Corporate Governance and Legal Consultant:
- Could you take us through your journey to leadership across various entities in Namibia’s corporate sector?
My journey in the corporate rat race started at the end of 2009 when I completed my Justice Training. As the Chief Operations Officer at African Legal Networks (Pty) Ltd I was in the business of promoting legal insurance at affordable cover. I transitioned into the Telecommunications industry in my various roles as Company Lawyer, Company Secretary, and Legal Advisor at Leo™, PowerCom (Pty) Ltd and Telecom Namibia Ltd, respectively. As much as I enjoyed serving in those full-time roles, I had known from the onset that I was built for freelancing. So I packed up at the end of 2014 to pursue the Master of Laws (LLM) (Intellectual Property Law) the following year at Stellenbosch University. I graduated cum-laude from a two-year programme in one year, and returned home to self-employment. I had not operationalised my company, Vincia & Co Incorporated (registered in 2017), yet; so I provided professional services under my own name and style as a Corporate Governance & Legal Consultant, to companies such as Mobile Telecommunications Ltd (MTC), Momentum Metropolitan Namibia, Letshego Bank Namibia (Pty) Ltd, Telecom Namibia Ltd, PowerCom (Pty) Ltd, and the Central Procurement Board of Namibia.
My interest in governance grew exponentially, and when I wrote my first article “Legal liability of delinquent directors – the case of the Namibia Tourism Board Chairperson” in 2017, I had started contributing more meaningfully to thought leadership in corporate governance.
In 2021 I shifted gears and veered back in the direction of flexible full-time arrangement with the Namibia Institute of Corporate Governance (NICG) as its Founding Executive Director. My mandate was to transform the landscape of governance in Namibia, and I believe that we were able to enhance its prominence particularly with the advent of ‘Fireplace Conversations’. I birthed this podcast to actively involve other governance professionals, industry leaders and subject experts in the objective to promote and enhance governance in Namibia. As part of this journey, I received recognition as the first time Nominee and Honoree for the 13th Edition of the African Achievers Awards under the “Emerging Corporate Governance Award” Category, as well as the first-time Nominee for the WOZA-Africa (Women in Law Awards) Awards, 2022, in the category best corporate non-practicing woman lawyer. I had served my purpose at NICG by the end of 2023, and reverted back to freelancing, where various corporate governance events, mostly in South Africa and Botswana, presented me opportunities for speaking engagement. This has provided me the platform to expand my reach.
I intentionally took this year (2024) off to slow down and rejuvenate. I have had the opportunity to focus more on the various boards I serve on, by resigning from boards where I believe I could no longer have the intended impact because of the length of tenure or due to conflicting interests. As such I resigned from the Council and EXCO of the SADC Lawyers Association, Mcube Investments One Limited, and the Public Private Partnership Committee (MFPE), and devoted my attention to serving the boards of the Namibia Ports Authority, Electricity Control Board, Nednamibia Life Assurance Company Limited, and Nedplan Insurance Brokers Namibia (Pty) Ltd. I wish to expand my services to more governing bodies in future.
Vincia & Co Inc will be more prominent as of 2025, when we continue to offer professional services that seek to enrich boards, organisations and professionals for good governance and ethical leadership.
- What aspects of leadership do you find to be the most fulfilling and impactful?
Of the different styles of leadership, a fusion of visionary, transformational, coaching, and servant leadership resonate with me. Recently, as part of my preparation to speak on leadership trends, I came across the concept of ‘apocalyptic leadership’, which essentially propounds that, to be effective, leaders must lead innovatively and with relevance in an ever changing world.
Because a balanced consolidation of all the above leadership styles tends to produce impactful outcomes, I prefer to term the blend as ‘purpose-driven’ leadership. I find that to be impactful leaders we have to be humble servants of a worthy cause, and lead with agility and innovation without losing purpose and passion for people. I find fulfillment in this kind of leadership executed with excellence, stewardship, and integrity.
- Namibia continues to face a significant underrepresentation of women in leadership roles across both the private and public sectors. In your experience, what are some of the key barriers women must overcome to reach the leadership positions you have held?
So far as it concerns barriers related to gender, patriarchy and male chauvinism underpin structural and systemic barricades to women entering or thriving in the corporate space. However, what is disturbingly unbelievable is the number of female executives who obstruct corporate success for their counterparts. It would seem natural to assume that women in power would promote female upliftment, but corporate bullying and ostracism come from the least expected places. I must admit though that I have worked with both sexes and have had empowering experiences too – there are a good number of supportive mentors and protagonists of female success.
Apart from extraneous experiences, personal factors only exacerbate the issue. There is a global thrust to promote gender equality and equity under the umbrella of diversity and inclusivity; there are many educated women; and many others with similar opportunities as men, but depending solely on these factors without putting in the ancillary efforts required to permeate markets or break barriers, will not unravel the status quo. These efforts include self- and personal development, identifying and leveraging opportunities, self-advocacy and solidarity, and showing up with competence and confidence.
