A head for numbers

Jennifer Comalie is a determined woman who does not allow glass ceilings to stop her from achieving her goals.
Michelline Nawatises
Monique Adams

Jennifer Comalie is the new finance and customer service strategic executive at the City of Windhoek.

Comalie is a qualified chartered accountant with 25 years’ experience in finance, accounting, strategy development and implementation.

She always loved numbers so becoming an accountant was a natural choice for her. She started working as an accountant in 1995 and qualified as a chartered accountant in 2004.

“My first degree is from Stellenbosch University and the rest I did part-time through UNISA. I am mentioning this because I know how tough the journey can be but stick with it, it truly comes with huge rewards,” she says.

She loves transformation and always seeks opportunities that allow her to grow. So far, she has mainly worked in the financial service industry, in various positions from board member to heading the operations of a bank.

“I love challenges and thought that the City would present good opportunities for me to learn and grow and given my experience, I would like to contribute to building a sustainable City,” she says.

Putting herself out there and not being afraid to fail and learn from her mistakes, Comalie says her work experience has prepared her for this new role and is excited about the journey ahead. She says she does not want to plan life too far ahead and describes herself as a “live in the moment” kind of person.

“It’s very easy to say what inspires me in life; that is my family and friends - spending quality time with them is what really completes me,” she says.

When her busy schedule allows, Comalie loves hanging out with people, but she makes sure to have some “me time”.

“I listen to music, take walks and also like to reflect on what happened during the day and those moments create the opportunity for personal growth,” she says.

She is not a fan of attaching yourself to a specific title; she wants to contribute to the organisation to make a positive impact.

“With this new appointment I see it as an opportunity and feel very fortunate to be part of the team. Gender diversity is important and representation of women in the workplace can have a positive effect across the entire organisation. For anyone who wants to follow in my footsteps, my advice would be to do something every day that challenges you, do your job with passion and the rest will follow,” she says.