A woman with a plan

A common adage states that failing to plan is planning to fail, but for Anthea Rietz, development planner at the ministry of labour, industrial relations and employment creation, the plan is simple - succeed in all endeavours.She constantly reminds herself that failure is only an event and never a person, as she achieves her career and personal growth aspirations.Her work as a development planner entails promoting the concept of productivity in all sectors of the economy. Productivity is a cross-cutting concept which entails continuous improvement in our daily work. It involves using resources available effectively and efficiently, by eliminating any unnecessary waste in the process.This is done by giving training to employees in the public service and corporates. The ministry is currently running a programme called workplace productivity under the Productivity Unit, aimed at improving productivity within the workplace, with plans to measure labour productivity in all sectors, where results will be published for national planning purposes.Rietz is naturally drawn to good leadership, where the ship is steered in the right direction with a clear purpose, with the view that a good leader inspires any team player, which in turn gives them an attitude of gratitude. “I am a sucker for excellent team spirit; this is the foundation to innovation. What mostly inspires me is the mistakes and corrections along the way, because I believe that failure is an event and never a person,” she said.Born and bred in Keetmanshoop, Rietz completed her school education at Suiderlig High School in 2004. She then exchanged small-town living with the cosmopolitan life of the city when she enrolled at the University of Namibia (Unam) in 2005. Rietz had always aspired to be a media personality. Hence, she started her studies with a diploma in information studies, after which she registered for a Bachelor of Media Studies course at the same university. “While scouting for employment as a new graduate, I worked as an intern at Conference Link Media Holdings where I wrote articles for the papers as a freelancer,” she says.In 2012, Rietz joined the National Planning Commission (NPC) as Information Officer and worked mainly with the national census, which at the time was overseen by the NPC before the Namibia Statistics Agency became the custodian thereof. She scooped her current position as development planner at the ministry of labour in April 2012 after her contract with the NPC ended.She recently attained a postgraduate diploma in management from the Namibia University of Science and Technology’s Harold Pupkewitz Business School. Additionally, she plans to add to her academic accolades by pursuing a master’s degree in social development.One of her memorable moments was work done with the world leaders in productivity - the Japanese. “I had the privilege to visit Tokyo in 2016 during an official trip where I toured the Toyota vehicle manufacturing plant. The experience was out of this world; an exceptional learning experience that was.”

A woman with a plan

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Namibian Sun 2025-09-18

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A woman with a plan

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Namibian Sun 2025-09-18

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