Hi, I am Ahmed,
My name is Ahmed Ghani, at the time of the writing of this text I am 21 years old and one year away from completing a master’s degree in industrial engineering at INSA Lyon in France. I love practicing all kind of sports and I discovered thai boxing during my exchange in Loughborough University and I am still enjoying it to this day. I am currently performing an internship with Evonik in Essen in Supply Chain Management in the Coating Additives Division. I am mainly working in sustainability topics, especially scope 3 emissions in Supply Chain.
What attracted you to apply to the UNITECH programme?
I would say I wasn’t even close to knowing what I would go through with the Unitech programme
when I applied for it, and I don’t regret this decision one bit. I learned about this opportunity when I
started to look for an exchange abroad, which is mandatory in 4 th or 5 th year at INSA. At some point a year before we were shown a few slides about the programme and we were invited to an online meeting to discover it in more depth. I was immediately attracted to the opportunity to not only perform an exchange, but also an internship abroad with a big company and being coached by
professionals throughout the year. I had never travelled much and went to Ireland, England, Sweden
and Germany in the span of a few months. I saw the opportunity and decided to grab it without being sure of the outcome; and it was so much more than what I had hoped for.
What did you enjoy most about your experience in the UNITECH programme, and how has the programme helped prepare you for the next steps in your career?
What I enjoyed most, by far, in the UNITECH programme was meeting so many new and interesting
people. It was my first ever intercultural experience and the environment the coaches had created
made it so easy to go to people and have so many interesting discussions and lots of fun. I do believe I found some of my most precious friendships through this year. It also taught me so many skills and helped me improve others, something I couldn’t have had done on a regular Master’s degree.
Efficient team management, intercultural interactions, stress management are one of the few skills I was able to obtain and improve through the programme. Because I am already halfway through my internship, I can already say with utmost certainty that these skills are so important to have in the workplace.
Tell us more about your Academic Exchange? Where was your academic exchange? What did you enjoy the most? Which subjects were the most challenging or interesting?
I performed my academic exchange in Loughborough University in England. This University is known for having the best University sport facilities and teams in Europe and most probably the world. My love for sports ultimately led me there and this was by far the best part of my exchange. I discovered thai boxing there which I am still practicing to this day. I was also able to practice badminton, running, rugby and volleyball every single week. The educational system was different from my engineering school in Lyon. I had half the number of hours I had in France which meant I had to work more hours in autonomy. This was probably the most challenging part of my exchange because I was not used to working on my own for so many hours. Fortunately working with friends at the library or the buildings on campus made it easier to get motivated. My subjects weren’t too hard overall but a particular one names “Engineering: Law, Finance and Quality” was challenging for many reasons. I had done some quality and financing before, but Law was completely new to me. The amount of content was significant, and it was difficult to digest all the information you had learned in two hours after every session. However, it was also by far my favorite subject because the content was so interesting, and I believe critical to know for any engineer.
What are some of the biggest trends you see in your industry, and how are you preparing for them?
Working in Supply Chain, I would say that the biggest trend I have witnessed is a significant increase in procurement challenges. Be it conflicts, geopolitical strategies or environmental hazards, every one of these directly impacts transportation of goods around the world. The current war in Ukraine and conflict in the Middle East were at the heart of supply chain strategies during my internship. The best way to prepare is to educate oneself on the geopolitical and environmental trends around the world, because understanding a problem is the first step to solving it.