In March 2020, Genashtim Innovative Learning Pte Ltd turned a great idea into reality when the company launched a staff talent competition called “Genashtim’s Got Talent.” The theme with the word “Got” was most appropriate because staff members also “got” excited about this initiative and started pouring in their entries.
The talents on display ranged from singing to the playing of musical instruments; from gymnastics to card playing; from pastry making by a visually impaired team member to football freestyle maneuvers; from sleek wheelchair dancing to skilled dexterity in playing online video games; from football Rabona kicks to acrobatics; and finally, a demonstration of the skillful performance of job tasks with the use of one finger by a team member who is afflicted with cerebral palsy.
Genashtim’s talent bank overflowed. And, if the saying that the last shall be the first holds true in all situations, then we all may want to be the last to submit our entries in 2021 because that saying held true in this situation.
“Genashtim’s Got Talent” was a tremendous success. The entries were a combination of entertaining and inspiring – funny moreover, because we even had the CEO’s dog “singing” to the sound of a musical instrument.
We eventually learned that the judges who had found the entries to be an awesome wow were “struggling…to pick the winners.” And then – (drum roll) – the winners were announced. The last entrant, Ee Beng, a visually impaired staff member who played the Rain – a Chinese musical instrument – walked away with the first prize. Nadia Saidi, the penultimate entrant, who entered with a demonstration of her skillful performance of her job tasks using one finger and Fereshteh Daneshi who was an early entrant with her spectacular acrobatic and sports performance were both equal runners-up for the second prize.
But in the end, every entrant was declared a winner because the Board of Advisors who judged the competition decided that all participants should be rewarded. Genashtim is humbled by its repository of talents but is proud to declare it.
Heartiest congratulations to the winners!
Nadia Saidi – Runner Up