Seeking to grow her career and herself

Jeanene Husselmann grew up in Otjiwarongo and matriculated from Otjiwarongo Secondary School. She was unsure of what studies to pursue and was confused about what plan to follow after high school.

“I changed courses during my time at university, but I knew that no matter what – I will always give my best and work hard. That's how I was raised,” she said.

Employed at Sanlam Namibia, her primary role is to assist financial advisers with admin support. As she completes their admin duties, she ensures peace of mind for her colleagues and allows them to focus on other duties such as offering financial advice and sales.

Her role also includes providing feedback on admin processes done, capturing new business applications and trying her best to provide proper paper work to initiate new admin processes so that it can be handled quickly.



Challenges

With new business, Husselmann said work becomes very busy, especially during their cut-off week.

During these times, “you have to push yourself to keep your head above water and be level-headed in order to deliver quality work when things get tough,” she said.

She said she is very proud of herself to have secured the position of high-performance centre administrator from new business scanner in just two years. Even though the experience was scary and she went through interviews, she is glad to have left her comfort zone to pursue growth, she said.



A day at work

As Husselmann begins her day, a cup of coffee is a start and then she gets to her desk to respond to emails and assist her team with what she can. She then continues to process new business applications.

She describes herself as ambitious because she can look back at the bad days and congratulate herself because she continued working. She also assures herself that she will get over any challenges faced.

She advised young professionals that nothing comes easy and if it does – it might not be worth it in the long run.

“So, any obstacles in your way are just a way to test your patience and determination," she said.

Husselmann’s plans for the future change often as she learns and grows, but she is motivated to keep working, be better and possibly be in a greater position in her life overall. One of her future goals is to work on getting her driver’s licence.

She added that her greatest fear is not living the life she promised herself as a teenager.

“We always plan for the future, forgetting to live in the moment and then forget to create beautiful memories that we can look back on,” she said.