Year in review: Executives' career goals hits and misses

At the start of every year, people make career goals which are like road maps on how they shall improve themselves to become more competitive in their areas of expertise.

As the year draws to an end, four executives take a step back, introspect and reflect on the career goals they made for 2022, those that they achieved and others they plan for 2023.

Antony Ng’ang’a, advocate of the High Court

Majoring in commercial law with a specialty in banking and financial services, the certified Legal & Compliance Auditor shares that his goals in 2022 were to pursue and finish the certified secretary (CS) course.

Though he did the course last year, Antony explains that there was a unit that he did not pass and hence never admitted. “It was not easy because the paper I had failed was Finance for Decision making,” he admits.

To pass this particular unit, Antony consulted a friend that had passed the unit and sought his counsel and also requested another student who had failed like him to join him as his study partner.

Having passed and registered as a CS on November 30, Antony also took a course in anti-money laundering and terrorism financing to hone his skills as a compliance auditor. However, this goal will spill over to 2023. Previously,

Antony has undertaken training on data protection and now consults for companies seeking to train their staff. However, it has not been all smooth for Antony with finances being tough on him as not only a career person but also a family man. Additionally, with an 8-5 job, Antony had to take some of his weekends, late nights, and early morning hours to study for his exam.

Yusuf Saleh, Deputy Director HR and Administration at BRS

With years of experience as a Human Resource (HR) expert especially in private corporations, Saleh shares that in 2022 he planned on getting skills that could position him as a thoughtful leader.

“I realised there were areas that I had not been exposed to. Working in public service for instance was a new one for me,” he says.

This year, he explains, he signed up for training, read books, and attended seminars and conferences to align himself. Additionally, Yusuf started doing workouts and now runs at the Karura Forest to shed some weight.

“I was not taking care of myself and so became quite heavy. So I had to introspect on my health,” he explains.

Recognising that he had hit the peak of his career, Yusuf also started his consultancy as part of his exit strategy. In 2022, he observes that he enjoyed the journey of achieving his goals and cutting off toxic people.

Rose Kariuki, a Business Legal advisor

To better serve her clients, Rose focused on having a deeper understanding of businesses. This would in turn help her advise the business owners on what solutions would work for them.

She took up some short courses, read extensively on International legal cases, and networked with advocates in the legal space.

“Though the media highlights cases that are in the spotlight, the Kenya Law Reports give summaries and full judgments on matters so you get to know everything that happened and the judgment rendered. LinkedIn was also very critical,” she adds.

However, Rose admits that seeing how law and business marry was challenging for her. “Seeing how to simplify the legal concepts in a way that makes sense to business people was a challenge. Sometimes the law can be very strict.”

But Rose focused on the journey and continuously learned and consulted, with this year being fulfilling for her.

“I’ve been able to grow not only as a lawyer but also in my business understanding skills,” she explains.

Alex Kenduywo, a HR manager

Having joined the HR profession in 2020, Alex shares that he wanted to have a more human touch in his profession and pursued a course that certifies HR professionals.

Enrolling as a distance learning student, Alex explains that though he was able to choose the timings in which he did his classes, some units were clashing with his 8-5 job and he had to juggle the two.

Additionally, he put his name down for training as a certified HR auditor and a mentee under the Transcend Mentorship Programme to improve his skills as an HR professional.

The mentee programme, he says, will spill over to 2023, and shares that he has had to pre-plan his schedules to accommodate the training.

Despite the time and financial constraints, Alex considers 2022 a successful year thanks to the realistic goals he had set for himself.

“I did not want to set a lot of goals such that by the end of the year when I’m reflecting, I see I did not achieve anything.

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