Young leaders empowered
The conference included presentations by six local industry expert and one motivational speaker from South Africa, Stef du Plessis, a thought leader on employee and workplace culture.
“If you are a young leader, you have energy. You bring new ideas and a fresh perspective to the table. You have a lot of potential. At Erongo Marine Enterprises we want to make sure that we nurture young leadership potential and saw this as a golden opportunity to afford these ten individuals the opportunity to take part in such a great event,” said Dr Martha Uumati, Managing Director of EME. She added that this is testimony to the company’s commitment to convert its fishing rights into broad-based social upliftment coordinated through its social development trust, the Arechanab Community Trust.
The participants sponsored by Erongo Marine Enterprises included Christine van Wyk (NUST SRC Member), Kudzai Sibanda (UNAM SRC President), Epaphras Angolo (IUM SRC President), Marvellous Shilongo (NUST SRC Former President) and Simon Petrus, a student at the Windhoek Vocational Training Centre whose studies are also sponsored by the company. Erongo Marine interns included Orlanda Kambindangolo, Tareree Kaura, Tonateni Shaketange and Joram Shifa. Six of the ten sponsored participants were females.
“I wish to thank Erongo Marine Enterprises for affording me the meaningful experience and contributing towards my development as an individual both on a personal and corporate level. The conference was very informative and had a major impact on my perceptions and creating a positive workspace for myself and my colleagues all around,” said Christene van Wyk from NUST about her experience.
EME intern Tareree Kaura had the following to say in relation her experience of the conference: “I was empowered when Mr Stef du Plessis said: ‘when you expect more of people they show up, but the moment you expect less from them they do not turn up.’ This is something that struck me because, here I am and Erongo Marine is believing and investing in me.” She added that the conference was an enormous opportunity that offered inspiration and a foundation for improving oneself for excellence in one’s chosen career. “My take was that to be a leader for tomorrow we must adopt leadership in our daily lifestyle. I learned much about being resilient at my workplace, treating problems as a learning process and taking positive action in the face of adversity.”
“This leadership conference brought nourishment into my life because it encouraged, motivated, and inspired me to be a better person,” said Orlanda Kambindangolo, an intern at Erongo Marine. “As a leader, when you make a commitment you create hope, but when you keep a commitment you create trust,” she added.
Tonateni Shaketange, also an intern at Erongo Marine, offered the following advice which she has taken from the conference: “We are not separated by our differences but by our ignorance. If you want to be a transformational leader you have to learn. As a leader your behaviour and attitude influences multitudes. It is our behaviour in the workplace that create unwritten ground rules, which are people’s perception that this is how we do things around here. As a leader learn to influence others in a way that it will change their lives in a positive way.”
“In order to be a transformational leader, you have to be culturally aware; you should be aware of your workplace culture influence, particularly of the UGRs (unwritten ground rules) which is the perception of the way we do things. We should influence culture in our domain so that we craft positive UGRs that promote perfection of our work and deliver excellence,” said Joram Shifa, another intern at Erongo Marine Enterprises. He added that on personal branding as a leadership strategy, he has learnt to let go of his fear by striving towards empowering others, inspiring them and equipping them in order to gain influence that will one day enable his follower(s) to buy into his vision and to do the right thing even when no one is watching.
Other speakers at the conference included Albert Khevare, mentor, coach and HR Business Partner at NAMCOR, as well as five outstanding female leaders including Liezl Davies, the first female Operations Manager at Rössing Uranium; Mercy M Situmbeko, Head of the Vocational Training Centre and Manager of Training and Development at Nampower; Barbara Kamba-Nyathi, inspirational speaker, life and wellness coach and author; Tabea Boye, an inspirational speaker, awareness coach and growth specialist; and Talita Horn, Chief Financial Officer at Namibia Wildlife Resorts.
PHOTO CAPTION:
Inspired young leaders – Proudly showing off their certificates of attendance are some of the team members who were sponsored by Erongo Marine Enterprises to take part in the Young Professionals Leadership Development Conference which took place in Windhoek earlier this month. From left to right: Marvellous Shilongo (Former NUST SRC President), Paul Tangeni Ndjambula (Executive Assistance to the MD), Oaitse van Staden (Erongo Marine HR Manager), Orlanda Kambindangolo (Document Clerk), Joram Shifa (Intern), Simon Petrus (EME Scholar), Kudzai F. Sibanda (UNAM SRC President), Tonateni Shaetenge (EME Intern) and Tareree Kaura (EME Intern).