Volunteer Spotlight: Elli Safari
By Ambitious.Africa
What inspired you to join Ambitious.Africa?
It was in a webinar arranged by Ambitious Africa in startup school of Haaga-Helia UAS. that I got to know the organization. The way the webinar was conducted and the topics that were presented inspired me, and after some more research, I knew I wanted to be a part of AA. At first, I joined the finance team, and a few months later I became mainly responsible for the budgeting. Meanwhile, I participated in some other duties such as grant writing, and in collaboration with Women’s Bank, we arranged the webinar on Financial Literacy, which was aimed to help young women learn about financial management and wealth building.
Why is Ambitious.Africa's vision/work important to you?
I like the idea of Ambitious Africa, which is to bring people from different areas of the world together to work together and learn from each other and be part of the change we all would like to see. So, here we are, active members of the societies trying to make a better and more sustainable future.
In your role as Head of Budgeting, what were some of the challenges?
Arranging meetings was one of our biggest challenges! Firstly, because finding suitable times for all participants was not easy, considering that we were working from different countries with different time zones. Although with the friendly and flexible attitude of members we were always able to overcome this problem. Secondly, the strong internet connection is not necessarily available everywhere, and this occasionally made things very hard for us.
Key Learnings:
During this time, I have gained a great hands-on experience in finance in an international organization. I have been able to work with real data and carry out tasks related to both internal and external accounting, and I have also got to know many different professional tools and softwares. Another important learning for me was that I became familiar with Finnish laws and regulations, particularly those related to nonprofit organizations.
What experience(s) were most memorable?
Collaboration with many amazing people from different countries and learning from them have been some of my most memorable experiences. Moreover, during this time I got a better picture about the real Africa, the African’s cultures and the whole potential existing in this continent - especially the educated and talented young people, a picture that is much bigger and brighter than what is portrayed in the media. On a more personal level, I am very happy that I have been able to expand my own network as well. These are probably my most important takeaways so far from working in Ambitious Africa.
Elli Safari is currently the Head of Budgeting at Ambitious.Africa.
