The Digi’s Apprentice Freedom Challenge is not your typical management trainee program. Although some elements of the program might be similar, it is a totally different challenge as it is not only about getting training by rotating between different departments. It is more than that. It is a holistic challenge that will test candidates ability, agility, team play, creativity and skill to work under pressure.
What participants are required to do is to go through four stages of the challenge and present them to a panel of judges in the end. The four stages are:
- Ideation: Where a team and their coaches brainstorm fresh new ideas and select their best ideas
- Customer Validation: Where the best ideas from the team are then presented to potential customers
- Prototyping: The teams have to use their imagination and creativity to build a mock prototype of their products
- Pitching: Finally, the teams presented their prototypes and ideas to a panel of judges, all from the senior management of Digi
Digi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd (Digi) this week welcomed eight (8) bright young Malaysian talents as its first group of Digi CXO Apprentices. These capable individuals started their cool jobs on Monday, 1 August 2016, and are now each apprenticing with one of the eight Digi Chiefs (CXOs). As apprentices, they will receive exclusive mentorship from their respective CXOs, not only shadowing their daily schedules but having direct exposure to the inner-workings of Digi’s business and hands-on involvement in projects spearheaded by these CXOs every single day for the next one year.
The eight new recruits edged out a total of 880 other Malaysian applicants from Malaysia, United Kingdom, Australia and Canada to be Digi’s first batch of CXO apprentices. They were part of the 48 talents chosen to participate in the Freedom Challenge, where individuals went through a rigorous full-day business challenge. Of that, 24 individuals were then selected for the final phase of interviews with Digi’s CXOs.
Below are the graduates that are currently shadowing their mentors of Digi’s CXOs:
| Inspiring Apprentices | Age | Graduated from… | Apprentice to… | |
| 1. | Wendy Liang | 23 | University of Nottingham | Albern Murty, Chief Executive Officer |
| 2. | Joel Thum | 23 | Sunway University | Karl Erik Broten, Chief Finance Officer |
| 3. | Nicole Wong | 22 | Sunway University | Loh Keh Jiat, Chief Marketing Officer |
| 4. | Andrea Ong | 22 | Taylor’s University | Praveen Rajan, Chief Digital Officer |
| 5. | Devraj Sathivelu | 22 | University of Nottingham | Eugene Teh, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer |
| 6. | Justin Yong | 26 | University Of Hertfordshire | Orsolya Sekerka, Chief IT Officer |
| 7. | Low Hui Qi | 23 | Australian National University | Kesavan Sivabalan, Chief Network Officer |
| 8. | Wan Nur Alia | 23 | Multimedia University | Haroon Bhatti, Chief HR Officer |
