Emmanuel Karamagi – Nominated Candidate for Division H Director

Toastmasters member since

1st May 2015

Education

Bachelor of Laws
Msc Finance and Legal Management

Toastmasters offices held and terms of service

– Sergeant At Arms: 01/07/18 – 30/06/19
– Vice President of Education: 01/07/19 – 30/06/19
– President: 01/07/20 – 30/06/21
– Secretary: 01/01/22 – 30/06/22
– Area Director: 01/07/21 – 30/06/22

Toastmasters honors and recognition

– Competent Communicator: March 2018
– Competent Leader: October 2019
– Advanced Leader Bronze: March 2020
– Innovative Planning Level 4: July 2021

Relevant work experience and how it relates to Toastmasters and your role as a District leader:

I have over ten years experience as a Business Owner and four years as a Health and Safety Trainer. I have developed as a leader, team player, mentor, public speaker and I am able to continue to bring this experience to Toastmasters as a District Leader. For example as a trainer I work collaboratively with all the stakeholders ensuring the effective delivery of the program. This brings everyone on board in achieveing the organisation’s mission and objectives.

What experience do you have in strategic planning?

In Toastmasters, I have worked with the Division Director to set the Area goals and objectives, identifying key milestones and the necessary steps to achieve them. I have then worked with the Area Council to focus on main priorities and with my assistants to help implement the plan. For example on membership growth at my home club, I worked with the Club Leadership to plan, and deliver a four week Speechcraft program. In addition, As VPE I developed a strategy of ensuring that the Club achieves its Educational Awards within 9 months, and using the rest of the Toastmaster Year to lay the foundation for the next Committee as part of succession planning.

What experience do you have in the area of finance?

As a Business Owner, I set a budget which I track against actuals, as well as working with the accountant to understand the year end accounts. As a Club President, together with the Treasurer, we were responsible for governance of the club’s finances and this gave additional finance experience. For instance, when the club started meeting on-line, membership attendance dropped. I worked with the committee to come up with a financial incentive that encouraged member retention while maintaining a surplus fund for future in-person meetings.

What experience do you have in developing procedures?

I have worked with my home club to develop extra procedures to reduce the risk of contracting Covid-19 when we went back to in-person meeting. These were refined and introduced to the Area Council. I worked with the Area Council to regularly review their appropriateness to clubs in line with government guidance. In addition, as President working with the Committee we developed a new procedure for our on-line meetings aimed at converting visitors to members.

What lessons did you learn from previous leadership positions?

As Club President, at the beginning of the pandemic my mission was to maintain a viable club minimising loss of members. I had to have a clear vision for the Club: my vision was “to thrive whatever the circumstances” I felt that it captured the values and benefits of the Toastmasters Club, members and the community. Once the vision was communicated with clarity to the committee we embarked on ways of implementing the mission such as making the each meeting give extra value by improving, adding new items to the agenda, and offering discounts on membership fees. As a result the Club succeeded not only at remaining viable but also retaining our position as a Presidents Distinguished Club. The lesson I learnt is that if a leader has a clear vision, communicates that vision with precision and clarity to the team who therefrom, buy into that vision, success will be a natural progression. There may be challenges in implementation but these broaden experience, strengthen the team and build resilience.

Why do you want to serve as a District leader?

I have learnt a lot as a leader thus far, have been and continue to be mentored by many other leaders and I would like to give back the same gift of learning and mentoring to others. In these challenging times it is easy to lose cite of the opportunities this organisation gives us as members but also the wider community. I also want to use my skills to harness these opportunities for the good of members and the community thereby enabling membership growth, and development of leaders and clubs.

In your opinion, what are the District mission’s major objectives and how would you work to achieve them?

The District mission’s major objective is to build new clubs and support existing clubs achieve excellence whereby each member achieves at least one educational award a year, the club has at least 80% member retention and all existing clubs have 20 and above members. I will achieve this by building a team and together Area Directors, explore potential for new clubs for instance in communities that have a common uniting factor such as the same employer. I will work closely with Area Directors to encourage clubs to achieve excellence in line with the District Mission, enable collaborative working where different teams get together to discuss and compare issues, learn what works and apply those lessons in their individual areas. I recognise that at times the District Mission may be misunderstood thus causing conflict, I will work with the Area Directors, engaging with the parties that may not understand the District mission, to try and resolve the conflict, while keeping the District Leadership Team informed of progress.

Additional information about yourself

I am a person of high integrity, sincere, honest, empathetic, and enthusiastic. I am self-motivated, considerate of others, preferring to find consensus on issues, passionate about developing people and the value that being a toastmaster can add to each individual member. Always having the value of toastmasters at the back of my mind helps me find creative ways to make it relevant to the individuals I engage with.