Women in mining - Wollen Nell talks about her career to date in Namdeb and her hopes for the future.
Women in mining - Wollen Nell talks about her career to date in Namdeb and her hopes for the future.
What first got you interested in De Beers?
As a grade 12 student, I had to choose between studying to become a doctor or an engineer. I had read about De Beers and especially the Namdeb operations in the newspapers and a few people I knew worked for Namdeb. The day I saw the advertisements for bursary students in the newspapers, I knew it was the right time to join the family.
What was your first job at the company?
As a ‘Metallurgist in Training’ student, I worked as an operator assistant in the plant. I had to clean up spillages off load conveyors when chutes blocked but I learned so much working with the shift guys. I have to give credit to the training programme that I followed. I had part of my training at Namdeb and part of it at Debmarine Namibia.
Tell us about your current position and what it involves day to day
I manage the Red Area Complex (RAC). We treat the concentrate from the main treatment plants. Our area is high risk area, thus following procedures are of utmost importance to us.
My day starts off with safety. We work through all observation cards and determine improvement opportunities. Our production meeting highlights activities from the previous day and the activities that need to take place, for example a service day, when we shut down the plant for maintenance, will be discussed.
We are a production plant, but our focus in the RAC is efficiency. Runtime is another important key performance indicator as we are the main Recovery plant and we need to ensure that we do not delay any production plant.
I will then focus on HR matters and we have planned walkabout sessions in the plant. Since we are a red area, all our movements are tracked and security is one of our key service providers. I spend many hours with Security to look at how to improve our processes.
How would you describe your leadership style?
I believe in new economy management style. I’m not a dictator but I do not compromise on standards. I have a collaborative approach when we discuss problems in the plant.
I tend to think that women are strict by nature perhaps it can be related to the environment. I believe in developing people. I like sharing what I know and, when one of my team members achieves something, I feel really proud and we celebrate the success.
I am a firm believer in developing oneself and, as such, I encourage all my colleagues to do so.
What job would you like to be doing in 10 years’ time?
I don’t measure my growth in 10 years; I look at it over a five-year period. For the next two years, I need to finalise the RAC performance and hand it over.
I’ve always thought I would specialise in a mineral economics role but I’ve started to like managing people. At Namdeb, the options is managing a mining area or I could be the next General Manager. The sky is the limit. Namdeb provides development opportunities that allow you to grow into any position as long as you perform.
What advice do you have for women wanting to enter the mining industry?
Don’t be afraid to go for it – as long as you know your subject field and work hard. You should not expect things to fall into your lap because you are female. We all worked hard to get where we are, our male counterparts as well.
The best choice I made was to get a male mentor and a female mentor. They have turned into coaches now, but I could trust them. Also, know that most times it’s the males who will vouch for you as long as you are willing to work hard.
What interests do you have outside work?
Family is important to me. My husband and two sons love farming so we’ll spend most of our time on the farm we lease with my parent. I love leaving my cellphone at home and just enjoy nature. We love Formula One and rugby. My sons participate in a lot of sports, so we spend our weekends around a field or swimming pool.
Wollen Nell with her colleagues.