AI Enablement Program

Wilmar AI Cafe ☕

A beginner-friendly, hands-on learning series for building practical Analytics, Automation, and AI capability together. Come to build, experiment, or simply listen and see what AI can do for your everyday work.

How each session runs

Walk out each week with something you can actually use in your work, and get inspired by real AI use cases across the business.
The format
1Short knowledge walkthrough — the concept for the week.
2Live demo or build — watch it done end to end.
3Step-by-step follow along — try it on your own machine.
4Real work application — adapt it to something you actually do.

House blend 🤖

Topics across the season
AI Foundations Prompting Excel & Power Query AI-assisted VBA AI Assistants & Agents AI Security Power Automate Workflow Copilot Showcase

AI is moving fast, but it is not something to fear. It is a tool to amplify how we think, create, and solve problems. Let's embrace it and ride the wave together.

01

Cafe menu

Ten Friday sessions, each served as a hands-on special. Click a week to open the full agenda.

Week 0Fri · 10 Jul

☕ Kickoff

Welcome to the AI Cafe — a grounded look at using AI safely, the framework we'll build on all season, and the community behind it.

Expected outcomeParticipants understand the ground rules for using AI safely, have a shared framework for the sessions ahead, and know how to stay connected with the community.
🔒 AI SecurityPrompt injection, human-in-the-loop, and who is responsible when AI gets it wrong.
🧭 AI Framework IntroductionThe shared framework and approach we'll build on across the season.
🤝 Meet the CommunityHow to stay connected, ask questions, and share ideas between sessions.
Open agenda →
Week 1Fri · 17 Jul

🤖 Meet Your AI: Copilot & Claude

A tasting platter of prompting, creativity, meeting support, and setup basics.

Expected outcomeParticipants can confidently configure AI tools, write structured prompts, and use AI for meetings, creativity, and daily productivity tasks.
⚙️ AI Settings & Prompting BasicsSettings, memory, and custom instructions, demonstrated live as you follow.
🎨 Creative AI & Copilot for MeetingsImage generation, then meeting notes and action items from a recording.
✍️ Prompt Like a ProRewrite weak prompts into strong ones and test the difference live.
🎛️ Customize Your AIHave the AI interview you, then draft your custom instructions for you.
Open agenda →
Week 2Fri · 24 Jul

💻 Excel: AI-Assisted VBA for Beginners

Programming for Everybody — write real Excel VBA with AI as your assistant, one small challenge at a time. No prior coding needed.

Expected outcomeParticipants can enable VBA, write and run simple macros with AI assistance, and read, comment, and debug the generated code well enough to automate a small task of their own.
🧭 FoundationsWhat VBA can do, how it compares to formulas and Python, and coding with AI.
🔁 Hands-on ChallengesProcedures, loops, calculated fields, if-else, filters, and merging data.
📦 Practice FilesDownload the practice and answer workbooks and follow along live.
Open agenda →
Week 3Fri · 31 Jul

📊 Excel: Power Query & AI-assisted VBA

Solve the same Excel automation tasks two ways — Power Query and AI-assisted VBA.

Expected outcomeParticipants can import, clean, append, and calculate data using both Power Query and AI-assisted VBA, then choose the right approach for repeatable Excel work.
🧹 Clean DataImport a messy CSV, clean it, and shape data with both approaches.
➕ Append DataAdd new rows to the cleaned table using Power Query and VBA.
📐 Calculated FieldBuild Trade Value and Risk Flag columns in both tools.
Open agenda →
Week 4Fri · 7 Aug

💬 Create Your AI Assistant

Open with a Workflow Copilot warm-up, then build a chatbot connected to company knowledge and adapt it into a useful business assistant.

Expected outcomeParticipants can build a functional chatbot connected to company knowledge and adapt it to a real business use case.
🔁 Warm-up: Today's Agenda SummaryA 10-min Workflow Copilot flow that sends today's calendar to Teams each morning.
📚 Copilot Agent on Company KnowledgeLive demo of a Copilot agent answering questions from the Sugar SOPs.
📄 Copilot Agent for a TaskTurn the sugar risk practice file into a written risk review memo, in a set format.
🛠️ Build Your Own AgentBuild something yourself on the spot, test it, and ask questions as you go.
Open agenda →
Week 5Fri · 14 Aug

🪞 Self-Review Session

A pause halfway through the season — revisit your skills self-assessment, show what you've built, and set your focus ahead.

Expected outcomeParticipants update their AI Hub skills self-assessment, get feedback on what they've built so far, and leave with a clear focus for the remaining weeks of the season.
🧭 Revisit Your Skills Self-AssessmentUpdate your current level for each skill based on what you've actually used since Week 1.
🎤 Show & Tell: What You've BuiltBring anything from Weeks 1–4 and get feedback from Xinran and the room.
🎯 Set Your Focus for Weeks 6–8Pick one or two skills to reach Level 3 on before the season wraps.
Open agenda →
Week 6Fri · 21 Aug

📊 AI-Built Dashboards with Copilot & Claude

Take apart a real AI-built dashboard, read the instructions that produced it, then build and refine your own.

Expected outcomeParticipants can write a dashboard instruction prompt that turns their own Excel export into a working single-file HTML dashboard, and improve it through iterative follow-up prompts.
🔍 See the Dashboard in ActionWalk through a finished sugar export dashboard — five pages, global filters, live Excel import.
📝 The Instructions Behind ItRead the actual brief line by line and pull out the seven parts of a dashboard prompt.
🔁 Build It, Then Improve ItStart small and refine round by round with follow-up prompting.
Open agenda →
Week 7Fri · 4 Sep

📈 AI in Excel, Reports & Presentations

One dataset, start to finish — eight months of sugar shipments, taken from raw Excel to a monthly review memo and the deck that goes with it.

Expected outcomeParticipants can interrogate an operational dataset with Copilot in Excel, check what it hands back, and turn the findings into a report and a slide deck ready for the monthly meeting.
📊 Interrogate the Data in ExcelAdd the columns the file leaves out, then find the two counterparties the demurrage is coming from.
📄 Write the Execution ReviewTurn the findings into the memo the ops and risk committee reads — with an owner against every action.
📑 Build the Monthly DeckFive slides for the operations meeting: one number per slide, and a last slide people can act on.
Open agenda →
Week 8Fri · 11 Sep

⚙️ Power Automate: Inbox, SharePoint & Teams

Connect your Microsoft tools into one smooth workflow and cut manual handoffs.

Expected outcomeParticipants can build multi-step automated workflows that connect email, SharePoint, and Teams to reduce manual work.
⚡ Build a Basic FlowSave email attachments automatically to OneDrive for Business.
🔔 Add Conditions & NotificationsExtend the flow with rules and alerts; replicate and test.
🎯 Solve a Real ProblemBuild a real scenario from the room and adapt your own workflow.
Open agenda →
Week 9Fri · 18 Sep

🎉 Wrap-up & Showcase

A closing session to celebrate participant builds, showcase wins, and set priorities for what comes next.

Expected outcomeParticipants present demos, receive peer feedback, and leave with clear next steps and inspiration for continued adoption.
🎤 Demo slots for participants or teams.
💬 Peer feedback and practical Q&A.
🔗 Share links to resources, templates, and code.
🗺️ Decide community priorities and the next focus areas.