Welcome to the very first episode of Staff and their stuff where you will see a glimpse of the lives of people working with Wakandi. As of now, we are quite sure that you are intrigued to know about lady in the photo. Then let’s begin by how she landed a job with us and what her journey has been so far. Here it is!
As soon as you enter Wakandi’s Tanzania office, the first person who will greet you is the beautiful Anna Mhina. Now you know why she is the number one. Anna is a busy lady, so we are luck she is with us today.
Ms. Anna, you look stunning, is Anna the only name you own?
Thank you! Well, It’s Annasasha Mhina. At Wakandi you can find me as Anna Mhina, but the street prefers Sasha.
Any nick names?
They call me Teresa Mendoza, which is hilarious! It’s the character from “Queen of the South” a series on Netflix. My friends say that I am a missionary lady like her, and I have a background both of low life and high life just like her, and that’s how it came together.
Speaking about life, tell us a bit about your background.
Well, I come from a normal family, the type of family that when people like me make it, then everybody feels saved. My origin is from Moshi, but I have grown up in different places because I have gone to different schools, from Magogoni to Tabora all the way to CBE Dar es salaam where I earned my BA in Business Administration.
Congrats! What do you remember the most back in college?
A hustler side of me! Even when I was in college, I was working part time at PSI as a research assistant during my college break. I recall being offered a full-time position, but sadly, they started recruiting before I finished college, so I recommended somebody else to join them instead.
So, maybe that a closed path that gave you a way to Wakandi, right?
Mh! That fun part is coming, I had a job position at Mlimani City as a manager, right after college. But as I said, I am a hustler, so at the same time, I own a cosmetic store.
So, I worked at Mlimani for like a year and seven months before somebody told me about the Norwegian company looking for an administrator. At the beginning I wasn’t up for it. Imagine I came to decide to apply at the very end of the deadline after I felt like the company can elevate my career, and that company was… (she laughs)
Enhee! Now we are listening.
You better, because it’s about to get real! So, Boom! A job interview at Wakandi. I was interviewed by the James Bond of Wakandi, Mr.Terje Width, the COO. We held it very well up until it ended, and I asked him a crazy question that cracked him up.
What was that?
First, I asked him, “Is the interview done? He said yes! Then I asked him, so what! Am I getting this job or not? He laughed out aloud, then he said he has never interviewed a candidate like me, and said, will call you.” (Dear reader, speaking of the devil, our interview was interrupted by Mr. Terje, just at this very moment asking for the printouts). I guess, they liked my confidence, they gave me a position as after my second interview with the man himself, I call him ‘the machine’, Mr CEO, Espen Kvelland.
So far, what is it like to work in Wakandi?
Wakandi is my growth story, especially working closely with Espen. He doesn’t sleep on a thing, he wants things to move, so at the beginning he never thought I could go with his speed, he almost gave up on me, but I bounced back to prove that I am the same girl with confidence that Wakandi liked in the first place, and he came to like my spirit. Basically, that’s the spirit of Wakandi, things must go, and to the right way and I am happy to be part of the first people to set this culture. I want to be part of the good future successful story of Wakandi.
Thank you for sharing some stuff, any last motivating words for people out there?
In everything you do, you must be active and very conscious about it, so that you can be able to… (Dear reader, again our interview was interrupted by a phone call as captured in a video below).
So, I was saying, you must be active and conscious in whatever you do so that you are able to perfect it, this is based on my experience, and it has helped me to deliver results beyond expectations.