E≤30 is a MyEO Premier Group for all members under 30. Currently, there are about 400 members under the age of 30 worldwide and about 50% of them have joined the group. The group communicates on Facebook and Whatsapp primarily and regularly meets in real life. While there have been smaller get-togethers in Berlin, Miami, San Francisco, Sao Paulo and during the Mexico University, two weeks ago the first official retreat happened in Bali and 10 members from Vancouver, Australia, Switzerland, India, and Indonesia participated.
The group met for a weekend full of experience sharing, learning and – last but not least – fun together. Bali was chosen because Michael Sung from EO Indonesia championed the weekend together with Baseer Khudayar, a member of EO Vancouver – and who wouldn’t want to come to Bali in May? 🙂
Some participants met Friday night and explored the nightlife of Seminyak, not far from the villa that was rented for the whole group. Saturday morning, the group was united as everyone had arrived and met for Lunch at a local restaurant to experience the Indonesian cuisine.
We met with German-born entrepreneur Nico who built Niconico, a fashion/swimwear retail chain on Bali. While Nico is not an EO member (yet!), he shared many of EO’s values and we had a very interesting session where we talked not only about Entrepreneurship but also Indonesian politics and what life on Bali is like.
We continued the afternoon at the villa where we introduced ourselves and got to know each other. I was amazed how easy it was to connect to everyone. I can always relate to someone if they’re in EO when I meet them but the fact that we are all under 30 adds an extra level of familiarity.
I then shared some experiences from my life out of a suitcase. I’ve given up on having an apartment about a year ago and have since been constantly traveling – mostly for work but also because I value experiences more than physical things. This sparked a very interesting discussion which continued later at dinner.
E≤30 is a very young group and there are a lot of questions that the community needs to think about and discuss. We decided to stream the conversation we had about these questions live on Facebook where other members could also see it and comment with their thoughts.
Bali offers breathtaking sunsets and that’s what was next on our itinerary. We headed to Potato Head Beach Club for pre-dinner drinks and to watch the sunset. We later continued to Métis, a French restaurant where we had a great meal and shared some great discussions. Of course, the night didn’t stop there and we got a great taste of Bali’s vibrant nightlife.
We started Sunday with water sports and enjoyed a nice lunch and dinner during the rest of the day while some members already had to head back to their home country. Some members stayed and on Tuesday, they were invited by EO Indonesia in Jakarta. I enjoyed sharing some of my experiences from life without a home and we all enjoyed a great dinner together.
While it was a short trip on paper, this trip was truly life-changing and new friendships were formed. I look forward to many more MyEO E≤30 get-togethers and meeting our amazing members!
Our next retreat is coming up in Calgary for Stampede on July 14-16. Our global summit, spearheaded by Disha Dewan, is coming up in October, ahead o the Hyderabad University. If you are in EO, under or at the age of 30 and are not yet a member, please reach out to me (Cédric Waldburger, cedric.waldburger@gmail.com) and join us! Also, if you have members in your chapter who have not joined us yet, please do let them know!
