This Week We Feature Young Professional Leon R. Samuel
If there was one young man the corporate sector would have been seeking, the bidding stakes would have been extremely high when our Young Professional for The Week Mr Leon R. Samuel would have taken the platform.
He is the type of person that has what it takes to push any initiative especially when it comes to sales and marketing. Hence, Digicel BVI didn’t give the others a bidding chance as they have taken him into their fold from the early age of 18, a decision that they have not regretted for a single moment.
Today Leon R. Samuel sits in the position of Credit and Collections Manager of Digicel BVI and being the guy that is determined to climb even higher he said in five years’ time he would definitely not be in that seat but five tiers higher.
“I love progression… it’s something that resonates with me very well,” he told this news site. If one were to sit with his mother Ms Claretta Samuel or any of his High School teachers they would have told you the story of the challenges they had in dealing with him as a teenager especially when it comes to focusing on his studies.
But he would not leave them to that task as he was very candid about it with us. He said that his mother was and still is the type that stood for discipline, strong family values and was very stern with him when it came to his academics.
There was no doubt that he was a smart and brilliant boy in those day as in Primary School he graduated among the top ten from the Althea Scatliffe Primary but according to him. “Something went wrong when I got into High School, I just lost interest in school, I didn’t like school no more all I wanted was to get out into the world of work and because of that I kept failing causing me to spend additional years in high school,” he said.
“I don’t know if I should say I regretted the things I did during the that period of my life because I have learnt from it, I am ashamed to tell you how badly I messed up during that period, but something shook me into consciousness and I had to pull myself together and do what was really required to get me to where I wanted to be,” he further stated.
He shared his experience of wanting so desperately to get out into the world of work that while his peers were busy taking their studies seriously and comfortably moving on to the other grade acing their examinations he was busy sending applications out job seeking.
“Reality struck one that that no one was going to respond to me in those fields that I was applying because there was a missing link. EDUCATION, QUALIFICATION, those two were critical and that is when I decided that Leon you know this work, just sit down focus on your education because that was the only way to get to where you want to be, and my mother, my mother she was so strict with me I thank her very much for never giving up on me for one second,” he said.
Leon Started out as with Digicel as a ‘Feet on the Street’ sales person. He took that job very seriously to the extent that he had developed a competition with himself to beat targets. This did not miss the eyes of his employers and it resulted in him going through the ranks and quickly elevating to the position of Credit and Collections Manager.
“I am especially thankful to Mr Allan Bates, that man was my mentor. I love and respect him so much because he saw in me what I saw in myself, what my mother knew I was capable of and he put me to the test so often and I am proud of myself that not one day have I let him down, the stiffer the challenge he give me the great the success I give him,” he said adding, “Thank you Allan Bates, Thank You Thank You.”
While he is now into that arena it’s not what he had envisioned as a career. While growing up he had loved the theatre arts and thought that he would have been in that industry today. One other profession he also dreamed of and will soon take on the challenge to get academically qualified in is the field of computer science.
“Digicel can be sure that I am not going to call it quits on them because I am die hard for Digicel but I will be taking on one of my other dreams of mastering computer science,” he noted.
Leon said that until this day he has a fear of high school to the extent that since leaving he has not set foot back on the grounds of the Elmore Stoutt High School but hopes to one day beat that challenge. “I love children but apparently because of who I was when I was a teenager I really dread that age group,” he said saying it’s the most challenging stage of one’s life.
“It’s scary because at that age you take some risks, when I sit and think back it scares me so much but it’s a stage of life and I would challenge parents, teachers to never give up on a teenager. It’s just that they want to experience for themselves but what you tell them will stick… they will value your guidance at some stage of their life, just do not leave them out in the cold no matter what. No child is BAD he or she is just experimenting.”
And to teens he said, “Just keep your heads on, do not lose focus of your dream. The road will not be smooth ride the waves, know yourself and be yourself.”
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