At 37, Kamal is not about to stop challenging the status quo. She has not looked back since becoming the youngest HR director within Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA).
“I have very high personal ambition. I do not give up easily and I am not afraid to challenge the status quo,” she says about her career growth.
She joined CCBA Kenya in July 2014 as HR business partner (commercial) after two years at East African Breweries where she served as a recruitment manager. For her, every moment is a learning opportunity and “we can never always be perfect in everything.”
With not so many women rising to the top, Kamal says that what keeps her going is believing in herself and her capabilities. It is a life lesson she wants other women to emulate.
"Be okay with making mistakes and failing. Failure builds character. Raise your hand when an opportunity presents itself and lastly put in the work and remain persistent, determined, and resilient."
“Be okay with making mistakes and failing. Failure builds character. Raise your hand when an opportunity presents itself and lastly put in the work and remain persistent, determined, and resilient,” she says.
One of her career highlights has been the championing of diversity and inclusivity agenda in CCBA Kenya and seeing the rise of women in leadership to nearly 40 percent representation and also recruiting persons with disability.
She advises those seeking sustainable career growth to relate with the words of J Loren Norris: “If you cannot see where you are going, ask someone who has been there before”.
Patrick Alushula