Experience

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  Engage Performance - Global & Africa

  • East Sussex, United Kingdom/Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania

  • Managing Director

    • Nov 2010 - Present
    • East Sussex, United Kingdom/Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania

    Engage is built on the premise that successful organisations are driven by their unique culture and values, not only attracting people, but maintaining and growing them. Consult on varied portfolio of people solutions to engage, align, and integrate people to maximise client organisation’s potential. Subject matter expert in designing and leading transformational interventions, developing leadership teams, growing talent, building organisational capabilities, and instigating change management in global settings. Craft business-based people and culture strategies and efficient HR delivery models suited to each client’s unique needs and values. Identify frameworks and pay banding structures to support talent pipelines, deliver leadership development programs, coach executives/supervise coaching networks, and create training curricula.Key Achievements:• Led annual strategic planning processes, values/vision development workshops, leadership alignment, monitoring and evaluation processes, and annual work-planning sessions.• Launched performance appraisals competencies, value behaviour indicators, and performance outputs. Increasing performance monitoring by 60% and aligning plans to organisational values and strategic goals.• Wrote HR policies, procedures, and employee handbooks as well as customer service strategy interventions and employee engagement campaigns. Increasing retention by 25% and reducing legal cases by 40%. • Key clients include UN Women, UNDP, ILO, IOM, British Council, TechnoServe, Abt Associates, Airtel, Tigo, Vodacom, Standbic Bank, Citibank, FINCA Impact Finance, Standard Chartered Bank.

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  FINCA Impact Finance

  • Global I Africa, Eurasia, Latin America, Middle East and South Asia

  • Global Director, FINCA Development Academy (FDA)

    • Oct 2016 - Jan 2019
    • Global I Africa, Eurasia, Latin America, Middle East and South Asia

    FINCA Microfinance Holding Company LLC (FMH) is a social investment partnership created in 2011 to help scale up and transform FINCA International’s microfinance subsidiaries into full-service financial institutions serving low-income entrepreneurs with well-designed, responsible, and affordable products including micro and small business loans, credit lines, savings, insurance, transactional services, and more. FINCA’s 21 subsidiaries in Africa, Eurasia Latin America, and the Middle East and South East Asia provide financial services to 1.6 million clients. FINCA Development Academy (FDA) was created in 2013 to develop and implement systematic, high-quality learning interventions that serve the network and support delivery of the strategy. Led global learning and organisational development strategy for 10+K staff across 23 countries including: increasing capacity and creating learning intervention suite building culture of performance. Built technical capacity to enhance customer experience using blended learning approaches and evaluated all results and impacts. Led leadership workshops and executive coaching; built ‘leaders of learning’ network, led digital transformation learning initiatives. Utilised live virtual workshops, e-learning, and on-the-job modalities resulting in increased learning hours per employee whilst keeping costs on budget.Key Achievements:• Developed FINCA’s first global learning strategy. Designed and rolled out first global report of learning KPIs showing reduced cost per learning hour, learning impact, and increased digital learning to 40% of total hrs.• Completed subsidiary structural organisational reviews to match business model changes and maximise human capital budgets and savings of 20%.• Fostered grant and donor streams to support leaders of learning capacity building and the launch of the global LMS platform and mobile app; led global inclusion strategy (inclusion officers, with each subsidiary having clear D&I goals).

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  FINCA International

  • Dar-es-Salaam. Covering: Nigeria, DRC, Uganda, Zambia, Malawi & Tanzania

  • Organisational Development & Learning Director/Specialist - Africa

    • Dec 2014 - Oct 2016
    • Dar-es-Salaam. Covering: Nigeria, DRC, Uganda, Zambia, Malawi & Tanzania

    As Regional Organisational Development & Learning Specialist, I led FINCA Africa’s development, implementation and evaluation of strategic organisational, team, leadership, and individual learning interventions that drove organisational and human capacity to achieve FINCA's Mission and objectives. The key strategic contribution areas include: - Supporting and Developing the FINCA Leadership Culture; - Aligning FINCA Vision & Values; - Managing and Developing Talent; - Aligning Structures, Systems and Processes; and - Evaluating Performance. Key Deliverables: - Developed the learning and development framework that aligned the organisational strategy with a comprehensive staff development plan that built the capacities of the key competence from loan officer to CEO. - Transformed learning modality to include blended approaches moving to a more comprehensive fleet of learning options that include: classroom, eLearning, virtual, self-learn and on the job activities. - Key responsibility of managing the 'Staff Capacity Building' component for the Master Card Foundation project for Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia. With the strategic aim to develop customer outreach and financial inclusion.

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  Emirates Computers

  • Dubai, United Arab Emirates

  • HR Director

    • Nov 2008 - Nov 2010
    • Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    Spearheaded strategic staffing plans, compensation, benefits, training and development, and labour relations for the leading IT infrastructure, security and services provider in the Gulf with 1,200 skilled employees over four locations. Assessed all technical heads, implemented restructure, job description, and scorecard performance management. Key Achievements:• Member of the CEO steering group on strategy, led the communication campaign aligning the organisation, worked with functional teams to align workplans, and introduced scorecard performance management appraisals. • Launched HRMS including 360 talent management processes including recruitment, on-boarding, reviews, competency mapping, and performance management. Completion performance appraisals from 40% to 95%. • Designed framework and processes for organisational downsizing, providing executive team with business model resource guides, recommendations, and evaluation and communication tools. Reducing Labour claims by 60%.

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  Engage Consulting

  • Karachi, Pakistan

  • Head of Practice - Learning & Development

    • Jun 2006 - Nov 2008
    • Karachi, Pakistan

    Engage HR is a human resource consultancy providing services in talent recruitment, engagement, development and performance.Designed and facilitated strategic planning initiatives including executive and internal alignment activities, KPI monitoring, and communications for various clients. Delivered performance monitoring mechanisms impacting sales and customer experience. Key Achievements:• Launched leadership and development programmes including global KPMG behaviour framework with two-tier management programme delivered over 18 months.• Utilised competency frameworks and adult accelerated learning methodology to build learning journeys that developed a talent pipeline and reduced risk for clients.

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  Retail People Middle East

  • Dubai, United Arab Emirates

  • Managing Director - Head of Practice Learning and Development

    • 2004 - 2006
    • Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    Human resource capacity development consultancy specialising in the retail and service sectors of the growing Middle East market.

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  Landmark Group/Home Centre

  • Dubai, United Arab Emirates

  • Deputy General Manager - People & Brand Development

    • 2002 - 2004
    • Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    The Landmark Group is one of the leading retail groups in the Middle East. Developing retail brands such as Splash, Baby Shop, Home Centre and being the lead franchisee in the Middle East for a number of international retail brands.

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  The Body Shop

  • Dubai, Unites Arab Emirates

  • Zone Development Manager - Middle East & Africa

    • 1993 - 2002
    • Dubai, Unites Arab Emirates

    The Body Shop International plc, the natural and ethical beauty brand, is uncompromising in its adherence to its Values. I had the pleasure to work and grow within The Body Shop, a pioneer for employee engagement for close to ten years in a variety of operational and learning development functions across the Globe - including; London, Sydney, Dubai, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Riyadh, and Istanbul.

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  Harrods

  • London, United Kingdom

  • Retail Trainee & Assistant to Director Children's, Sports and Leisure

    • 1987 - 1991
    • London, United Kingdom