KUCHING: Newly appointed Business Events Sarawak (BESarawak) chief executive officer (CEO) Amelia Roziman always encourages her team members to step beyond their comfort zone in order to gain as much experience as they can, as this is what has led her to where she is today.
She said if a person focused on only doing tasks within their scope, they would not have the opportunity to gain more experience in other areas.
Sharing her experience of working with the organisation, she said she was one of the pioneers, having started as a sales coordinator back in 2006 when BESarawak was still known as the Sarawak Convention Bureau (SCB).
“I started as a sales coordinator, which is one of the lowest positions on the organisation chart.
“If I had just stuck to my role of sales coordinator with the view that my job is just to assist the manager, answer calls, key in data, reply emails, and carry out office work, then I wouldn’t be where I am today,” she said in an exclusive interview on Friday (Aug 6).
Instead, she said she had gone the extra mile by revamping the entire branding of SCB back then.
“In addition to sales, I willingly did bidding work, research, and I looked into management as well — because I wanted to learn,” she said.
As such, Amelia said now that she was in a higher position in the organisation, she knew exactly how things worked as she had experienced it first-hand.
“Some of my team members who are also pioneers are the same as well. We were so lucky because our former CEO, an Australian woman, had a very different mentality.
“We had the opportunity to be anything we wanted to be. At the same time, we did not forget our job — we still did that while also taking up many other things,” she said.
Aside from experience, she said she also valued the improvement of skills, adding that BESarawak encouraged and supported their employees in being certified internationally.
For instance, she said employees and industry partners were encouraged to gain Digital Event Strategist (DES) certification from the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA), which is based in USA and is widely recognised.
“There is also the Certified Incentive Specialist certification. This year, we have about 26 of our team members and industry partners taking it — the highest number in Malaysia,” she said.
Amelia also emphasised the importance of attitude and teamwork.
She said people may have highs and lows in a day, but their attitude had to remain positive. She said people needed to look at things from a different perspective and look forward.
On teamwork, she said this was important not just in BESarawak but with industry partners and others as well.
“No matter how good you are with your skills and no matter how much experience you have, if you have a bad attitude and you are not a team player, it will not work.
“We live in an era where it is not about being on our own. It’s about forging collaboration with the business events industry or non-business events industry,” she said.
