My CV: From Hawking SIM Cards To Operations Manager With a Leading Mobile Provider

By Tabitha Makumi,
“Without a degree nowadays in the Kenyan job market, you are doomed”. At least that’s what gets passed around as gospel truth. Do the remarks hold water or is it just hogwash?

For 34 years old Emily Abigad Nyaruru, an Operations Manager who works with a leading mobile provider that’s just hogwash. For you see, she has been able to climb the career ladder which she started with just a certificate in foreign languages and computer studies!

“I got my first job right out of high school,” she tells me when I meet her at her place of work. “It was a sales job in an exhibition shop and all I had back then was a certificate in French and computer studies.” And how much was she earning back then, “About Sh3, 000,” she says.

Moving on the ladder, she got another sales/customer service job. “I was selling cellular phones in a shop located in Nairobi’s CBD where I worked for three years.” She adds that, “Although the pay wasn’t much since all I had were two certificates which might be deemed as irrelevant in today’s job market, all I wanted to do was to work and earn anything and as usual employers always welcome cheap labour.”

But what did she want to be when growing up in Buruburu? I pose. “Due to financial constrains, I could not join a university after high school. But she always had a dream she tells me, “Since I was young, I always wanted to be a crew member in one of the big airlines.” She reveals that, “I even attended two walk in interviews with Emirates and Kenya Airways but unfortunately I didn’t pass,” she says with a smile.

But that was not the end of the road for her. “I later enrolled for a diploma in Hotel Management.” It’s after completion that an opportunity came calling. “Through the grapevine, I got to hear about an agency which was recruiting people to Dubai.” She narrates that, “I didn’t even know what kind of job I would get upon getting there but luckily it was one aligned to what I had studied for (Hotel Management) as I got to be a restaurant hostess.”

“I got bored in Dubai and decided to come back to Kenya,” she says adding that, “I came back at a time when the company was just new in the market and they were looking for sales people. Having worked in sales before, I applied for a job and I got one.”

What was her role? I probe. “I was selling SIM Cards on the streets where I would earn Sh15, 000 plus commission depending on how much I would sell.”

Six months into the job she says she was permanently employed. “I was still selling SIM Cards even then but I later became the Sales Team Leader.”

That was then. 2 years ago she was named the Operations Manager  in one of the mobile provider’s many branches.

“I didn’t even apply for the job,” she reveals. “My colleagues would encourage me to apply for the position but I had a different attitude; I thought if the job was truly meant to be mine, then it was for sure mine.” She ended up being appointed for the 100K + position where she now manages ten people.

“Hard work, perseverance, patience, tolerance and appreciation of life are the top qualities which have brought me this far,” says the mother one. “I was aggressive enough from the beginning and I was ready to toil hard even if my initial diploma has nothing with what I do today.”

Her career journey she tells me hasn’t been a smooth sailing. “Many are times when I have had people look down on me or step on me because I didn’t have the same level of education as they did and as always there has always been the discouraging voices reminding me why I was not good enough to make it.”

While she pursues a Diploma in Business Management, she advices young job seekers to not look down on small jobs. She says, “They come out of college and universities wanting to earn a lot but they do not want to work for it. She adds that, “They also have to realize that what you learn from school and real life experience are two different things,” she advises that, “Have an open mind and the willingness to learn and don’t shy away from challenges as they will assist you to grow in your career.”

And her last word to job seekers? “Apply for as many jobs as you can. Pray for the best outcome. 5 will call you, 4 will consider you and 1 will take you.”

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