The Annual Networking Dinner of the Muslim Engineers’ Network (MEngN) was held on Saturday 12th November at the sumptuous Spice Village restaurant in West London. Over 80 brothers, sisters and their guests from a diverse range of industries, engineering disciplines and experience levels arrived at the upstairs banqueting hall. We were also joined by a number of non-engineering guests from the ConsortiuM (Muslim professional network) family which MEngN is part of. There was ample networking time for guests to meet each other as they came in, exchanging contact details and getting connected with colleagues and their wider networks for support in university studies, job finding or anything else under the sun!
The evening’s programme then formally began with verses from the Holy Quran, specifically Surat Al-Hujarat (49:13). The verse was recently in the limelight following its recitation during the opening ceremony of the Qatar 2022 Football World Cup (itself a huge engineering feat!).
Guests were then treated to an inspirational presentation by TedX speaker Mohammed Taher, also known as the ‘The Airport Guy’ (Instagram: @mo_t_ivate), Aerospace Engineering graduate and Aerodrome System Specialist at Heathrow Airport. Mohammed’s viral social media videos gives viewers a fascinating insight into the behind-the-scenes workings and engineering challenges of huge airport hubs like Heathrow.
In his uplifting presentation, Mohammed shared, amongst many insights, his experiences of colleagues who sadly hid their Muslim identity at work, as well as examples of how we can use our Muslim identity in positive ways, and in so doing, help project a confident, holistic, and genuine image of Islam in our workplaces. Up next was Human Appeal, the charity partner for the evening, who shared an update on their ongoing poverty relief projects overseas as well as in the UK, with many attendees donating generously.
With much food for thought and cogs turning in brains across the room, the food for our stomachs was also served. With the buffet of starters and mains eagerly devoured, the evening’s second networking session was ready to begin. This time, a semi-structured approach was taken with guests assigned randomly to a group of 4 – 6 people. Each group had a facilitator – including some senior engineers with 20+ years’ experience in their field – to nurture discussion on challenges and opportunities we face in our places of study or work, tips & tricks for overcoming them and how we can support each other to excel and achieve excellence in our fields. Facilitators remained seated whilst guests rotated round the tables to maximise contact time with all our experienced facilitators. Tea & dessert (note: gajar halwa & vanilla ice cream is a great combo!) took us late into the evening, with chatting and networking continuing even outside in the cold, as our time at the venue was up and the catering staff had to pack away and lock-up!
Thanks were shared to all guests for coming along and to the MEngN organising team, with ideas, volunteers and suggestions for MEngN’s upcoming activities and events in 2023 very much welcome, get in touch at contact@mengineersnet.com insha’Allah (God Willing).