The story of the young girl Alisa Amupolo, now Dr Amupolo as of last week after she graduated from the University of Namibia with a Doctor of Business Administration degree, will make you emotional if you were to listen to it being told by her mother.
I was privileged to attend Dr Amupolo’s graduation celebration party soon after the graduation and witnessed members of the audience who comprised friends, relatives and workmates, getting emotional when her mother solemnly narrated how she hatched a plan of asking a tailor to make an oversized uniform dress for young Alisa, which she would wear for five solid years and saved the family money of buying the uniform every year.
“I planned the dress to last for five years. At first, Alisa was happy, but she realised that she was the only one with a very long dress at the school, and she did not like it. I did not allow her to shorten the dress because I could not afford to buy uniforms year after year,” explained Alisa’s mother to the awe-struck audience.
The mother then said Alisa had two problems – the long dress and poor English when she went for secondary education.
“She struggled with speaking English because of the local school, and I advised her to study hard and use library resources; she did so and improved her English,” she said.
As if not to be outdone by his wife, Alisa’s father drove her to Oshigambo Secondary School at the age of 12 only once.
“I remember dropping you off at school only once. After that, you took the challenge of navigating to school on your own, showing incredible independence. You walked those long distances, and you excelled. There was never a moment of failure, you remained focused, dedicated and committed to your studies. Completing your secondary education at 17 years was not a mean feat, and we were immensely proud of your achievements,” remarked her father.
In hindsight, Dr Amupolo’s humble beginnings as a village girl in northern Namibia up to now when she can proudly put the title ‘Dr’ before her name inspired the audience. It was testimony to the fact that Dr Amupolo was not born with a silver spoon in her mouth. It was also clear that Dr Amupolo’s parents’ actions were not ill meant, but were there to give her lessons of resilience and perseverance in life.
Dr Abiner Shopati, Alisa’s main supervisor testified that she worked very hard from the proposal stage to the completion of her doctorate titled, Developing an Implementation Framework for Substantive Board of Directors’ Succession for Commercial Public Enterprises, Namibia: A Normalisation Process.
He emphasised that doctoral students should establish a professional relationship with their supervisors in order to succeed as Alisa did. The core supervisor was Dr Muree Tjiueza, the acting director of Namibia Business School of the University of Namibia.
Dr Alisa Elise Lyagwanithwa Amupolo is the chief executive officer of Namibia Desert Diamonds (Namdia). She is also a commissioner at National Council for Research, Science and Technology (NCRST), and non-executive director at Energy Utility Holdings. Dr Amupolo has proved to be one of the finest gems of the corporate world in Namibia and internationally.
*Professor Jairos Kangira is a professor of English at the University of Namibia. E-mail address: kjairos@gmail.com