“We need to Teach Young Girls to be Brave and Daring”, Jobberman CEO, Hilda Kragha

Hilda Kabushenga Kragha is one of East Africa’s finest exports. From the onset, she knew exactly what she wanted out of life – to build a pan-African work profile. She mapped the plan and set out on the journey. The end product is an asset that has been adding value to multinational companies across the African regions.

Hilda’s work experience is nothing short of outstanding, having worked at the Central Bank of Uganda, global auditing firm, KPMG, and McKinsey & Company. In June 2019, she was named Chief Executive Officer of Jobberman, Nigeria’s number 1 recruitment platform.

She tells Business Elites Africa more about her personal and business journey in this interview.

Q: Can you tell us a little bit about your career path?

A: I studied law, however, never went on to practice it. Instead, I found myself drawn to improving productivity in businesses through the development of talent. And prior to that, I worked at KPMG East Africa as a transfer pricing consultant working with multinationals in the region to develop and design their transfer policies and support the negotiations with the different tax authorities.

I am Ugandan born and had most of my formative education there before training as a Lawyer in South Africa. However, my desire for a global platform led me to leave KPMG and pursue an MBA at IESE Business School after which I joined McKinsey & Company’s Lagos office in 2015. My thinking at the time was that as an East African, Educated in South Africa, adding West Africa to my experience would help me build a strong pan-African profile and looking back, it was the right move. Up until late 2018, I worked as an Engagement
Manager for McKinsey & Company, serving private and public sector clients primarily on
strategy, talent management and organisational behaviour.

Q: Tell us about your current role and the most exciting part of your work.

A: I joined Jobberman in June of 2019 as the CEO, driven by my passion for Human Capital development and immediately started thinking about Jobberman’s position and role in the employment ecosystem in
Nigeria given the country’s very high unemployment rate. As a Jobs marketplace, Jobberman’s core mandate is to increase democratic access to work opportunities. If all roles are filled transparently, then there is a higher likelihood of the right person being employed in the right role, which would in turn increase overall workplace productivity.

In order for us to fulfil our mandate, we have to develop exciting, innovative recruitment products that make the job of every recruiter easier and at the same time we have to invest in developing our job seekers capabilities e.g., through our free soft skills curriculum so that they are well qualified and can
successfully apply to the jobs on the platform.

https://atomic-temporary-203083154.wpcomstaging.com//2020/11/05/how-mudi-built-africas-fashion-empire-from-scratch/

Q: What has been the most career defining moment that you are proud of?

A: I honestly cannot point to one single moment. I have been fortunate enough to have a career filled with “Aha moments”. I will say though, that having 15,000 young people sign up for the Jobberman soft skills curriculum during the first week ranks high up there. Especially because over half of those who signed up were young women. We have long known that soft skills are crucial to being successful in the workplace and I am excited that we are helping young Nigerians check that.

Q: You are one of the very few female leaders in this kind of space. What is it like being in this industry that is male dominated?

A: I am usually not the person people expect when they picture a CEO, so there are those moments of awkwardness when I walk into a room. But I chose to focus on all the women who have come before me and for whom it was even harder to gain credibility in the workplace and had to fight twice as hard for the opportunities we have today. If they could do it, then so must I. We have to move the gender representation conversation forward with each generation…

Read the complete interview in the Business Elites Africa magazine here: Find it on pages 38 & 39.