Master of numbers, mother of two
"Don't miss out because of fear. It is amazing how far you can go with the right attitude"
POLOKWANE – With a string of accolades to her name, Agnes Mlambo considers her two beautiful children as her greatest achievement.
Agnes was born and grew up in Benoni and says she was always in finance. However, for the last couple of years, she has wanted to try something else. When opportunity knocked, she applied for and was appointed as General Manager Distribution for Eskom in Limpopo in January this year.
“Being a mother, the timing was maybe not perfect, as I have a son who is now in matric and I had to leave him behind in Gauteng, but it was now or never. Lots of things women do go uncelebrated. As a single parent there is a fine balance one has to keep when pursuing a career,” she explained.
Whenever she has the time, she loves to cook and can make a mean lasagna and curry.
When relaxing she loves to listen to music and reading, mostly fiction and sometimes inspirational books. “Due to time constraints I do not read as much as I would want but I still do it whenever I can.”
Mlambo obtained her BCom degree at the University of Cape Town and completed a master of business administration (MBA) through the University of Southern Queensland in Australia. She is a qualified Chartered Management Accountant and her former position was Senior Manager of Finance at Eskom.
“I started my career as an assistant accountant in a German pharmaceutical company, I later moved to Vodacom, XPS courier, Air Traffic & Navigation Services, and then to Eskom. I have been in management for almost 20 years. As you can see from the variety of companies that I have worked in, I spent a large part of my career within engineering companies.” Mlambo joined Eskom Transmission Finance in February 2008 and later through restructuring of the organisation, she was moved to Group Finance servicing the wires business. “Throughout my career, I have always been involved in the financial aspects of the business yet still very much in touch and actively involved in operations,” she added.
Mlambo has earned numerous accolades during her career but said: “I believe previous success is only relevant if one is willing to embrace creative destruction. I guess that this is why I have chosen this new path, to grow and be a part of something bigger. I believe I have made the right choice by being here and I am humbled by the opportunity to contribute towards the distribution division.”
Mlambo said young people should not be afraid of doing anything they want to do for the fear of failure. “When you are young, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Don’t miss out because of fear. It is amazing how far you can go with the right attitude,” she concluded.
