SECRET DIARY OF AN IBD INTERN: The desk is back to being busy again, and it’s great for me

The Olympics combined with the summer lull has meant a slow couple of weeks, but life has returned to normal again. There are still people coming in and out of work though, so responsibilities have been pushed on to me. This is great – as an intern, it feels good to be an instrumental part of the team.

This week I was working with the regional manager for the Middle East and Africa trying to promote the business and the new products the bank was set to launch.

There were calls made to Tanzania, Botswana and Angola, with three more calls planned for next week. The call to Tanzania in particular was extremely interesting because our colleague from there had already begun working on the project after the presentation I had made and sent to him.

I was highly involved in all conversations and was even leading the calls with supervision from the regional head who added what I’d missed out. One of the calls in particular was difficult for both the RM and I because the person we were speaking to doesn’t like innovation and change, so trying to market products to them can be a frustrating experience.

During the week I had to make three new presentations as well, which was a good learning experience because one of my managers was trying to get me to use the consulting technique. This involves creating a vertical and a horizontal structure where the slide headings need to flow in a logical order and the content is put in after the message is delivered. I tried a couple and am getting better at them.

I have a couple of big projects coming up this week with Africa and Korea so I’m definitely looking forward to them!