How Happiness has managed to hone her leadership skills

Saying “yes” to opportunities has helped a lot of people achieve success. Even those who might have doubt in themselves or inhibitions tend to find a way to make it.

However, saying “yes” might at times prove too difficult, especially when the task ahead of you seems herculean.

Such inhibitions have no place in Happiness Watimanywa’s space.

Happiness, the Head of Digital Innovation at Mwananchi Communications Limited (MCL) and 2013 Miss Tanzania, says she has always been open to opportunities and new challenges.

In 2010, she recorded an academic milestone when she led more than 150 countries in the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) in the subject of accounting in the Form Four exams.

Happiness subsequently studied remotely for a Bachelor of Sciences (BSc) in applied accounting at Oxford Brookes University, which enabled her to work towards the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants (ACCA) qualification.

At the same time, she worked for a local small business and an audit firm. She later joined KPMG as an auditor, where she served some well-known multinational companies.

Speaking about herself, the jovial tech-savvy achiever explains that she’s someone who’s interested and more curious about people.

“I was born in western Tanzania, in Tabora, and my family moved around the country. This exposed me to different people and cultures, but I was also privileged to get an education in different places such as Iringa, Dar es Salaam, Arusha, Tabora, and Songea. It is this experience that ignited my interest and curiosity about people,” Happiness explains.

Such an interest in people has helped her to understand human contexts and contributing factors.

“I think when you’re interested in people, you learn that you’re becoming the most interesting person,” says Happiness.

It’s not the first time that Happiness has been in a leadership position; her ability to lead can be traced back to her school days at St. Constantine’s School, where she was selected as a prefect and later became the head girl.

From there, she learned that leadership is not about you but rather a service that you provide to the people around you.

“When you’re in a leadership position, you’re not there to project your thoughts, feelings, and desires onto other people; your job is to facilitate those that you serve by encouraging them to do their best work and be the best versions of themselves,” she says.

When Happiness was crowned Miss Tanzania in 2013, she viewed the title as a leadership role, contrary to public perceptions.

“When you receive the crown, you become the representative of the nation. So many young people look up to you for guidance, and it’s a platform for service. From there, I got to represent different organisations, spreading the message of the importance of family planning and promoting my country,” Happiness says.

She adds that, whether it’s a traditional view or not, any place a person goes, they are supposed to empower others.

After retiring the Miss Tanzania crown, Happiness entered the corporate world, starting from the bottom and working her way up to top management.

While she’ll always keep her roots in accounting and finance, Happiness has also found her purpose in technology.

Her time at Start-up Grind, where she worked as a chapter lead, prepared her to take on the demanding leadership roles she continues to land to date.

Being daring is also something that Happiness has manifested over and over: “I had a successful career as an auditor back in 2020, and I left my job to venture into financial coaching and working with individuals. From that space, I bumped into digital technology,” she says.

“When you run a start-up, you need to roll up your sleeves. Such an experience made me want to learn more about technology. I then became the lead for the Dar es Salaam Start-up Grind, a community of fourteen hundred people that includes founders, individuals, innovators, and employees,” she explains.

She further adds that, “I think through that, I was preparing myself for even more demanding leadership roles, because now with MCL, I have found my place, and I came here because of the innovation work I have done previously.”

Answering the question of whether she knew where she wanted to be career-wise from an early stage, Happiness says she has always had an open mind. It is that same open-mindedness that guided her into modeling, accounting, finances, and now technology.

Speaking about mentorship, Happiness says she’s always been receptive to the idea of being taught and teaching others. One of her mantras that has kept her focused on her goals is, “Always give opportunities a chance. If something doesn’t work, then you can always change your mind, but you don’t want to let the opportunity pass you by without trying.”

Sharing her thoughts about women being in leadership positions, Happiness says that having a woman in a leadership position is beneficial because women easily connect with people.

“Women are compassionate; they make people feel that their opinion matters and that they are valued. This is a natural trait for women,” she says.

Happiness believes that, for women to achieve their dream of ascending the corporate ladder, they must sing their own praises.

“Men are very good when it comes to praising themselves after doing well, and they don’t shy away from telling you about their achievement. For women, this doesn’t come naturally, so we definitely need to praise ourselves with confidence.”