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Driven to do the best

Justicia Shipena





Hailing from down south in Lüderitz, Ursula Mwatire ‘Mwati’ Uyumba is a human capital practitioner at Namibia Wildlife Resorts (NWR).

She is touches “a little bit of everywhere” through her department.

She describes herself as an outdoors person, with a love for adventure and sport, and considers herself to be an introvert.

Speaking to Careers, Uyumba said that work is not exciting if one is not faced with challenges. She says challenges are new opportunities, dressed in work clothes, which help her with her growth.

She said in her line of work, you are faced with a lot of challenges, with one not being more significant than the other; and mind you, there are always solutions.

Her accomplishments include completing short courses that add weight to her degree, managing conflict - both at work and her personal life – and promoting a healthy attitude at work, through encouraging her co-workers to participate in good initiatives, at work and in their communities.

A typical day in the office sees her deal with a lot of administration work, and answering and advising on queries brought to her.

“It’s not as dull as it sounds, because every day you're faced with new cases, each having its own merits,” she said.

She said last year in April the human capital department had a teambuilding exercise, with one of the tasks being to hold a piece of paper behind your back. People then wrote down bullet points to highlight what kind of person they think you are.

“This is what they said about me: Steadfast, confident, good entertainer, honest, helpful, team player, bold, good communicator and passionate; and this is what makes me unique,” she said.

Uyumba grew up in a family with strong religious beliefs and this has helped strengthen her faith.

Her number-one cheerleaders and advisors are her family and close friends, who she considers family, as they are her support system.

“I am inspired by the little things in life, from the beautiful nature our country has to offer, to inspirational books, motivational talks and the music I listen, and even the smallest gestures of respect and kindness we show to each other,” she said.

Her advice to young people out there is: “Dream it. Love it. Live it”

She added that people always ask her what this means. She explained that we all dream of what we want to do, be or achieve, and once you dream about it, you develop a love for it, while developing faith and working hard towards your dream, causing you to live it in the end.

Quoting Pablo Picasso, she said: “Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.”

She says this helps her to work hard towards her dreams.

Her future plans are to enrol for her master of business administration (MBA) degree and to get involved in social projects that are aimed at helping the youth reach their full potential.

She wants to cheer youth on in the same way that her support system does for her.