Rising Woman: Nura Masood calls on women to be bold and take on challenges

 Women are their own people, with different priorities and responsibilities and it is the two that defines them, says Nura Masood, general manager for corporate business at Sanlam Life Insurance and governing councillor at Insurance Institute of Tanzania (IIT).
As a head of corporate, her department oversees claims and underwrites people’s lives in business development.
She studied insurance at the Chartered Institute in United Kingdom where her studies were especially on life insurance, unlike other people who study general insurance.
“It is one of the most difficult areas of study as you must have a background in medicine because the two fields are related,” says Ms Masood.
She reveals that she was the only student who had chosen life insurance course, and along the way, she had failed the course continuously for four years because there was no one to lean on.
“It was the most difficult time I have ever been through since I decided to enrol in the insurance field because for a period of three years I repeatedly sat with different people who would leave because of the repeated failures,” says Ms Masood.
She said the repetition of the course helped to make her bold, despite the times that she almost gave up.
She adds: “Even now, I am the only person with the qualifications of life insurance worker.”
Ms Masood has been working with Sanlam Life Insurance for 13 years, whereas she started as an underwriting officer, she was then promoted to assistant underwriting manager before being promoted to underwriting manager which paved her way to become general manager.
“I never knew my line of work would one day be in the insurance field until I studied an insurance course which made me admire the route, so I went on with it,” says Ms Masood.
She reveals that the insurance field interested her because it is closely linked to people’s lives and can have positively impact on a person.
“Life insurance is more like social protection. It is not only about paying claims, remember you are touching people’s lives. That is what interests me in this field,” says Ms Masood.
She says her leadership style is more of participatory. Ms Masood says throughout the 13 years at Sanlam Life Insurance, she has worked alongside her team whilst unlocking their inner potentials as she continues to discover her own life path.
“I believe that if you are a leader, you must inspire others to perform better in their different departments,” Ms Masood explains.
She adds: “Leadership is more than a top position, it is more of understanding of our team and your line of work, at many times it is team work that assists in developing the organization.”
She says that leaders must be compassionate with the people they work with and at the same time, they must be open to new things that will better their field of work.
“There are times leaders must divert their paths so as to make sure that their team understands them,” she explains.
She reveals that despite her mother being uneducated, she raised them to be fond of education while being adamant that her both her children live purposeful lives.
While she says she will not be at the leadership position forever, Ms Masood says that she has been engaging organizations who will motivate other people to start taking an interest in life insurance.
“I might admire being a lecturer someday but either way, I want people to understand how crucial my work field is and start taking an interest because there must be other people on board despite me,” says Ms Masood.
She says at the moment she only mentors her staff, because most of them had never studied life insurance, she takes them through the most important things until they become well versed in them.
“Leadership can be attained through both formal and informal training, but a good leader must know that an experience in leading people is different from the knowledge in the books, you must combine the two to be a good leader,” says Ms Masood.
She addresses the gender gap in top leadership positions, saying changes are beginning to show.
“Lack of diversity in top leadership positions originates from global historical background because women historically were always in the background, they were family caretakers,” says Ms Masood.
She says things are positively evolving but a pace that is not appealing as she says it has been ages since measures to bring about gender balance were starting to be taken.
“There may be circumstances that limit women from excelling, but it is time those barriers are pushed to allow women to seat in the front seat of successfulness,” Ms Masood notes.
She adds: “A woman is her own successful story, she must be confident in every corner career wise, she must accept her flows and lessons, and always have her hands reaching out to every opportunities that she is assured will push her to her goals.”
Ms Masood notes the nervousness of women to approach new opportunities is one of the reasons that set them back.
“It is okay to be nervous and hesitant, both men and women have that, but they do not let fear take control of them, they had rather choose to rebel against it to prove their capabilities,” she explains.
She concludes that women must understand that every person is unique on their own, and it is this character that makes them exceptional