It’s the period just after COVID 19, everybody is struggling to get back to their normal life, This boy is struggling to raise his new born boy with no recognisable ‘hustle’. Things are tough but you have to get tougher. After all you chose this for yourself, and if the norm is you fight like a man, well, do it.
At this point or any other point in my life, I have never looked down on myself, at the face of any obstacle, I always believed I was the solution. Well, this is different. I have to fulfil the expectations of anyone who’s met me. No choice . No option. ,You can ask anyone who knows what it has taken to get me here.
During my lone ‘depressed’ times, I peruse the internet and apply for every job opportunity available to get out of this societal mirror. This day, early June 2022, I get a call from Fridah, (I know her now because I’ve met her several times as a 4G HR representative especially during induction). Christopher, you have an interview in two days. Wait, I know this company, they invited me for interview earlier in the year but I couldn’t honor the invite due to financial constraints. This time around, I was more than determined to attend. How I got the money is a long story (for another day 😉).
I arrived for the interview thinking it’s a competition of like 2 or 3 participants. I was shocked and a little shaken by the number of interviewees, waiting wishfully, hoping that today is their day. I can’t lie, I felt sad for my self. It’s a lost battle, I told myself, but something told me, it’s just an extension of who you can be, the section is long.
To cut the long story short, I was successful and joined a group of individual who were selected for further training… to make the story shorter, I was late on my very first day 🫢. As I entered the training room, I was invited by the big, beautiful, uncompromising eyes of Tess. I felt a slight panic, not knowing what the consequences would be.
Come on, breath!
She emphasised on the importance of punctuality and thankfully I wasn’t dismissed but given a firm warning. I took it seriously from that day and I can say my admiration of Tess has never wavered.
It’s the final day, the signs are showing I am one of the most popular, proactive and sharp trainees. Well, where will be posted? Where will it be?
During the training period, we used to analyse merlin reports and Umoja at the time was at the bottom of the rank in terms of branch performance and compliance. No one wanted to be sent there as the branch was literally in the ruins. Guess what, as your boy’s fate may have it, I was sent there.
Well, here we are in Umoja, and they send Sector Manager, Kelvin Karani, our way. The first impression was alright though the voice in my head was vivid, “Tomorrow you start working boy. It’s time you put everything you learnt into practice.
Two weeks later, there was an entire new team assigned to the Umoja Branch, new Branch Manager, new Loan Officer, new Collection Officer. Twende Vita. TULUMBE.
At that point I became a motivation speaker dishing words of wisdom such as ‘the rejected stone becomes the corner stone’, ‘success is not owned but rented and the rent is due everyday, so let give it our all. In the first month, we streamlined the branch collection, in the next month we hit the disbursement target. From there, we took up the challenge to turn our branch around. We have to grow, we have to collect and we have to do this as a team.
6 months later, we hit the targets. Can you believe it? The full bonus was sweeeeet and was a great source of motivation.
8 months later, our effort did not go ignored. We were a hot topic of conversation, “Umoja is doing this…! Umoja is doing that..! They are shinning!” but we never let it go to our heads. Why? Because we were chasing the bag.
10 months later I got an invitation to attend a Branch Manager interview. I went there with the same confidence that I channelled to attack the impossible Umoja task. A few days later, I received communication from HR to report to Kangema as a BM. What do we do here? We went for our targets relentlessly and in 4 months, our efforts were once again recognised. Just like that a new pair LO-CO pair was put under my wing. What? this happened so fast so fast, am I that good? Is it God’s grace? How am I worthy?
By the time I asked myself these questions, I had earned an entire year’s Full Bonus. We smashed our targets with passion until it became a norm, then I thought, I must have been doing something right.
Want to know my recipe for success? It’s believing in possibility, it’s believing in your ability, it’s challenging oneself in the face of difficulty, it’s not settling for the norm, it’s aiming higher, it’s wanting more for oneself, it’s doing the right thing at the right time, it’s not settling for less, it’s always challenging one’s potential.
To the incoming warriors, welcome to the world of possibilities, to the existing warriors, numbers are loud and no stories are the same. Aspire to make your own extra ordinary story, bit by bit, day by day.
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