Precious Nyika, the CEO at Lafarge cement Zimbabwe, spoke to Trevor Ncube In Conversion With Trevor.
Key Points
1. Precious said this was her first role as a CEO.
2. She went into a Rocky ship and decided to control her controllables.
3. She said her focus on preserving cash, managing costs.
4. Precious said she had to convince herself that she could do the job, before she could convince everyone else.
5. Precious said she had a lot of support from her team.
6. Precious said she realised that a CEO is not a super human, but needs a good team to deliver.
7. Precious said she was born in Masvingo, but was raised in Mutare. She went to Bere primary school and went to high school at St Augustine.
8. She was in a family with 2 boys and 3 girls. Her father would celebrate each of her success.
9. When she was in university, she later found out that her younger brother was more intelligent and got better grades than her. Her father was deliberately making her believe she was the best.
10. While at St Augustines, she was in the debate club and drama club. She got 13 points at the At Augustine.
11. She studied psychology at the UZ as one needed 15 points to study law. She did not know what psychology was.
12. Her dad told her to give psychology her best. He told her to be the best wherever she was.
13. While at UZ, she was advised to do a certification in IPMZ by her boyfriend, who is now her husband.
14. The day after writing her final exam she got a job at furniture paradise.She worked in that position from 2004 to 2010. She rose from intern to General Manager. Terence Kwaramba who was head of HR was her mentor.
15. Within 2 years, she had taken over Kwaramba ‘s job after he left. She became the Group HR Manager. After the GM left, she was appointed to that position.
17. Precious said in corporate, there is no owner, it only takes a few employees to believe that they are the owners for a company to succeed.
18. Precious said corporates should build mechanisms that connect the company ‘s goal to the individual’ s goals.
19. In 2010, she worked for CV people. She loved her time there. Her job was changing the life of people. People would sent her pictures of themselves on Australia, New Zealand, UK, thanking her for placing them.
20. Precious said the fulfillment comes when her job connects with her personal values.
21. In 2011 she joined Lafarge as Human Resources Director at 28. The company was going through restructuring.
22. Precious said she was naive and the manufacturing sector was not easy. They had to lay off 87 people.
23. She decided to have a one on one conversation with each person who was laid off. She had to have a security guard at the door just in case.
24. Larfage had good packages for the laid off employees. They introduced the Tavaka franchise model where laid off employees were given an opportunity to run these containers and some have gone on to become big companies.
25. After a few years, she was promoted to communication director. She wanted to do more to help the community. Young women were coming to the Larfage stadium to dump babies.
26. She started a program in partnership with NGOs where they would help disadvantaged girls (Shine) . They would put them in a program where they would learn a skill and set up a business. The girls would then go to Africa University to learn entrepreneurship and then go into the incubation program in Tafara.
26. The first program had 100 girls. Precious said the girls transformed into something big.
26. Every year there are new girls enrolled into the program.
27. The affordable housing project started in Adonai Park. They started with their own 85 employees. The company pension fund was used to fund mortgages for these houses.
28. The second project had 220 houses.
29. In 2021, Larfage will be introducing 3D printing of houses into Zimbabwe. A house will be built overnight.
30. Larfage is working hard on convincing the market. They plan to do 20 demo units to see the technology.
31. In 2022, there will be a big roll out. It’s not just about low cost, but that is how it is being pitched.
32. Precious was appointed HR Communications And Strategy Director. She stayed in that position fid 2 years. She called her friend, Patrick Mutandwa, who told her that she could never be appointed CEO from HR. He said she must do something dramatic.
33. She started to push herself into the strategy space.
34. She attended a Harvard executive development program and this changed her mindset.
35. Precious said once one reaches the C level, opportunity starts to come.
35. Precious says women need mentors and need to get out of their comfort zones.
36. Precious says man play a key role in making the women that they raise to be confident. They should be aware of this responsibility.
Please watch the video above this post for more details.Â
