After 6 months of being self employed, I went back to work on 1 April 2018. I had planned to stay for a few months as I had big plans back home in Zimbabwe, I had planned to grow tobacco on a bigger scale at least 10 hectares, I had learnt in 2016 that tobacco farming needed you to be on the ground and I also wanted to upscale my piggery project. Anyway being Zimbabwe things went from bad to worse especially with the return of Zimbabwean dollar. They say you never lose either you win or learn.
I spent many months regretting why I had come back to work in the first place. I like this Nigerian proverb, “no matter how hot your anger is, it cannot cook yams”. Having read Chinua Achebe’s triology, yams are a staple food more like maize meal that we use to cook our sadza(pap). At times it is better to forgive yourself and move on. It is always the hardest thing to do. I decided just to focus on the here and now. From October last year I just started working very hard.
I worked every Saturday and every public holiday when our office was open, 16 December, 26 December and 1 January. I was a top performer in our department in 4 of the five months from October to February, I came a close second in January (anyway who remembers number 2🙈 We all know Neil Armstrong was the first man to walk on the money and very few of us know about Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin who was the second man. I remember one of characters on Toy Story movie was named Buzz)
In the process I broke some smaller nyana records (to quote former Minister Bathabile Dhamini 🤣) especially in December 2019. I am very positive my December record will stand the test of time 💪🏿I am used to breaking records. I am a very competitive person, in primary school I would cry if I was not number 1🙈. I was once told that it was impossible to win top performers’ incentive from Business claims. In 2011 I was the first person to win from Business Claims, my friend Lloyd Naidoo became the second person to do so a few years later. In 2016 I won the incentive again from Business Claims having won it again in 2014 from Accidents Claims.
Succeeding in anything takes a lot of mental strength whether it’s running a marathon, running a business or simply completing a task. Many times you feel like you want to quit and it is normal, you dig deeper and find your strength and you stagger ahead. In December I was supposed to go on leave for almost 3 weeks, I told my boss a few days before my leave was due to start that I was going to cancel my leave and I am glad I did that.
No one is self made in this world, we all rely on support around us to succeed. My wife MaNyoni Onita Kanyoka would wake up early in December to help me prepare for work even though she was on leave. Most days she would sit in the car waiting for me to finish work. My boss Abigail Bella Mampuru also had to handle huge volumes of work from me and I go to her to complain and she would listen patiently and tell me, “ It’s okay you can complain because I know by the time you complain you would have tried to handle it on your own”🙏🏿 I am grateful for the help I get from all the team managers in Non Motor Claims who helps me when my boss is not around.
This month I have been at OUTsurance for a cumulative 12 years, I guess I am now part of the furniture 💃🏿🕺🏿I first joined OUTsurance starting 1 September 2007 and that was a week after I relocated from Zimbabwe 🙏🏿
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