Dar es Salaam. Susan Emmanuel (pictured) believes in pursuing one’s life dreams. She argues that all dreams are valid and that if one keeps pushing, then that person has a better chance of achieving what they seek to achieve.
Ms Emmanuel, who is an entrepreneur, heads a human resource management consulting firm dubbed SE & Co. The firm provides human resource solutions to a number of companies both in Tanzania and elsewhere in Africa.
She was recently named among top ten most influential people in executive hiring by CIO Views Magazine which is an American business publication that mainly focuses on emerging CIOs, their journeys, views on current economic states and all other relevant subjects that refers to the business world.
Ms Emmanuel shared her journey with The Citizen as an independent HR consultant which is a competitive industry and how she managed to build a well-recognized business in the span of just two years.
“I did my first degree as an archaeologist. However, I had to acquire several certifications in HR along the way,” she said.
“I had my fair share being employed, mostly in the ICT field where my forte was in banking and financial services. Also, for some time, I led a team as a sales and marketing manager,” she said.
Regardless of her employment status, Ms Emmanuel says she always had that urge to push boundaries and find opportunities to do more and achieve a bigger dream.
“I saw that there is a gap in the human resource field in Tanzania. There was a bit of a hassle for companies to find the perfect fit to a position. There was also a dire need for perception change on the employability status among people,”
“To bring change I decided to take that step outside and became independent,” she said.
Ms Emmanuel said in July 2020 after years of learning and relearning about the HR field, she decided to establish the SE & Co a human resource and business consulting firm in Tanzania established for the purpose of assisting firms acquire and develop human capital.
“We do HR solutions and recruitment at the centre. In recruitment, we do both local and expatriate hiring,” she says.
The company has so far been able to provide services in seven other countries--Senegal, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Congo, Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda.
“We are trying to establish a foot in the DR Congo and Zambia. Already, plans are afoot to start offices in those countries. We already have someone stationed in each of those countries, we also have a consultant in South Africa,” she said.
How to find a perfect fit?
When asked how she ensured that her clientele found a perfect fit, Ms Emmanuel said they usually advise them to make sure that it is an expert position on basis of job description and what they want to achieve.
“We also encourage local sourcing, jobs like sales manager, there is no need to import a foreigner for such posts so we consult our clients to also consider local markets,” she explains.
On the employability level in Tanzania
Education and development enthusiasts have for a long time been concerned about the lack of skills among university graduates, which is said to be one of the reasons many end up jobless after college.
For her part, Ms Emmanuel says this is due to gaps in the country’s education system. Often graduates face such challenges as lack of confidence, lack of ability to express ideas and issues with fluency in language.
“So, that is why we encourage graduates to always read widely so as to build their critical thinking, because you can have all the good grades and certificates but fail to obtain a job because you lack additional skills,” she says.
Recognizing this challenge, she says her consulting firm has established a campus offering a corporate programme that equips fresh graduates with necessary skills to help them land a job.
These include how to write a convincing curriculum vitae, self-presentation, interview skills, how to identify the perfect industry for one’s skill set and career guidance.
“We also plan to start a certification programme for professions which also helps in improving employability of a person,” she says.
Challenges as a woman entrepreneur
Even though the new administration under President Samia Suluhu Hassan has demonstrated that when given the chance, women can perform, Susan believes that there is still some stereotype against women in society that need to be tackled.
“We have seen how now we have multiple women as heads of key ministries in government, there is a lot of confidence and a lot of women have been motivated,” says Ms Emmanuel.
“Women have shown their capacity to multitask, one can be a wife, a mother and a boss at the same time,” she points out.
She reveals that one of her targets is to help a girl child, and she has been doing so with her mentorship and coaching programme.
“I’m currently looking for key stakeholders who I can partner with to expand these programmes and build capacity to the young generation, they need someone to look up to and directed in a way that they would achieve their goals.”
Susan Emmanuel who is also a former beauty queen who participated in Miss Tanzania contest in 2020 has achieved several professional accolades over the years, such as in September 2018, when she was selected to present at CEOs Roundtable discussion on Sustainable Investments projects in Africa during the UN General Assembly in Manhattan, New York.
She has also organized and led Tanzania leadership awards (TLA 2016) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, successfully organized various ICT summits including East Africa ICT summit 2014 and 2015.
What’s next?
In the next five years Ms Emmanuel says she is looking forward to becoming an influential woman in the business community, as she also plans to expand wings toward agribusiness and processing.
“I also want to grow in the HR field, assisting companies to get that perfect hiring and proper human capital, “she says.
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