Miriamu: The secret to career growth is positive mindset

Dar es Salaam. For women who want to succeed, having a positive mindset is essential, according to Ms Miriamu Malima, the chief executive officer of UmojaSwitch Company Limited.

She asserts that, regardless of how hard a person tries, there will be obstacles along the way that will keep them from progressing in their career.

However, one can overcome these obstacles by maintaining a positive attitude and believing that one will succeed. “If you take the obstacles in a positive way, it’s easy to find a solution, but if you take them negatively, you will find yourself not moving forward into another point in your career growth,” says Ms Miriamu.

Ms Miriamu leads the strategic positioning and overall operations of the tech company.

She directs UmojaSwitch in the development and provision of electronic payment services and banking solutions to financial institutions across the country.

Her innovative strategies developed together with UmojaSwitch executives enabled the expansion of the Umoja network, the size of the company, the interoperability of Umoja products, and much more.

Prior to UmojaSwitch, she worked in management, finance and accounting, operations, leadership, business development, and strategic planning.

She has been supporting financial inclusion through the provision of a range of banking solutions that enable her to reach more people, including the unbanked and underserved populations.

However, Ms Miriamu is a certified public accountant (CPA-T) with a bachelor of commerce in accounting and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in corporate management, and she is pursuing postgraduate studies in economic diplomacy at the moment.

Ms Miriamu’s career journey to becoming the person she is today is all about her willingness to learn and be ready to take on any opportunities that stand in her way.

“I have grown step by step due to the various places I have been; it was through the time when I was in college but also through the places where I have been working. My first career started after I finished my first year of university studies; I started volunteering, and later on, I got a job in a bank in the finance and accounting department,” she explains.

Commenting on that, Ms Miriamu says that for her to grow, she started doing other initiatives until the point where she managed to get a place at UmojaSwitch, a technology company in Tanzania.

Her move into a technology company was a different opportunity because it’s a different field for her, but she managed to learn those technical skills, and now she’s the CEO.

Her success was inspired by two things: her self-belief to grow and the people who surround her.

“I will not forget the people who have been inspired in the process; there are those whom I have met in my studies who gave me ideas to do certain things. But there are others whom I have met at work with whom we connect,” says Ms Miriamu.

Speaking about UmojaSwitch, Miriamu explains that the organisation has strategies and initiatives in place to ensure women at the company feel valued and respected.

“We normally take them to different workshops to increase their knowledge and skills in their positions, but we also mentor them to become better versions of themselves. However, we create an environment where there is no bias between men and women; all employees are treated equally,” she says.

Commenting on that, the UmojaSwitch is also based on equal employment opportunity.

As she strives for success in her career journey, Ms Miriamu explains that what helps her the most to be here today are her clear goals, which she creates from the beginning.

“Having a clear goal helps me the most to be able to learn and be able to tackle challenges. Also, I have the confidence and belief in myself to take any opportunity that comes my way without fear. The last thing is networking in social life and the working environment to learn from others,” explicates Ms Miriamu.

When it comes to challenges that women face to become leaders, Ms Miriamu outlined that balancing work and social lives is a big challenge.

She says most women fail to balance their family responsibilities, work life, and other social lives, which prevents them from growing.

“There are times when work becomes too demanding at the same time the family needs you, and from there, most people decide to quit their jobs. The other thing is the beliefs; most believe that if a woman starts taking care of her family, she will not be able to do those effective jobs like men. So that becomes the biggest challenge because they won’t be able to get promotions,” she narrates.

Despite the situations, Ms Miriamu believes that if organisations create a friendly environment where women are motivated, then more women will have opportunities.

“If women are motivated within organisations, they will be able to grab opportunities without fear,” she explains, further adding that lack of confidence among most women leads to their not being able to grab opportunities.

“There are a lot of women in our country who are qualified and are well educated, but what failed them was a lack of confidence. But also, I encourage more women to consider their career development by adding more skills through work experience and training opportunities,” she says.

“All these are necessary because there are some opportunities that require experience and certificates, so we need to upgrade ourselves,” she adds.