Brenda Msangi: On leadership and having the right mindset

Dar es Salaam. Brenda Msangi, currently the Chief Executive Officer of Comprehensive Community Based Rehabilitation in Tanzania (CCBRT) is among the many inspirational women in Tanzanian societies.

She was born and raised in Dar es Salaam, received her primary education at Oysterbay Primary School and was selected to join Jangwani Girls Secondary School for Ordinary and Advanced education.

For her advanced education, Ms Msangi chose Physics, Chemistry and Biology (PCB) combination, where she was also studying general science. Her intentions were far from becoming a doctor as she preferred being a pharmacist instead.

Her father was behind Ms Msangi aspirations of becoming a pharmacist, whereas she applied for a master’s programme in the United Kingdom that went on for a period of four years.

“The four-year study were followed by another registration in Pharmacy as the masters do not qualify you enough,” she explains.

The registration demanded her to go through professional exams, and granted her the position of a pharmacist manager in the UK.

It was the spotlight and opportunity that detailed her not only as an African, but the 26 Tanzanian woman leader in a foreign position, leading a team of British citizens in healthcare industry.

How she Joined CCBRT

“In September 2009, I was called in for an interview, but I was not expecting to join the CCBRT team that soon,” Ms Msangi says.

She started out as a deputy director of community programmes, a position that made her grow in the management sector at CCBRT before she decided to finish her educational journey where she secured her second master’s degree in business administration.

In December, 2018 she was selected for the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) position after passing through different positions at the rehabilitation Center, along the process becoming not only the first woman CEO, but the first Tanzanian to hold the position in the organization’s history.

Ms Msangi, who is also the mother to three girls, says her leadership is not necessarily about titles.

“In my life to-do list, there was an opening for CEO position, all my life I had played different roles, so this position feels much like an evolvement from those roles,” she details.

Are mentors important for a successful story?

She says: “For any person to fully rise in a leadership or successful journey, they must have three people, a mentor, a coach and a sponsor,” reveals Ms Msangi.

She defines sponsor as a person who will always speak on your behalf, and will always push opportunities your way.

Ms Msangi further defines a coach as a person who will set your subject matter and skills set in your way, as they are also on the grounds with what you do.

She expresses a mentor as a person you look up to, even when they are not of the profession as you are, as long as they have the know-how to navigate across and the diversity.

She talks about leadership with the key being the people are the ones led and not things.

“Through Lean Management, I have learned that there is shared responsibilities and shared leadership which eases problem solving,” Ms Msangi notes.

It starts with a mindset, she says, that a mind of a leader sees the many challenges prevails but they are not afraid to solve all of them at a time. “A mind of a leader translates the problem in a way that will eliminate the problem in its totality,” Ms Msangi says.

She reveals that Lean management is about continuous improvement that demand someone to remove waste and adapt to changes on a daily basis.

“There are several kind of wastes, such as waiting, repeatedly motions, since you learn new inventors every other day,” says Ms Msangi. She reveals that being a leader has made her other women’s mentor and a leader.

“One of my leadership style is that I am so passionate about moulding other positively impacted leaders,” says Ms Msangi. She emphasises that Leadership is about asking the right questions, as that determines the quality of an answer.

She talks about her digital platform ‘Dear Girlchild BMK’ where she intentionally mentor upcoming leaders.

“I call it that way, but my platform reaches out to both female and male mentees who seek answers to different developmental questions,” explains Ms Msangi.

She says the number of women in the top positions in the health sector is not appealing.

“There is a lot of work to be done, because people still do not trust business leaders to be female because when I was appointed to be the CEO, people predicted that CCBRT will not last for more than three months,” explains Ms Msangi.

She is grateful to her parents who did not treat her any different than her brother because through that she has learned that she can wear ‘several identity hats’ besides being a woman.

“Many girls do not have the same upbringing, they are brought up in a way that they feel that they deserve being treated inferiorly because of their gender,” notes Ms Msangi.

She adds: “You choose what hat to wear, I can be in the leadership hat, a father hat, a mother hat and all of the others, all at the same time.”

She concludes that on a leadership safari, people must surround themselves with positive yet supportive figures.

“I have a husband who will hold my hand through thick and thin as well as other people who can risk anything for my achievement, but I have had my most vulnerable moments where I felt I was not ‘it’, I felt helpless, but what calms me is that it is all part of a process that should never be rushed, as it often ends with a successful story,” Ms Msangi details.

“I once had a guest who had informed me of his visit prior to arriving at CCBRT, I decided to welcome him in, to my surprise he asked me if he could see the director, it made me furious knowing that he thought of me differently than what I was, as if I was not deserving of the position,” she says.

She adds that each derail has a purpose, so women have to trust the process, know their financial status, take care of their finances and enjoy their beautiful journeys.