One of the highlights of the year was following six of the BCOMS alumni working at the Qatar World Cup.
Usmaan Akhtar, Moyo Abiona, Siham Abdullahi, Toni Afoke and Joshua Jibulu had a once in a lifetime experience at the biggest sporting event in the world. As the tournament comes to a close, we asked them to reflect on their experience in Qatar and the experience of working on a major sporting event.
Moyo Abiona
” My time in Doha, Qatar for the World Cup was an amazing experience and one that I cannot thank BCOMS enough for creating opportunities like this one. In terms of the greatest thing that I got out of it, I would say it was not only the opportunity to be in and amongst the fan and that atmosphere of a world cup itself – but more importantly the organic networking that took place.
Because of the nature of the teams we were working on, I was able to meet people and work with people that all had differing amounts of experience in the industry. This sort of opportunity was invaluable, and gave me more clarity about the types of roles I want to work in, looking into the future.”
Toni Afoke
It was such an surreal experience. Being in the same city as World Cup is an experience within itself but actually getting to work there and be a part of it was an incredible opportunity. Everyone was friendly, there’s nothing like football which brings people from different nations together.
Joshua Jibulu
” Such an amazing experience, the opportunity to work and connect within a hub of so much talent is something I value a lot. It was great to go out there too with friends at BCOMS (people on my cohort as well as alumni), having that support network there is something I’m so grateful to BCOMS for creating! We were able to have lots of fun in what was such a great World Cup. ”
Keanu Rattray, BCOMS alumni, was also in Qatar as the FIFA Digital Content Manager and gave us some insight on his experience.
Keanu Rattray
” It was a monumental opportunity, I don’t know if I’ll ever experience anything like this again. I think one thing that made it so special was I was able to be around a lot of people from the BCOMS family. There were so many times I’d just have to stop and think ‘Wow, we’re all really here producing and creating at a World Cup.”