By Staff Reporter
WINDHOEK – Tim Ekandjo, Chief Human Capital and Corporate Affairs Officer at Mobile Telecommunications Limited (MTC), was bestowed with the African Leadership Award in the category of human resources.
The award is conferred to outstanding professionals who have demonstrated vision, flair, acumen and professionalism in leadership and management skills in an organisation, thus making changes and achieving results for their institutions.
The conferment took place in Mauritius at the posh Le Meridien resort situated in the North West coast part of the country in Pointe Aux Piments Bay yesterday.
Over 150 senior leaders, business executives and decision makers from various countries attended the annual award ceremony.
The awards are aimed at showcasing achievers and leaders who have demonstrated leadership capabilities in creating business opportunities by which growth and development has occurred.
The event is a professional one which allows stakeholders to share knowledge and experiences.
Ekandjo, a leading human resources expert in Namibia, is credited for transforming the face of the HR profession in the country especially at MTC where he works.
This is not the first feather in the cap for Ekandjo. In 2012 he was awarded the HR and Business Leadership Award at the Africa/India Partnership Summit. This was soon followed by the coveted HR Leadership Award by the World Human Resource Development Congress in February 2013.
Quoting Aristotle who once said, “The whole is more than the sum of its parts,” Ekandjo said this was certainly true if one talked about the practice of human resources as an organisation could not build a good team of working professionals without a good human resources set up.
“It is not just enough to have all managers fully understand the organisation’s business plan. This should be underpinned by a strong skills set as identified by the HR audits within the organisation,” said Ekandjo
He said he was honoured to receive the exceptional award from the Africa Leadership Awards as recognition for his commitment to the profession of human resources.
“I am, therefore, accepting this not just on my own behalf but also on behalf of my country Namibia, and the profession of HR and MTC for its persistent pursuit to the cause of excellence.”
Ekandjo holds a Masters in Business Leadership from UNISA, Masters in HR and B: Tech Degree in Human Resource Management and a National Diploma in Human Resource Management from Peninsula Technikon in Cape Town.
He has worked across Africa with multinationals such as Sanlam South Africa, Shell Uganda, Shell Mozambique, Togo, Morocco and Botswana. He is also the President of the Institute of People Management (IPM) Namibia, an institution he helped found to chart the path of the human resources profession and its development into a composite skills in- dustry in Namibia.