APRIL cares for young employees

At 27 years old, Maggie Vency Maretha is currently the youngest R&D scientist working at APRIL Group.

Yet, Maggie can also lay claim to another accomplishment – she is one of the youngest employees to have ever received a scholarship from the company to continue her studies overseas.

Maggie was only 23 years old when she first joined APRIL in 2014, after graduating with a biotechnology degree from the University of Surabaya in Indonesia.

But she always had a dream of studying abroad - one which was fulfilled after working at APRIL for just 1.5 years.

“While working at the company, I was told that there is a chance for me to continue my studies overseas,” she said.

Just months later, Maggie was indeed granted the opportunity to take up a master’s degree in the Faculty of Bioscience at the Autonomous University of Barcelona in Spain, an institution which APRIL has established ties with.

Obtaining the scholarship was no easy feat for Maggie, who had to first submit a proposed plan of study to the company, and agree to have her study progress monitored throughout her time in Spain.

However, the plan was approved and Maggie was off to Barcelona in 2015, with all her tuition fees and living costs covered by APRIL. A year later, Maggie successfully completed her studies and received a Master Degree in Biotechnology.

As her education background in biotech was relevant to what she studied in Barcelona, Maggie said that she didn’t experience any obstacles in terms of her studies. Instead, she felt some difficulty in socializing outside the classroom.

“The main challenge I encountered was the daily language used. In the classroom, we used English but outside the class, almost everyone in Barcelona uses Spanish,” she shared.

Maggie noted that her success would not have been possible without her family’s unwavering support.

“I felt kind of sad when I knew my family couldn’t attend my graduation but the most important thing is that they supported me until I was able to be in the position I’m in right now,” she said.

Maggie is grateful to APRIL for giving her the opportunity to develop her career.

“I feel lucky that the company takes care of its young talent because I know that not all companies are like this,” Maggie said.

“I think that APRIL Group provides great opportunities for employees like me to handle more responsibilities once they are deemed capable by their boss, giving them the avenue to further grow professionally,” she added.

For now, Maggie tries to apply the knowledge she gained from her studies on the job as a researcher in APRIL’s laboratory.

“I hope that APRIL’s investment in me can be applied in the lab, especially when it comes to supporting and streamlining the research undertaken by the Research and Development Department,” she said.