Congratulations to our Manchester Global MBA Alumna - Ms. Janny Shum to be awarded Second Place in Volunteer of hte Year Awards 2022, alumni category.
Janny is the First Global MBA alumna to be awarded this honour and the first recipient to be located in Hong Kong. She is also the highest placed finalist of all of our alumni outside of UK!
We have invited Janny to share her thoughts and reactiosn to the award and to share the story behind the volunteer projects.
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I was surprised when I was notified to receive the 2nd place in the Volunteer of the Year Award 2022 for the alumni category. I sincerely thank the University of Manchester for honoring me with this Award. Thank you so much for recognizing my voluntary works, and I am humbled that the University’s award committee has selected me for this award. I would also like to show my gratitude to Markus Karlsson-Jones from the Division of Development and Alumni Relations and Christina Siu, Director of the East Asia Centre for their nomination that was unbeknownst to me. I'm very honoured and privileged to learn that I was the first from mainland China / Hong Kong and the highest placed finalist of all of the alumni outside of the UK. This is really nice and encouraging for me and now I will try to even put out more time for volunteer activities.
The volunteer award was granted in recognition of my volunteering leadership in the two times Worldwide Manchester Run and fund-raising for the University’s Emergency Hardship Fund and local charities. Of course, I have many other volunteering contributions as well, such as chairing the alumni association in 2019-2021, catalyzing the Caring Company Award for the East Asia Centre in the last 3 consecutive years.
The Worldwide Manchester Run was a virtual run with over 250 participants coming from different part of the world in 51 cities, 24 countries across 16 time zones. The purpose was to virtually bring the Manchester students and alumni together, encouraged them to live a healthy lifestyle by instilling running into the daily life. There was an additional meaning in the Worldwide Manchester Run which was a fund-raising campaign to run for local charity beneficiary in their own country. The University’s Emergency Hardship Fund was also one of the beneficiaries from the second Worldwide Manchester Run fund-raising campaign.
'' The centre has been actively encouraging Manchester stakeholders in the practice of Social Responsibility since 2006. We are very proud to share the good news that Janny Shum, our Global alumna who graduated in 2019, was awarded 2nd place in the Volunteer of the Year Award 2022, alumni category. During Janny’s MBA studies, she actively participated in East Asia Centre SR activities – e.g. the ACCA Rickshaw race, Salvation Army Orienteering and the SCMP Operation Santa in which she led her team and won three awards in 2016 namely, Champion of Best Santa in Community Contribution, Fringebacker Outstanding Online Fundraiser and the Top Fundraiser.
She also initiated SR events such as MSF On the Track Save and SDG games in 2018 and 2019, assisting the Centre to achieve the university's SR goal. Not only Janny has been supporting the University's core goal – Social Responsibility strategy in the East Asia region but also she planted a marker and started a new path in helping the Centre achieve recognition as one of the Caring Companies in Hong Kong since 2019. ''
Christina Siu, Regional Director at the University of Manchester East Asia Centre
The Worldwide Manchester Run involved a great deal of coordination and connection with alumni leaders at different countries with many evening and long hours meetings. Resolving the technical hurdles for meeting the world record attempt was also a big challenge. All these were accomplished successfully with the devoted support from the Board and members in the Manchester Business School Alumni Association in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Dubai, as well as the staff in East Asia Center and the Alumni and Relations Office. Without their support and help, I would not have been able to achieve this.
Volunteering is not always a one way giving because I learn new things every time I volunteer and the experience gained build up a splendid and fruitful life for me. By organizing the Worldwide Manchester Run I learned some technical skills on how to compress and cut video file in preparation for the record submission. I made new friends from the event and we will join together to help the needy in future volunteer event to extend the kindness in humanity. Thus, I enjoy volunteer and urge you to give some of your spare time for meaningful reward. I wish everyone would not miss a chance to volunteer as it is more blessed to give than to receive.
East Asia Centre is celebrating the 30th anniversary of its establishment this year. Janny’s award has enlightened the Centre’s SR achievements and encouraged the Centre to nurture more socially responsible leaders in the East Asia region in the future.
