Interview Of Our President

Ricardo Freyneau, is completing his one year term as President of our club and we wanted to find out how he has lived this experience. Ricardo is a Vice-President at Deutsche Bank. He is married with three children and resides in Pointe-aux-Cannoniers. Please read on to catch an insight about Ricardo.

Ricardo, you are completing your one-year presidency at the club. How did you live this experience?

The experience was earth shattering for me, you see I remember telling a member who invited me that I would only join the club if I could be involved in the committee... little did I know that it meant I would be president one year later. I believe that Financial Toastmasters club is a great club with many members who are extremely capable people. The club also has a few firsts - for example the only club in Mauritius to have produced a DTM. I am a firm believer in achieving high objectives and one of the goals that I set for myself was to achieve the President's Select distinguished club award, this looks within our grasp as we have two tasks to achieve.

Any lessons you have learnt?

I have learnt to value the opinions of others. My personality was one where I always wanted things done my way. Another weakness I had was never being transparent about goals and objectives and what brought me back to reality was when one of our toastmasters decided to approach me and very gently give me a piece of his find, he expressed his exasperation, he helped me remove that opaque veil around me to become more transparent both within the club and in my professional life. As President this year, I have learnt empathy.

You are a Vice-President at Deutsche bank. Tell us about the man behind this title.

Actually job titles are irrelevant and mean nothing much if you don't love what you do. I love leading a young, pro-active and high performing team at the bank. All of us focus on the business's interest, innovating and finding ways to do things more efficiently and effectively. A lot of what I have achieved is because of the hard work from my team. I am specially fond of technology and project management and thrive when under pressure from our very demanding management. Everyday is a learning experience and I make an effort to spend at least an hour a day reading as it helps me to keep mentally stimulated.

What are the fundamentals which help you to stay grounded?

Keeping my truth as my priority in my life, doing whatever I can for the good of those around me and putting myself to the service of others. Focusing on the big picture without wavering integrity.

What message would you like to send across to all our members?

We are an amazing club, an amazing group of people with diverse backgrounds and we are all unique and special in our very own way, this makes our club Financial Toasmasters a unique and special club. As we move ahead in the years to come let us build on the solid foundations left by our founding president to consolidate our club. Every member has something to give and every member has something to learn, let's be a club par excellence where there is that mutual interchange.