bantu Co-Founder earns Professional Fellowship from U.S. State Department
Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative — Professional Fellows Program
On May 30, 2019, The United States Department of State awarded Professional Fellowships to participants who completed the Spring 2019 Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative-Professional Fellows Program (YSEALI-PFP).
Out of thousands of applicants in Southeast Asia, Janelle Lee, co-founder of bantu, was selected to join over 200 young professionals from all over the world for a fully-funded and individually tailored professional exchange in the United States (US) in the theme of Civic Engagement.
Janelle was placed in Boise, Idaho to learn from Jitasa, the US’ first and largest national accounting and bookkeeping services provider dedicated solely to the non-profit sector. Jitasa is a B-Corp certified company committed to serving only non-profits and doing good business.
During the tenure of her three-week fellowship, she had the opportunity of learning first hand on operating a company with 200 employees from CEO Jeff Russell and the various VPs at Jitasa, from sales, marketing, accounts and HR.
Janelle even had the utmost privilege of being mentored by Jitasa’s Board Chairman, Mr. Alexander Toeldte, who is the former President, CEO and Director of Boise Inc. ($2 billion company) and former chairman of the board of directors of the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA).
After the three week fellowship, Janelle attended the Professional Fellows Congress held in Washington, D.C., to meet over 200 other fellows from all around the world. The three-day event focused on professional development, leadership, problem solving, and networking.
Together with 4 other Singaporean delegates from the Land Transport Authority of Singapore, NTUC, and Attorney-General’s Chambers, they made a courtesy call to Singapore Ambassador to the U.S. Ashok Kumar Mirpuri at the Singapore Embassy in Washington D.C. Several issues were discussed, such as the US-China Trade War, Singapore’s tourism boom and their individual takeaways from the program.
In our next blog post, Janelle will be sharing about her personal takeaways and experiences, so keep your eyes peeled for that!
The Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative-Professional Fellows Program is a two-way, global exchange program designed to promote mutual understanding, enhance leadership and professional skills, as well as build lasting, sustainable partnerships between mid-level emerging leaders from foreign countries and the United States. The Professional Fellows Program brings emerging leaders from around the world to the United States for intensive five-to-six week fellowships designed to broaden their professional skills and expertise. (source)
