtue of giving us a vision that there is a world far beyond ours! Read more... ................................................................................................................................................... Masato Kaneko : The First President told Us... The moment of foundation is the most impressive memory, according to Masato. It was July 30th, 1962 when members from four Universities got together, got themselves titles and finally, “ began” AIESEC! Read more... ................................................................................................................................................... Petteri Suckman: We are set to do great things in life... This conference was very successful because the 50 of us were able to connect with each other. In the Closing Plenary we had grown-up men crying because they didn’t want to go home. Read more... ................................................................................................................................................... |
