Pinehas Nakaziko
Windhoek-Life coach, motivational speaker and member of the Toastmasters International, Gebhard Mvula, who has spoken at various schools on Building Self Belief and the Power of Positive Affirmations, seems to have the welfare and well-being of the young at heart.
This is to help them make it in their lives. “I was very depressed. I felt lost. The future seemed bleak. I struggled for years to come to terms with it but I was always criticised for being different. My friends didn’t like that. I was always having a different opinion on anything. Sometimes they would create anti-me groups,” Mvula explains his struggles in life following the loss of his mother at an early age. He is a native of the capital but grew up in Okongo, a village in the Ohangwena Region, where he lived with his grandparents. He attended many schools such as the Augeikhas Primary School between1996 – 1997, Martti Ahtisaari Primary School from 1998 –2002, and finished his secondary schooling at Windhoek’s Centaurus in 2007.
“At school I was part of many undefeated soccer teams. I was also the best in high jump at primary level despite my short height,” he says.
“I aligned myself to people that wanted to pass each and every test. We would compete for everything in class. This pushed me to always do my best,” he says. After high school, financial crises hit Mvula, forcing him to take a one-year break.
“I didn’t have money and missing a year of schooling was not a good experience for me. I was obviously unhappy being at home for a full year but I have to say that that year was a blessing in disguise because it gave me the opportunity to really think about what I wanted to study,” he says.
His passion for computer science was inspired by one of his cousins, Eddie Kafita. He later started reading about business computing and learned how to operate a computer.
“I later learned that business computing would allow me to become a business analyst.” This led him to study business computing at the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST). Between 2010 and 2011, Mvula was elected as a students’ representative for the business computing department for a year. In 2011 he graduated as the best final year student in business computing.
His involvement in youth matters came with the Future My Choice programme some years ago. “This opportunity comes whenever I am invited by a school or I approach schools just to share a word of encouragement with learners.”
Mvula was also a speaker at the Youth Inspire event hosted by Prince Hangula, where he spoke on Becoming a Visionary.
“I was also recently invited by one of the NUST lecturers to share my story with students. The title of the presentation was Penduka (Awaken). I also have one-on-one coaching sessions with individuals who want to improve their lives through changing their beliefs, becoming more positive to overcome challenges in life and basically taking ownership of your life and living a fulfilling life,” he says. He adds that all that has helped the youths to become more visionary and problem solvers – he believes that whatever problem one is facing, there is also an opportunity.
Apart from that, Mvula is a senior internal auditor at the Bank of Namibia. He has worked for the Ministry of Health and Social Services as a systems and network administration intern, Luminus Consult as IT consulting trainee, Epupa Investment as an IT field support officer and at Deloitte Namibia as senior IT audit consultant.
“Basically the job entails mainly understanding the business environment and then assessing the adequacy, efficiency and effectiveness of internal controls.”
The next five years Mvula not only sees himself as a professional in IT. “I also see myself becoming a world class motivational speaker and life coach.”
He advises the youth to determine where they are at the moment and then where they want to go. “That is, becoming visionary. I will also want them to awaken from the belief that a better life is only meant for a ‘selected’ few.”