Aspiring Abera hints on leadership accountability

Her career journey started as a junior bank officer at Tanzania Postal Bank (now Tanzania Commercial Bank) in 2008 and in 2010 moved to CRDB Bank Ltd. from 2010 again at junior position, serving different offices both CRDB headquarters and branches.

This is Abera Kitambi an Economist with outstanding experience in banking industry now serving as a Pugu Branch Manager.

In 2010 Abera joined the CRDB Bank and worked as a junior banker, serving in different departments from telling duties, business, administration and credit at the Lumumba Branch. From 2014 to 2015 she worked at the headquarter as a project member to a newly cheque and payment system.

She says, being a junior officer she was placed at different bank sections including the CRDB headquarters where she gained enough experience due to her superlative performance she was promoted to a managerial position in 2016 as a branch manager. She have served different branches including Mabibo Hostel Agency, Magomeni and Pugu branches.

“When I stepped into the banking industry, I knew I wanted to grow in my career. And in fact, I wanted to grow within one of the biggest and reputable banks in Tanzania, that is what motivated me to move from TCB to CRDB Bank, working hard to demonstrate my capabilities and eventually grow into what I am today,” says Abera.

Selflessness, authenticity, empathy and additivity are some of the few traits that define her as a leader who aspires to strengthen her career path in the management of financial institutions’ operations.

She believes in constant evolvement of the banking industry to improve quality of services by taking advantage of the fast-growing technology to the satisfaction of customers.

When asked on how women can develop their leadership skills, she says cultural obstacles need to be tackled to allow women gain equal leadership skills through capacity building and mentorship just as men do.

“Culture that embraced patriarchy system obscured women from rising to top leadership positions. However, with empowerment programmes, the concept is almost vanishing. Now women in Tanzania have risen to top levels to the extent of leading the country and other Key institutions within the government and other social and commercial institutions,” says Abera.

“The root of inequalities is the patriarchy system which is deep rooted in our societies. Efforts by authorities to eliminate the system through relevant legislation, education and other related measures will automatically trigger the capabilities of women to rise to leadership positions,” she adds.

Commenting on the challenges she is going through in her leadership journey, she says being a leader is quite time demanding, thus it is a challenge to have a work-life balance.

It is also challenging to harmonize some personalities to fit in the teams that I lead and achieve the expected goals and targets. However, out of all challenges I face, I see opportunities in them, especially the learning opportunities and improving opportunities, she adds.

She acknowledges the importance of mentorship programmes as a way of learning more and faster than not having one.

“Mentors provide us with vivid path and mistakes to avoid on the course of our carrier journey. It provides psychological personal and professional support which is also a key important contribution towards job satisfaction since we know there is someone I look up to there is someone to guide me and give me a honest feedback and times challenge me to be a bigger better person,” she adds.

“My aspiration to growth keeps me always motivated because I believe in constant growth to higher levels in performance, in career and in earning,” says Abera.

She says for people to succeed in their careers they need to dedicate efforts to work and have passion for learning.

Three Ps are key to people who are looking forward to career growth like Abera. The Ps are patience, persistence and perseverance.

She mentioned the benefits of having women leaders, saying that women are known to be good in multi-tasking. Having them in leadership especially in positions that require multi-tasking add a lot of value in leadership and performance at large.

“Naturally women are better in emotional quotient as they are good in empathizing with others, in overcoming challenges and in defusing conflicts, which is very necessary aspect in people’s management,” she adds.

As a way of improving gender equality we need to set leadership standards among people in leadership positions. However, women leaders should be able to use their natural values such as empathy and abilities to defuse conflicts so as to add value to their leadership and thus set a precedence for more women to be considered for promotion into leadership positions.

Her three guiding leadership principles she can never compromise are honest, integrity respect and accountability.

With integrity and honesty they define her as a leader and mostly important as a person.

She says, as a way protecting her intergrity she is a kind of a person who says things as they are. She refers the word ugly truth when giving feedback to the team and she expects to receive the same for her to grow.

“I can never compromise on the aspect of respect. I am a believer of giving what you expect to receive. Thus, mutual respect works best for me and no way I can compromise that from the customers that I serve to people that I lead,” she says.

She says she cannot compromise sense of responsibility and accountability as a leader. As a way to accelerate growth and performance and shape the team to the right direction, she says she leads by example and demonstrate those two important aspects of a leader.