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Believe in the plan

Octavia Tsibes

NMH rewarded 42 employees and Yochanaan Coetzee was awarded the employee of the year 2018 title, after scoping two other awards in other categories. There were 29 categories and Coetzee was also announced as the video of the year winner and the CEO 10 moments category winner.

He started off his career in hospitality, while also working as a freelance feature writer and photographer.

In 2013 he joined The Weekender team at a local newspaper. His editor at that time at The Namibian newspaper encouraged him to apply for vacant, post regardless of not being qualified, and he did so and got the job.

Coetzee is known to be a hard worker and very a positive individual; he makes sure whatever he does is done well

Coetzee joined NMH in June 2016 as a junior journalist and after a year and eight months he was promoted to a senior journalist at Republikein.

“When I moved to Republikein I could not write Afrikaans, I could just speak the language. I had to teach myself how to write the language and connect with a whole new audience. The editorial team at Republikein helped me throughout the learning process. After a year, and before being promoted, I learnt that hard work does really pay off,” Coetzee said.

The newsroom knows Coetzee as ‘Yogi’ a journalist that has the ability to uplift co-workers and paint a continued positive image of NMH. “Although I am always positive, 2018 was a rough year for me because I recently turned 30 and it made me realised that life is truly a journey. You need to have a concrete plan of action,” Coetzee said.

He said winning the employee of the year award has motivated him to keep on doing a brilliant job.

He is always ready to assist. He is humble and learns from people from all walks of life.

“Everyone at NMH is employee of the year if they are on the same page about where the company is headed and believes in the plan,” Coetzee said.

Due to circumstances he could not finish his tertiary education.

“At that time I did not have a clear idea of what I wanted to pursue, but after eight years of searching I discovered that my passion is writing and giving people the platform to tell their story, because I believe that this changes someone’s life.” He has also completed a few short courses on the fundamentals of filmmaking and social media marketing, presented by Cecil Muller.