"Giving Back"through Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

What we are currently experiencing through Covid-19 is breathtakingly unprecedented, surreal and unimaginable in living memory. The Covid-19 outbreak has had a profound impact on the entire construction industry in a variety of ways, from cancellation of in-person event/CPD talks, delayed overseas materials to mothballed construction projects. The effect of Covid-19 is being felt right across the planet. A wise man once said: “In construction, something goes wrong every day and it is how we deal with issues that differentiate and determine positive outcomes.”

When Mauritius went into complete lockdown in March 2020 due to Covid-19, I took the decision to invest in Zoom Webinar to continue delivering and maintaining CPD Talks for construction professionals in Mauritius as a way of “Giving Back” in the difficult and extraordinary times that we were in and still are. Little did I know that the webinars will be of interest and attended by construction professionals in Africa, Asia, Europe and North America. All thanks to the amazing and brilliant local and international speakers who were willing to give back their time and wisdom wholeheartedly. Without the willingness, dedication, commitment of “Giving Back” and collaboration of the speakers to embrace digitilisation, it would have been impossible to deliver and host those impactful webinars from Mauritius. I was amazed to see countries spanning from the various continents connecting to the webinar which was truly a new and humble experience. I am privileged and equally thrilled to have hosted and delivered 40 Webinars CPD Talks with more than 5000 participants in 2020/21 and reaching out to professionals in countries where it would have been impossible previously due to the costs associated with in-person events. I am still amazed on how easily we all can connect and engage across continents and learn for a common purpose to advance the construction industry. Wow ! So, a GARGANTUAN THANK YOU to all Local and International Speakers for "GIVING BACK" ! and Massive Thank You to all participants for making the webinars super engaging, lively, interesting an memorable.

I truly believe that it is only through the combination of human ingenuity, a culture of engineering excellence and the use of digitilisation that we can help built environment professionals emerge from this global pandemic disease and embrace new ways of learning to solve some of the most complex challenges. No doubt, digitilisation has opened up immense opportunities for collaboration through remote learning and mentoring now more than ever before.

I passionately live by the old adage “If not us, who? And if not now, when?'

Key learning

• We need to think on our feet, adapt and deviate from traditional thinking where we can and champion professional artistry to allow scope for digitalisation and working together for a creative and truly collaborative future to advance our industry.
• The need for high quality and engaging webinar CPD Talk is hugely important to uphold professionalism and standards in our industry. What I have learned is that the modern construction industry needs versatile and enterprising professional with the skills to meet the digital challenges facing a global industry.
• In times of adversity as COVID-19 pandemic unfolds, resilience is paramount as this is what construction professionals are all about! As Howard Schultz put it “in times of adversity and change, we really discover who we are and what we're made of.”