THE LONG WALK TO CORPORATE LEADERSHIP

THE LONG WALK TO CORPORATE LEADERSHIP

Introduction

This is a summarized account of my personal experiences, achievements, risks and the impact that they have had on my life and the challenges that I have faced in this journey that God has assigned to me called life. Generally I have come from a humble background and not only humble but a poor family.

I was born in the year 1977 in the central southern African country known as Zambia in the town of Ndola. Of the five of us in the family Iam the only male child. None of my four sisters had any little bit of schooling, although my mother uses to tell me that my father was educated, but with her she had none.

Getting started

In the year 1985 I was enrolled in school at the age of ten at Northrise primary school in the second grade. The reason as to why I delayed to be enrolled in school is not known to me because I use to admire my friends who were going to school and frantically made a lot of calls on my father to take me to school. Although I loved school so much I immediately got frustrated in the very term I was taken to school because I did not even know what was require of me to do by the grade teacher and where to start from because of late my beginning of school.

In this same year my father died and my mother relocated to some rural area between the Ndola city and Kapiri Mposhi town, a place called Silangwa. Because my mother loved me so much which I also did, coupled with the frustrations at school I decided to go and join my mother in the rural area.

Dramatically this place had only two forms of life for people like me at that age. You either go to school or go to work in the fields. At first I tried to put up with field work since school was already frustrating, but field work was too tough at the age of ten. So I asked mother to enroll me at the nearby school about five kilometers away from home, this in fact was far much better a distance compared to some of our friends who were walking ten to fifteen kilometers. Because of the contrast between the two I choose to be in school.

In the fifth grade things dramatically took a different direction when I managed to get position six in a class of about 30 pupils proceeding to the sixth grade, at that time I realized that it is easy to just get what others were getting even better than many of them. Now I knew what to do and how to do it and were I will be if I get the best grades in the seventh grade and consequently finish my ordinary level and get a college place to study to be like one of the chief executive officer. Finally to read a comfortable life and save my family from the poverty that haunted me through my school life.

More Work

As the zeal for the brighter future began to increase it become very easy for me to pass to grade eight and get back to the urban area to continue with my education at Chifubu secondary school from 1991 to 1995. This period made up what I consider to be core making of my life and character. The period was tough as from time to time I had to leave lessons and try to do some business to raise money for school fees, books and other essentials.

Ideally the field work that I was running away from at the village now became an important tool for survivor as each school holiday I use to go and prepare my own fields of seedling so as to raise more money as more expenses arose. At this same time I was faced with the challenge to study hard within the shared limited time and to make matters worse we had no electricity where I was living and hence strategy becomes critical or else you will have to perform badly at school.

Getting a job without any formal training in Zambia is not an easy game, so when I finished my ordinary level education I knew that it was not easy for my parents to send me to the college or university and hence more work and critical strategies needed to employed. So I got a job as Security Guard with Securicor security and worked in the night shift and would study own my own at the library for an accounting course with Zambia Institute of Chartered Accountants –Zica (National Accounting technicians Programme – Natech).

Because I was not getting enough from my job, I could not afford to pay for tuition fees so I just got the syllabus for the course and then bought some material I could afford and studied hard so as to make sure that the money I paid as examination fees is not just wasted and I did just that. Although it took me longer than usual to complete the course I did just that so that I may not consider myself not to have done enough to secure my life and that of many who may depend on me later.

Light at the end of the tunnel

Indeed, it has not been any easy root for me and many more out there who may be going through the same or similar challenges, but what I know and believe is that it’s me to be my own soldier and that I have to put up a good fight to realize my dream. Three years later with the help of my little education I left Securicor and joined a mining company. It could be fine for one to be content with this, looking at where aim coming from, but the problem I have now is that I risk losing my dream because the position am holding now is to limited as a career profile and far away from the line of my dream.

I have always dreamt to be business corporate leader and what I need is the education that will usher me into this route. If I cannot be chief executive officer of a big corporate body that is out there then I just need to start one myself which will grow to be a big corporate business in the world.

I know my responsibility and my role in this route, but to succeed every one need the support and help from people like you and organizations like yours because success is team work and this is just what I need. The exposure, the experience, the skills and challenges I may obtain from this sponsorship may be the missing link that I need.

Conclusion

I know that the challenges, achievements, experiences and risks I have face before have put me into the track to get to where I want to be. Thus getting this sponsorship will make me realize how just possible it will be to get there and just give to this world what it expects from me and fill like having fulfilled what I can consider to be my service to my country and my people and thereafter rest in peace and proud of having lived on this planet.

Simon Warren Mulenga

My full addresses is:

• c/o Mopani copper mines plc,
• Geology department, North shaft, Box 22000,
• Kitwe -Zambia
• simonwarrenmulenga@ymail.com