Banking For Who.. Happy 10th Anniversary In.

I signed my first letter at Kencom house, ten years ago on a day like today, precisely about four pm. We had been kept waiting for hours for those letters to be drafted and signed, and we almost wondered whether they had second thoughts about giving us the jobs. My first boss. Evans. Came out with the letters. He told us we shall be required to report on Sunday evening at the Kencom office where we shall board the bus and be transported to the leadership center for a two week training, as a Micro finance officer. I remember raising my hand and asking. “Excuse me. I thought we were employed on permanent basis. Why do these letters read contract. I don’t understand. Is there a mistake?😃”. Well, he looked at me and gave me this condescending look, like, look at this university leaver, who is even yet to graduate by the way, asking me questions, doesn’t she even know what she has is a favour? Well he didn’t use those exact words but he just told me, yes that’s in order, you will be on contract for a year then you will get confirmed if you perform, any question??? I said no question. As I absorbed the shock while skimming through that contract lest I come across another surprise. And that was how I was welcomed into the bank.

Working as a Microfinance officer I bet was the best of these years yet. First time I felt important. And never have I ever felt that way again to date, as everything else later is all about people feeling entitled. I would train people on ways to save even when I had no clue of what savings were all about. Men and women, who conducted businesses looked up to the young me then to give them direction of how they would become rich. How their businesses would boom and expand beyond horizons with loans from the bank. ( A lesson I could need in my own hustles today). After training them, my importance would kick immediately in because I would be the determinant of whether those people got loans or not, including how much and even when they would get those loans. They called me “Mwalimu”. The biggest highlight of this role that I find laughable eons later was when I got summoned to the chief. I mean really chief😃. Never forgotten that. A lady who had failed to pay up her loan, had reported this so called Mwalimu (me). What I did in my discretion and with the guidance of the group members decided that we shall use her hard earned savings to repay her loan and settle other out standings without informing her( or I think I did she just ignored). Weeks later I received the letter to attend a hearing at the chiefs camp in Kabiro ward..I never showed up of course. The bank took care of that . One of the greatest challenge with that role was repossession. Repossessing client’s household and business items for resell incase they didn’t honour their loan obligations. That felt unholy in a way. And that bit about my job I never liked it much. I always felt targeted whenever I would walk in the streets of Kawangware..Like I could imagine them whispering to each other saying “ndio yule mwalimu wa kuchota watu” then the next thing I’d imagine would be a whole mob following me attempting to torch me or something.. Thinking about it gives me the creeps…

A couple of years after that, I changed banks, somewhere a little bit more prestigious, and comfortable, with lots of aircon and fresh air. Where we used lifts, sparkling floors and lavatories. There were no more hustles and bustles of the shanty that I was used to. There was no more chasing people to repay their loans, and what nots, no more repossession, no more hoping onto bodas to conduct site visits in places I never heard of, like, have you ever heard of a place called Ruthmitu, Ndonyo, Congo, 56, Soko mjinga, Gatina ganuganga🙆🏾‍♀️ etcetera. Well I did business visits in those places amongst others. At times these were fun and times not so much especially where clients would tell you their residence was near only to make you travel miles on foot..But that was all forgotten, I had moved, a little pay raise, lived fancy, travelled (locally), sponsored vacations, that was heaven. And within two years of that prestigious living, my first banking shocker arrived. Redundancies. I never thought things like those happened even worse to young people like me. I thought these were things meant for old people. For us “youngings” weren’t we meant to be here till eternity or maybe till we decide to retire? But not asked to leave. With a new born, I survived the axe, I thank God and found myself yet again in another role just within the bank, where I got the real character development of life if I may call it. Sales. Yet again 🤦🏽‍♀️.

During this period I got to learn alot. Not just about the bank’s products et Al, but majorly about myself. My levels of tolerance, endurance, persuasion, witty, achievements, making mistakes amongst many other pressure handling tolerance activities I learnt. I quit my job in my head a million times. Then remembered my growing family and how we needed the pay, and I just kept going. During this phase, I could nolonger see the prestige, not even fresh air I previously experienced, not even the aircon, but rather, it now looked like a normal and ordinary place to go to. With time I got to know the loops, understood what formation was, that you needed to liaise with as many people as you can to give you what we call referrals. Learnt how to be bold to even ask for them. Days indeed got better, tides went up in some days, in some they were down, but I learnt to sail amidst all tides. Until years into to doing that I asked, maybe it was time to go back to the Aircon 😃. Gladly, by the grace of God, I did go back, this time much informed. Calmer, and peaceful. I am more aware of who I am fully,having grown thicker skin over the years, and even more aware of what I am expected to do.

Along came leadership, taking each day at a time. Wherever that will lead me to, will still be on the path along this amazing journey that has been and thankful for. The best way I have coped, is along my journey I kept discovering different versions of me. Faith the parent, Faith the Chef, Faith the writer amongst other titles that I have garnered within this journey. The journey has been worthwhile I must acknowledge, I got my family in this awesome industry from spouse to two amazing sons. We eat well, we sleep well, we are healthy and clothed..Till the day, I will bow out of this industry, I soldier on, hopefully will come back with something more elaborate and elusive of what banking taught me when I leave. So far so good, thankful to God for the job and what it does for me and my family.

10 years in banking…

Yours

#bankerwannabe

#sensesnhumor