A fierce corporate climber

Carlota David-Howoses was born and grew up in Rundu.She attended Noordgrens Secondary School in Rundu, then moved over to Etosha Secondary School in Tsumeb and later to the International School of South Africa in Mafikeng.

She describes herself as an ambitious, multicultural Namibian woman who always strives towards making a positive contribution towards the development the country as a whole. David-Howoses holds a BEng in metallurgical engineering obtained from the University of Pretoria in 2006. In 2014 she obtained a BEng (Honours) in management of technology, also from the University of Pretoria. In addition she holds a certificate in business development obtained from the Durban University of Technology in 2010, a certificate in finance for public entities from the University of South Africa (Unisa) in 2010 and a masters’ degree in business administration from the University of Stellenbosch Business School.From 2006 until 2008 she has worked at Skorpion Zinc mine as a technical metallurgist. A year later she moved to the position of technical manager refinery until 2010, also at Skorpion Zinc mine.The followed year she was employed as the technical manager for projects at the mine until 2016.

In 2017 David-Howoses moved over to Navachab gold mine, situated near Karibib in the Erongo Region, as a technical assistant to the general manager.To date she is still employed there as acting processing manager and her role includes reporting to the managing director and ensuring quality gold production; thus she oversees a group of metallurgical, chemical, mechanical and electrical engineers in the plant operations and engineering department, as well as laboratory team at Navachab Gold Mine.She told Careers that being in her current position at Navachab is challenging but exciting. “I am learning a lot about myself and dealing with a diverse workforce with different views and opinions. I had to quickly learn that every opinion needs to be acknowledged before making up your mind for a particular decision,” she said.

Some of her accomplishments include concept and feasibility studies for refinery conversion and upgrades, the development of business cases and project post-audits, with a focus on scope, technical data analysis, business case updates and the implementation of cost and timeline/project schedules, as well as setting up operational readiness plans.“Finding common ground due to a differences in opinion, especially when working with a group of people who are very skilled and passionate about their jobs was one of the challenges,” she said.Her short-term plan at Navachab is to further investment in self-development. Apart from her career path, which has been very technical thus far, she is passionate about mapping out strategies. “I just got off a call from a good friend of mine and she is studying something along the lines of mentoring and coaching, and it is definitely something to think about,” she said.

When it comes to Navachab, David-Howoses is proud of working with a team that is highly competent and self-driven; hence this makes her day-to-day job and oversight a lot easier. She prides herself on her consistency.Advice

She believes that every career or profession has its place in the marketplace and she would therefore not advise anyone to refrain from any career choice, and she admires people who enjoy what they do and are passionate about their profession. David-Howoses urged the establishment of more technical schools and colleges with a high degree of practical training. She added that practical training is a true merger of passion and skills, where people have the opportunity to mostly work with their hands, and in most cases do what they enjoy or are good at, and in turn deliver services and products to the marketplace. She further urged young learners who are passionate about pursuing studies in engineering related fields, but are not sure what field to choose, to look up ‘industrial engineering’.

“In short, industrial engineers create systems that eliminate resources that do not generate value, and in doing so, improve the quality and productivity of an organisation. The career choices for industrial engineers are broad and vast,” she said.Her future plans include becoming a general manager or CEO, as well as continue to achieve personal growth.Besides being in the office she enjoys decorating around the house, as well as outdoor running and keeping fit. Her inspiration and motivation is her family. Carlota fact box:

· She speaks five languages.· She watches, on average, only about one hour (at most) of TV per week.· Pasta and chicken are her favourite foods.· She is loud and can swim.

· She does not understand the rules of cricket.· She has been on a ‘tuk-tuk’ (auto rickshaw).· She chooses chemistry over physics and maths over English.· She can type 50 to 60 words per minute.