Monica Kalondo – Stimulus Investments Limited As Managing Director and one of the founders of Stimulus Investments Limited, Namibia’s first private equity fund, Monica Kalondo is a key player in the Namibian financial sector. The role she has played in the country’s enterprise system and her significant contributions to the economy were recognised recently when she was inducted into the Namibian Business Hall of Fame. Monica is highly respected in a sector dominated by white males. Fortunate not to have faced racism and gender discrimination herself, she nevertheless acknowledges that the problem exists in the corporate world. “I can’t change being female and I can’t change being black. I’m very proud of those two facts, so I work on developing myself in order to be taken seriously,” she says. “If I come in worrying about racism or about chauvinism I’ll find it, so I just don’t look for it. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy if that’s your starting point.” Ultimately, she says that people, regardless of their gender or race, have to work hard to prove themselves and gain respect. Due to Namibia’s severe skills shortage she simply does not see the reason why people who work hard and have the right qualifications, should be kept back. In the past Monica found it challenging to strike a balance between her professional and her personal life and admits that there were times when she neglected obligations towards her family and friends. She has since learned not to take on too much and improved her time management skills. Learning how to read people has also been vital, because Monica came to realise that she spent as much time on managing people’s emotions as on the technical aspects of her work. “I think the core of my work is managing other people’s emotions, and it’s difficult to manage people’s emotions if you are not balanced.” Thus, finding a balance within herself and taking time to focus on herself are essential for the execution of her work. Monica realises that she is “not your average Namibian anymore” and admits that sometimes she’s in danger of losing touch. This is understandable, considering that she moves in circles where people talk about spending N$10 000 on a handbag, which in this country is many people’s annual salary. “And that’s not normal!” she says. This consciousness lead Monica to write an e-mail to her close friends a few years back, in which she warned “We are on the wrong track; we are becoming materialistic; we are becoming too flashy, and we need to start saving.” She also outlined a few financial principles which must be respected. Although not Monica’s initial intention, her e-mail was widely circulated, and soon companies and community groups started approaching her about sharing her message in workshops. Since then she has been involved in financial literacy training, a service she offers free of charge to community groups, or for a nominal fee to corporate organisations. “These workshops help me re-contextualise where people are right now. They really bring me down to earth, because as much as I impart knowledge, I think I learn a lot as well.” Not shy to express her opinion that women make better leaders, Monica says, “Women are more interested in the advancement of others than their own advancement and will

pull other women with them. I don’t find that kind of nurturing and sharing in men.” Yet she stresses that the focus when developing female talent should be on quality not quantity. “I’d rather sit in a board room with ten men and one woman who is of such quality that she is taken seriously, than with ten men and five women, all of whom are just talking nonsense. Those five women are making it harder for other women to come through, because next time it will be used as an excuse not to appoint women.” Monica urges Namibians to take responsibility for their lives and to stop making excuses. She never let the fact that her parents weren’t rich hold her back, paying her own way since she was in Grade 9. “I’ve always worked holidays. I paid for my university. I have always been self-reliant,” she says. “Ultimately the responsibility is on you to live the life you want to live.”

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