How Carol defied obstacles to build multilayered career

By Detricia Pamba

Strong and resilient is what most would describe her. But seeing her is seeing the passion, the drive and the will to get what she wants. This is what Carol Ndosi’s aura exudes.

A household name, Ms Ndosi is almost everywhere with the multi-businesses and projects that she conducts. But what exactly she does can be quite daunting. However, she advocates social justice, gender equality, sustainable development, human capital investment and development in Africa.

“Most of the time I will go somewhere and a person would approach me, saying that my face is familiar. They know me from somewhere,” Ms Ndosi says with a smile.

Indeed, she is used to that by now, especially with her hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter and Instagram, platforms that she uses well to brand herself and her work.

Ms Ndosi, a jack of all trades - and master of them all - is the Director of The Launch Pad; the founder of Nyama Choma Festival; a development advocate; a gender and technology expert; a strategic communications consultant, as well as gender equality and social inclusion expert.

Her humble beginnings started out in the media industry, an industry that played a big role in the development of her career journey. However, Ms Ndosi did not let that identity keep her in a box. She started her career as a media personality and communications specialist in the 2000s before launching Alta Vista Events, which birthed the largest barbecue festival in East Africa: The Nyama Choma Festival and Bongo Festival.

“I started out as a media personality, I later decided to start my own business. Then, after a while, I wanted to make a career shift and do developmental work,” she says.

Despite having a foundation on which to build her endeavours, what is known as the ‘Nyama Choma Festival’ needed some work to take off the ground. Ndosi reminisced on the days she had to pass off as a “white man” just to get sponsors for her event.

She said: “I remember when I was starting my own business with Nyama Choma Festival, I had a number of clients that I had already worked with in the company I was working for. At every door that I was knocking, all I received were ‘NOs’. When I tried to talk to a few people, one told me that, if I were male, it would be easier for me to get the sponsors. This was a turning point for me.

“I had created a profile of a white man who was co-owning the Nyama Choma Festival event with me. I sent e-mails to the same people who had said NO to me earlier, and introduced the ‘white’ man and myself as his partner - and this opened doors to more deals than I could ever imagine! Too bad after a while, I had to erase the white man and leave the company to Carol, but at that point, Nyama Choma Festival was already a success,” she added.

This is just one of the moments that paints a picture of what women have to go through to get similar opportunities to men. Ms Ndosi, though, points out consistency and learning new skills as ways that women can unquestionably succeed in their ventures.

“I think this speaks on the conforming of women in our society. I believe that if you are consistent in what you want to do, once you identify your talent, invest in skills in your particular area, you will definitely excel,” Ms Ndosi told The Citizen’s Rising Woman.

Most people would define Ms Ndosi as ‘strong, resilient, daring and a go-getter’: qualities that unfortunately not most women possess.

She said: “The glass ceiling exists not just for women, but also for young people - and men as well, depending on where they are coming from. But I believe the limitation is mostly internal. Most of us do not want to try to get out of the box because we are always skeptical and doubtful of what the society might think of us.”

Although she was successful, her transition from the media and entertainment world to development work was not an easy one. Despite making a name for herself through the events she hosted, most people did not know what she could do professionally - and that was a struggle for many to understand the new career path that she had opted for.

“My first degree is in Political Science, and my second one is in Conflict Resolution and Peace Building - which basically means development work. So, if I wasn’t daring enough to say I want to put my degrees to work regardless of whether my business is doing well, I wouldn’t be here,” added Ndosi.

Speaking about the digital space and the safety of women, Ms Ndosi notes that what happens online is just a continuation of gender-based violence that is happening offline.

She commented: “It’s nothing new that women continue to be vulnerable online, because we say that online mirrors offline behaviour, and vice-versa. But, whether or not women are vulnerable online is debatable because there are women who are even more powerful in the digital space compared to men. However, digital resilience is something very important for women to know about and embrace.”

As an Enthusiast and Champion for Gender and Youth Inclusion in Social and Economic progression for Africa, the most notable achievement for Ndosi is co-founding two non-profit organisations: The Launchpad Tanzania, and the Women at Web. While the former focuses on tackling youth unemployment through skills development, lifelong learning and the future of work in Africa, the latter focuses on digital inclusion through skills and knowledge in digital literacy, digital citizenship and advocacy for safe online spaces.

During research, it was found that victims prone to online gender-based violence are women from the age of 18-25 years who are, most likely, in universities and colleges.

“It’s all about digital literacy. Women should be more careful in what they share online as it affects them and creates a digital footprint since the Internet ‘never forgets,’” she explained.

Despite all the challenges that women go through in society, there are many examples of women breaking the norms and doing jobs which were once considered as being exclusively for men.

“Conformity in our society will continue to be there, because of our social engineering. Unfortunately, the position of a woman in our society needs to be improved - and I am happy that so many of us have defied the odds and broken the glass ceiling.

In celebrating women, Ndosi has also launched a campaign called ‘100 Tanzania Sheroes’ which spotlights 100 women annually from different fields and areas of work in Tanzania as an initiative to inspire the girlchild with the available opportunities.