Visit of the school IMGH ©Talent Developer
Sunday May 28 is here and I’m getting ready to leave for Abidjan.
My agenda is packed! During my stay in Abidjan, I have the opportunity to meet the Consul, Mr. Philippe Collin, NGOs, schools, hospitality professionals, but above all, passionate students!
As soon as I arrived, it was 37°C and 90% humidity. Uff! It’s hot. I may be Spanish, but it’s really hot.
Monsieur Siahe came to welcome me at the airport – “That’s real Ivorian hospitality!
The first school to place its students with us was IMGH, and its director, Madame Bro.
We have collaborated with Aryline Consulting and Mr. Siahe since the beginning of the Talent Developer adventure.
Madame Bro is a visionary in her country when it comes to the hotel industry, and she told us that “the hotel industry is a profession, and a profession must be learned”.
Indeed, before anyone else, Madame Bro decided to train students in the operational side of the hotel business.
Her students dream of coming to France for a work placement. This is hardly surprising since many students from all over the world would like to come to France, whether in the hotel or culinary fields. I had the opportunity to talk to the students about the evolution of the hotel industry in Europe. They shared with me their anxieties, their difficulties, but also their passions.
Visit of the school IMGH©Talent Developer
Madame Bro and Estrella ©Talent Developer
During my visit to IMGH, I was lucky enough to be accompanied by Yves Armel Lagou, a student from the school, who came to France for his 6-month F&B internship. He went on to secure a permanent employment contract at his place of internship.
One of the highlights of the trip was my meeting with the Consul General of France in Abidjan, Monsieur Philippe Collin. I explained to Mr. Collin the support and placement work that Talent Developer puts in place for students from all over the world. The Consul found the initiative very interesting and encouraged us to pursue it.
Estrella and Armel ©Talent Developer
Estrella and Monsieur Siahe ©Talent Developer
We also had the chance to meet the REALIC NGO team. Florentine Djiro, the president told us – “We all have the same fight, to bring young people here for training and enabling them to develop their skills, then open doors for them in interesting jobs back in Côte d’Ivoire.” – “Our aim is to train young people in Côte d’Ivoire, offer them a professional internship in France, and then offer them an interesting job in Côte d’Ivoire so that they come back.”.
Thank you all for the great time you gave me in your beautiful country!
Back in France, we once again welcomed students from the SEG, Vagatop and Pyramides schools, who had arrived from Tunisia, Switzerland and Indonesia. We were able to get some of our students together for a picnic, in the magnificent Tuileries Gardens, just across the road from the Talent Developer office. Unfortunately, we weren’t all there, as some of our students work evenings. It was a great time!
The students were able to talk, laugh, share and meet new people. Syra said to us, “So, when are we going to do the next one? Yes, of course there will be a next one! We’d like to thank Madame Coulibali of the Ivory Coast Embassy in France for giving us the opportunity to meet Madame Diarrassouba, Deputy Head of the Students and Scientific Cooperation Department. It’s not only our students from Côte d’Ivoire who enjoyed talking to Ms. Diarrassouba. I really enjoyed our meeting, and I’d like to thank you all very much for coming.
Picnic with the students ©Talent Developer
Before leaving this blog, I’d like to congratulate the two Talent Developer apprentices, Zeina and Dina, on their academic success and professional development. Without them, none of these projects would have been possible. Thank you all very much!
As these two months draw to a close, we’re looking forward to a welcome vacation, but we’ll be back soon with new adventures from Talent Developer.
Article written by Talent Developer