Some leaders rose to prominence as a result of their ability to maintain hope in the face of adversity and go on to accomplish feats so outstanding that people still hold them in high regard decades after their passing. While others remained true to their principles and demonstrated in support of others’ rights, doing so even when doing so put their own freedom—not to mention their lives—in danger.
However, some leaders have a natural ability to innovate, inspire, and convince others to take significant action that will ultimately alter the world, making them really inspirational and well-respected. One such inspiring leader is Anne Rajasaikaran. She serves as Chief Executive Officer of the Edumaax Group of Companies, which is the parent company of the Imperium International College, St. John’s International School, and Pusat Tuisyen Kasturi.
She is also the Principal Officer of Budimas Charitable Foundation, an NGO that supports impoverished children in Malaysia, and has more than 15 years of expertise in communications and fundraising. She has previously managed a public trust with a 25-year history.
Imperium International College
With a focus on growing its education industry, MAA Group powers Imperium International College. The driving force behind Imperium International College is its dedication to making sure that its students have access to top-notch instruction and the greatest job possibilities in all industries. The institution offers a wide range of training programs, including diploma, certificate, and degree programs with American and UK degrees.
Imperium International College has merged outdoor and indoor classroom experiences in order to increase the number of students who engage in interactive hybrid learning. It thinks that’s the route Imperium would want to go to make it more interactive: trips to industries, offices under courses, and audits of businesses.
To make education more relevant post-COVID, the college emphasizes making learning more exciting and having a higher percentage of graduates and students who actually enjoy practicing what they studied. That’s how Imperium International College is revolutionizing education. It is planning to make it as integrated as possible. The college is making it about the student rather than profiting for just business purposes.
Imperium International College has hybrid and face-to-face teaching processes. Its framework and procedures are well maintained, and the teams keep up with students’ expectations by interacting with them. Imperium International College caters to the reasonable expectations of students.
Leadership Philosophy
Anne is personable and has a flat leadership style. She prefers to be direct and truthful, and she thinks that everyone has a voice, and regardless of their level, they are free to suggest or express their ideas. She holds that no thought is too small and that everyone can offer something. When she hears from the experiences and viewpoint of her employees, she believes that she derives something valuable from them. Anne has a knack for relating to people and can talk about issues that concern employees. She says, “You could only speak about poverty to people who have experienced it or struggled with it in their lives rather than people who have not experienced poverty, you learn about their hardships or difficulties (e.g., for someone who has only commuted using the bus or taken a loan to study) so that they can tell me what it really feels like or what they really want. You ask the right questions to the right people.”
Words for Young Education Leaders
Anne met many young people who had no inspiration and were incredibly young, she wanted to change that. When she graduated from college, she had big plans to transform the world. To motivate students: they lead wonderful lives and are capable of so much more. “Please don’t believe you are insignificant,” she urges, “because you are the future.” Inspiring kids and igniting their enthusiasm for achievement is Anne’s main motivation.
Since she has been employed by the Foundation for over ten years, Anne has come to truly appreciate compassion and grief. It is heartbreaking to watch what children experience and how society views them; they are frequently wrongly accused of wrongdoing and penalized for it. She has felt a certain joy watching a child speak English for the first time in two years. It’s a feeling like no other.
With a strong communications, public relations, and advertising background, Anne has made it her goal to let more Malaysians know about this plight and fight for this cause. The more people know, the more people will react. She recalls, “It is doing something that I had no idea about. It was a big risk, I had to work extra hard, take as many courses as possible, study the strategies, and the numbers, seek a mentor and gain knowledge in the industry, and speak to people to learn about their experiences because I had no experience in it and neither was I a professional that time.”
One of the most important things Anne has learn from the children is that- “they are who we make them to be.” Anne’s advice for all the education leaders and visionaries is:
- You must learn it and emulate successful people who are seasoned with being in such a position.
- Never give up even, keep doing what you are doing, even if you don’t see the fruit of the seed you sow grow in a short time.
- Be patient, it will take time as the façade of education is changing rapidly. Evolve and grow along with the ideas that as it evolves. Understand and learn more about how it evolves.
- Don’t stop learning, don’t feel things are not relevant as there is an opportunity everywhere, and join a lot of forums and unique groups who are like-minded as you are to keep your fire growing.
Heading To Achieving Greatest Potential
Since Anne personally experienced the hardships of Malaysia’s disadvantaged children, I have frequently pondered why their lives are so difficult and dissimilar from ours. It is Anne’s responsibility to reassure them that there is a way out of this situation and a course of action they can take. Imperium is collaborating with The Budimas Charitable Organization to offer scholarships to worthy students as part of its commitment to deliver the highest quality education and training for a diverse group of students. Since taking over, Imperium has also awarded outstanding achievers, athletes, and many others with scholarships totalling to RM2 million. Anne shares, “We did our SDG activities, we give out many scholarships for the underprivileged and we are working on more. For now, we would like to keep the foundation strong on what we have started.”
She and her team at the Budimas Charitable Foundation have frequently worked hard to teach these underprivileged children survival skills rather than providing them with temporary assistance. Supporting many charitable homes via public funding’s the team made it its mission to let them know about their contribution and where it goes to. She says, “We also do constant updates about the children under our care.”
According to Anne, in the next 5 years, Imperium International College is going to be successful in bringing in more courses, bringing in more relevant courses, and growing its international and local students to obtain university college status alongside having more campuses.
Written by Steve Sanchez.
