The importance of having women in leadership roles

There are a myriad of reasons that impede women from attaining success in their careers; one of them is the lack of a succession plan, a shortcoming that has for many years held back women’s progress.

Ms Hilda Nakajumo, the head of customer value management at Multichoice Tanzania, speaks about how she was able to attain success and also shares nuggets on why women fail to make it to top leadership positions.

Just like other women, Nakajumo has encountered many obstacles, especially those of stereotype, but they didn’t stop her from achieving her dreams.

She holds a degree in computer engineering from the City and Guilds of London Institute in the UK and a master’s degree in international business administration from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade.

She told Rising Woman that “the journey to achieving your goals is not an easy task, especially if you are a woman. There are many obstacles, but there is no turning back; instead, you must endeavour to move forward.”

Ever since she was young, she always had the desire to become a leader some day. Despite her current role, she says that her dream has not yet come true; she has only attained 60 percent of her goals.

In the next five years, she wishes to be among the women in Africa who have made a positive contribution to uplifting other young women.

How she started

Nakajumo has always been confident in her work. Her journey to success started at the age of 19, when she was employed at a mobile company as a customer care officer.

Due to her hardworking traits, good attitude and delivery, and aggressiveness, she was promoted to the customer service manager position after three years.

“After I got this position as a manager, that’s when I started to face the challenges of being gender stereotyped. Some said to me that I would not make a positive contribution. In short, stereotypes still exist in many offices but should not be a reason for women to fail to show their abilities,” she said.

She says that she had to make a lot of sacrifices to get to where she is today, noting that working with her team has enabled her to achieve some of the milestones over the years.

Nakajumo believes that among the challenges that make leaders fail to achieve their goals is underestimating their subordinates and viewing their ideas as meaningless, adding that there are no stupid ideas.

“In making sure that I achieve my goals, I always ensure that I have good communication with the team that I manage, and I always listen to their ideas and give them the opportunity to give advice on what needs to be dome. This gives them a lot of confidence, and they view themselves as part of solutions,” she insisted.

Nakajumo believes that mentorship is very important for young girls because a large number of them don’t know what they want, so they need people to guide them. She thinks that more women who have been successful should start a mentorship program.

She says in her department she has been able to mentor two girls who are currently managers, and she continues to mentor the other four. “The task of a mentor is to tell the truth; unfortunately, if you tell the truth, some may never come back,” she says.

Furthermore, she says many women leaders fail because they are not ready to get out of their comfort zone; that’s why they don’t hold top positions.

“I would advise my fellow women leaders and those who are dreaming of becoming leaders to get out of their comfort zones and instead start networking with other people; this will help you get new ideas,” she says.

On the issue of attitude, Nakajumo says, “I always tell people that you can impart skills to anyone, but you cannot teach someone good attitudes; this should be self-driven and an inherent character,” she shares.

Nakajumo believes that having women leaders is very important. First, it leads to a higher level of employee engagement. Second, women are empathizers, which means they have a way of talking to employees and solving the problem.

“Women are also diverse and multitaskers by nature; they have the ability to do many things at the same time; they can juggle many hats. So, having women in leadership is very important,” she added.