AECOM Impact Blog: YALI Reflections — How my Encounter with a Fortune 500 Company Changed my Perspective

Over the six weeks I spent in the United States at the Presidential Precinct as a Fellow of the Mandela Washington Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI), I gained invaluable knowledge in different subjects.

In Uganda, I manage a project on extractives governance that seeks to create opportunities for communities in mining and oil bearing areas to allow them to claim sustainable benefits from the sector. The project also provides information to the public on the sector to empower them to hold the government and extractive companies accountable.

With this background, I came to America with the ambition of linking up with fellow governance activists to learn how I could deepen my work and make it more impactful. Little did I know that the most important learnings I would later receive would not even be from civil society types, but top executives of a Fortune 500 company — AECOM!

Learn how AECOM's participation in the YALI program impacted Chris' experience.

Drawing from the experience of its approximately 45,000 employees, the AECOM Impact Blog provides the firm with an opportunity to share stories about employee excellence, industry insights, innovative project solutions, corporate social responsibility experiences, safety for life and sustainable perspectives. We hope you’ll join the conversation.

About AECOM
Ranked as the #1 engineering design firm by revenue in Engineering News-Record magazine’s annual industry rankings, AECOM is a premier, fully integrated infrastructure and support services firm, with a broad range of markets, including transportation, facilities, environmental, energy, water and government.  With approximately 45,000 employees — including architects, engineers, designers, planners, scientists and management and construction services professionals — serving clients in more than 150 countries around the world, AECOM is a leader in all of the key markets that it serves.  AECOM provides a blend of global reach, local knowledge, innovation and technical excellence in delivering solutions that create, enhance and sustain the world's built, natural and social environments.  A Fortune 500 company, AECOM had revenue of $7.9 billion during the 12 months ended June 30, 2014.  More information on AECOM and its services can be found at www.aecom.com.

Media:
AECOM Technology Corporation
Ed Mayer, +1.732.564.3380
Director, Corporate Communications
Ed.Mayer@aecom.com