Juliana believes in growth that comes with barriers

The word ‘challenge’ is often linked to its actual meaning ‘a difficult task that tests someone’s ability and skill’, however most people understand these tasks from a negative point of view as they are blind to the fact that challenges offer chances to grow and broaden one’s knowledge and skills in a particular field.

Juliana Samath, Head of People and Culture at Ramani is one of people who believe in the growth that comes with career barriers for she has experienced them singlehandedly.

This habit has seen her play different managerial roles in unalike industries such as hospitality, banking and construction.

Coming from a background of finance whereas she pursued finance and investment at Coventry University, Juliana began her career journey as a credit controller at International Maritime Agency. She then joined the HR industry when she began working as a Human Resources Assistant at Citibank.

“Citibank was looking for a HR who also had to be familiar with numbers because the role involved managing accounts and the like. At first, I was hesitant about being ‘a people’s person’ because I was supposed to be a go-to person in case of any work concerning the bank. overtime, I learned a lot of things about the responsibilities that came with being a HR, one of things was that the job has a lot to do with one’s personality than it does with the role,” she recalls.

Afterwards she joined Stanbic Bank as an HR and worked in this role for two years before joining Johari Rotana as an Assistant Director of HR.

“Down the lane, covid 19 happened and many countries went under lockdown. This affected businesses in the hospitality industry, Johari Rotana being one of them. During the pandemic, I got an opportunity to work as HR Auditor and Compliance at the Julius Nyerere Hydropower Project. I was managing and monitoring over 70 companies that were involved in the construction process,” she explains.

Juliana further says “The caliber of people I was dealing with in the other sectors was different from the one in the heavy construction industry. The transition changed with the way I was communicating with people I worked in these particular industries. Every industry had a language through which we could both be understood and well-articulated with each other.”

This taught her to master her competence as well as Julian’s understanding when it came to adjusting to different industries and environments.

“That was the only way I could thrive in every environment. I kept an open mind whilst embracing the environments around me during that time. This adjustment helped in making the people I worked with comfortable with addressing me in concerns that related to the company,” she details.

She narrates incidents such as workers’ strikes that started as a result of different conditions they faced in their employment.

“During that time, I branded myself in a way that people could easily approach me to discuss their challenges so that I could assist to resolve since I was like the middleman between the workers and the executive leadership.On the other hand, when I joined the hydropower project, I wanted to establish my own HR firm called Prime En’ People (PEP) because I was certain that I could share my knowledge with people around the profession as well as connect employers and employees,” she details.

While she was still developing PEP, Iain Usiri, one of the three founders of Ramani approached Juliana with an idea to work together so that she could help gather a team of talented individuals for different roles in the company.

“Before I accepted the role, Iain helped me understand what Ramani is all about, the services it offers, the company’s vision and more. My first roles included setting up a proper framework, policies, putting up the organization’s structure and creating values that would define Ramani’s culture,” she details.

This roadmap assisted Juliana and Ramani’s founders to create an image of their company in the society.

“We wanted to be perceived as a data-driven company that works with other agencies, one that is filled with integrity, a company with a team that can communicate and bring on new challenges that would elevate the company to new levels,” she narrates.

Her work saw Ramani getting talented individuals who filled in key advisory positions of the business including Head of Finance, Head of Customer Service, Head of Sales and Legal Manager.

“I like to fix things and I thrive because of the presence of unending challenges. They make my work even more exciting because through working them out, it helps in discovering new doors I can open and new extents I can reach as I sharpen my skills. I despise feeling like I am at a dead end. The presence of barriers is a sign that there are more heights I can reach,” she says.

Juliana’s satisfaction comes from improving situations and careers of people.

“I like getting acknowledged for the positive impact of the things I have done or been a part of. It could be growing a company from this level to that level, making the team feel more valued from being less valued and the like,” she details.

She advises individuals to change their perspective on challenges because within them, are potentials to grow, in both their careers and lives.