By Victoria Bowring | Head of ABCN Foundation
Leadership Summit Highlights
The 2025 Accelerate Leadership Summit brought together 28 scholars from across Australia for a dynamic two-day event in Sydney.
Hosted by Optus Telecommunications Company, the program featured an insightful “Find Your Purpose” session and behind-the-scenes Optus campus tour. An evening networking event connected scholars and mentors with special guest, Federal Member of Parliament, Allegra Spender, whose engaging Q&A session sparked confident and thoughtful participation from students—many of whom demonstrated leadership potential and budding political interest. Day 1 of the summit fostered amazing peer connections, with the scholars finishing up with a relaxed movie night screening the classic Grease.
On Day 2, iconic sightseeing visits to the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge further strengthened the connections with their peers and mentors, as did an identity-themed art activity at the Museum of Contemporary Art, encouraging personal reflection and creative expression.
Scholar Spotlight – Fadila
Fadila, one of our first Accelerate scholars in 2013, recently returned to the spotlight as the emcee for the ABCN 20th Anniversary Celebration, hosted by Macquarie Bank at Circular Quay, Sydney. In her speech, she reflected on how the Accelerate program helped her overcome a fear of public speaking and instilled the importance of mentorship.
‘As part of the program, I met such a diverse range of individuals and was exposed to the real world. It opened my eyes to so many opportunities, like attending the leadership summit, increasing my public speaking skills and building up my confidence brick by brick. I also had my mentor, Caitlin, who backed me up and help me refine university applications. I was able to attend tutoring which also really helped me massively in my studies.
It gave me the confidence to join extracurriculars in high school and reach for every opportunity during university, and eventually find my passion as a software engineer.’
Now a Senior Software Engineer at Atlassian, Fadila credits Accelerate as a foundational influence in her personal and professional development. Her journey is a testament to the long-term impact of the program.
Our Deepest Gratitude
The Accelerate Scholarship Program continues to provide young girls from low socioeconomic backgrounds, with access to vital mentoring experiences that shape students' confidence, aspirations, and leadership potential. Thank you for your continued support in making these transformative opportunities possible.
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
