By Linnet Muchoki
They say, “curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.” For Ms Violet Mordichai, curiosity made her get sweets as a young girl (from her dad’s secretary), and as a young adult, a great career path, and as a manager and leader, outstanding results that made her win awards.
Her first name is Violet. In Greek and Latin mythology, where the name is derived from, it stands for modesty, regality, leadership, strength, and grace, but it also means purple. It also represents violet (and another purple) flowers. It was a case of parents giving their child a great name, which would manifest later in life.
She celebrates her birthday on January 24th. Her childhood was spent in Nairobi, Kenya, where she completed her high school. Unfortunately, she could not immediately join college and instead found a job as an office messenger for an insurance company at age 19.
While she worked there, she got interested in her colleagues’ work. With a newfound ambition, she interacted with her colleagues and learned all that was possible about the technicalities of the insurance business. Her combination of curiosity and her desire to advance her career drove her to seek better opportunities.
She later found a job with Pan Africa insurance as a customer service officer and later as a public relations assistant. Her organisational skills and her innate curiosity to understand insurance products impressed her female supervisor, who gave Violet more responsibilities and mentored her
When Pan Africa Life expanded into Tanzania as African Life Assurance, Violet became part of a four-member transition team from Kenya responsible for establishing the Tanzanian operations. She was the only woman and the only Tanzanian on the team. Her job description included helping prospective customers understand the different insurance products, what they covered, and how insurance worked.
Her managers noticed her excellent work, and she was offered an opportunity to participate in a year-long leadership course in South Africa. She graduated among the top students in her class 38 men and seven women. After returning from her course in South Africa, she was promoted to operations manager. She finally achieved her dream of earning a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of South Wales.
In 2011, after six years at African Life, Violet became Deputy General Manager at AAR Insurance, and in 2013, she accepted an opportunity to become Executive General Manager at Metropolitan Life Assurance. Both positions prepared her to take on the role of Managing Director at AAR Insurance three years later.
When she was widowed at a young age and left with two children, she faced a myriad of challenges, including negative perceptions of her in her workplace. She says that at the time, African society frowned upon single mothers. Her two children are still her greatest motivation.
Her secret to success is having focus and setting the priorities right, having non-negotiables in the work environment and having the self-awareness to know precisely what works for you and what doesn’t. Have a strategic plan that you follow, using it to remind yourself of the milestones you want to achieve at that set time. One must have the discipline to achieve all that one desire. And when imposter syndrome creeps in, know that you have so much potential that you have not yet achieved and give yourself higher targets and, most importantly, ensure you achieve them.
Leadership Through My Lenses: Journey To Conquest is a beautiful book that Violet has published. For the determined woman who won’t let suffering or setbacks stop her from achieving her goals, it might as well mark the beginning of a new chapter in her life.
*Linnet Muchoki loves to chronicle Africa’s women leaders as change agents. Email: Linnet.muchoki@gmail.com