My Hong Kong Journey: From Cat to Tiger with the WWC Ambassador Programme

A week that rewired how I see work, growth, and myself.

Written by: Nafiu Amosa

The Almost-Disaster Before Take-off

Every great story has a moment where everything nearly falls apart. Mine happened halfway to Heathrow.

I'd packed for weeks. Triple-checked my itinerary. Mentally rehearsed introductions for executives I was about to meet in one of Asia's most electric cities. And then, somewhere on the road to the airport, the cold realisation hit me: my passport was still at home. My passport was still at home.

A frantic dash, a rescued passport, and a heart rate that took an hour to settle later, I was finally walking into the lounge with the rest of the Westminster Working Cultures (WWC) team. It was my first time in an airport lounge. I remember thinking: if this is the start, what does the rest look like?

Hours later, the wheels touched down in Hong Kong. The skyline glittered like it had been waiting for us. The journey had begun for real.

The Power of Being in the Room

Our first full day threw us straight into the deep end. We met David Beeg and his team at Lead8, where conversations spanned global design projects, IT infrastructure, management philosophy, and the principles that shape a long career.

I gravitated towards Kevin from the IT & Systems team. Something about how he spoke, practical, generous, unhurried, made me realise that mentorship doesn't always announce itself. Sometimes it's just a good conversation with someone willing to share what they've learned.

That evening, we wandered through Mong Kok's neon-lit streets, ate food that didn't exist on any London menu, and ended the night at a rooftop mixer where the city stretched out below us like a circuit board.

The Lesson I Keep Coming Back To

At The Secretariat, we sat down with Mike Allen. I expected a polished talk about career strategy. What I got was something more useful: a quiet, direct conversation about clarity, mentorship, and personal values.

You can't navigate a career you haven't actually defined for yourself.

Afterwards, the city opened up to us. We learned about Hong Kong's housing crisis (sobering, in a place this glamorous), then took a cable car up to the territory's highest viewpoint. Standing above the clouds, watching the islands roll out into the South China Sea, I felt the trip shift from "experience" to "turning point."

A Sentence I Won't Forget

At CBRE, the focus was on communication, partnerships, and the rapidly evolving role of AI in commercial real estate. One line, delivered almost in passing, became the unofficial motto of my week:

"People don't remember what you say. They remember how you make them feel."

Later, we visited the Foreign Correspondents' Club, the legendary watering hole of Asia's journalism community. We talked about reporting, data systems, and how stories travel across borders. For someone who'd never thought seriously about journalism, it was a window into a world I suddenly wanted to understand better.

Law, Diplomacy, and Quiet Power

DLA Piper was the kind of session that reframes what "law" even means. Kristi Swartz and her team walked us through fintech regulation, cross-border legal work, and my favourite theme, resilience. Not the buzzword version. The real one:

Keep showing up when the work is genuinely hard.

Then came the British Consulate, where Sophie Rose spoke about communications and humanitarian work. Her advice was disarmingly simple: stay open. Opportunities rarely arrive with a label. The people who build interesting careers are the ones still paying attention when something unexpected walks through the door.

Becoming the Tiger

The final day was the one that changed me most.

At Ipsos, Javier Calvar broke down consumer behaviour and product launches with the precision of someone who's seen a thousand campaigns succeed and fail. Storytelling, he reminded us, isn't decoration; it's strategy. He finished his presentation by sharing some of Javier’s thoughts with us, which I found encouraging. The one that I found interesting in his quotes was

“No matter what you do in life, there will always be people who are not happy with what you do”

and

“Life is a tragedy in close-up but a comedy in the long run”.

Then we met Karen Lau, and the trip took its sharpest emotional turn. Her workshop on self-reflection, emotional intelligence, and employability asked us to look honestly at who we'd been at the start of the week and who we were now.

She used an exercise involving animals, and I described my own evolution as going from a cat to a tiger. The cat was cautious, observant, and hesitant to claim space. The tiger? Still observant, but no longer apologising for being in the room.

That metaphor still runs in my head when I walk into something intimidating.

What I Actually Took Home

A week in Hong Kong handed me more than business cards and skyline photos. It gave me a working set of skills I now use every day:

• Resilience: the kind you build from rushed passports and packed schedules
• Communication: learning to read a room, not just speak in it
• Cultural intelligence: understanding that "professional" looks different in different cities
• Networking: not as a transaction, but as genuine curiosity about people
• Strategic thinking: asking sharper questions and slowing down to actually hear the answers

To the Next Westminster Student Reading This

The WWC programme isn't a trip. It's a transformation disguised as a trip.

You'll arrive thinking it's about industry visits and group photos. You'll leave realising it was about you all along, your voice, your values, your tolerance for the unfamiliar, your willingness to grow.

Stay curious. Stay open. Forget your passport once if you have to. Just don't miss the flight.

Your Westminster journey is only just beginning. ✈️

"Before I put down my pen, I suggest you learn how to use chopsticks. Hahaha!"

Written as part of my reflections as a Westminster Working Cultures Ambassador.