BIO
The 2016 Johnny Smoes Award for excellence in Information Systems (IS) Strategy and Governance winner was Talitakuum Ekandjo. Her story, like the story of many of the recipients of these awards, is inspiration for anyone who aims to achieve their goals.
Talitakuum was born in a small village called Oniithima, deep in the rural areas of northern Namibia. One of six children, she took advantage of every educational opportunity, starting Grade 1 at Hamunyela Primary School when she was 4 years old. Because there were no other schools in the area most of her classmates were teenagers. Talitakuum finished her secondary education at Oshigambo High School.
Accepting a bursary from the Bank of Namibia in 2003 set Talitakuum on a career path and the road that would eventually lead her to study at the University of Melbourne. Moving to Windhoek to study Information Technology (IT) at the Polytechnic of Namibia (now NUST), she graduated in 2007. In 2008 she became a permanent staff member of the bank and now holds the position of Junior Business Analyst.
In 2011, she enrolled at the University of Namibia to study a Bachelor of Business Administration (Honours), majoring in Banking and Finance. This was completed in 2014. A highly motivated student, Talitakuum saw continued study a way of aligning career aspirations and personal goals. Moreover, Talitakuum had a belief that further education helped ensure her skills and knowledge remain relevant to her field, also givingher the competencies required to contribute effectively to the attainment of the organisation’s objectives. This strong belief in continuing education led Talitakuum to apply for a Bank Scholarship. Successful in this application, she was able to enrol in the Melbourne University Master of Information Systems (MIS) degree.
Studying for a Master’s degree is challenging at the best of times but to do so in a new country requires a special dedication. Having to adapt to a totally new environment, Talitakuum found the first few weeks challenging. The education system, the university teaching structure were very different from what Talitakuum had experienced in Namibia. There was also a new and different climate to which to adapt. Namibia’s climate is much more stable than Australia’s and the people of Windhoek do not suffer the extremes in temperature or the ‘four-seasons-in-one-day’ for which Melbourne is notorious.
And, of course, there was the language barrier. Australians are notorious in their use of slang and colloquialisms, and many of these words do not appear in standard dictionaries, as Australians also have a propensity for abbreviation. It is a credit to Talitakuum’s tenacity and adaptability that it only took her a few weeks to begin to decipher Australia’s peculiar vernacular.
Talitakuum describes her degree as “a two-year degree for people with an interest to manage IT and digital businesses by supporting, managing and changing business processes through ICT and IS. It is really about answering the question of how best we can use ICT and IS to make sure we get the optimal value from our IT investments.”
Talitakuum relished the challenge of studying in Australia, finding the university and corporate environments highly competitive. Talitakuum credits this competitiveness with helping her to dig deeper and perform at her absolute best level. In fact, Talitakuum’s academic performance for the Master degree was her best performance since leaving secondary school, finishing 2016 with a first class Master of Information Systems (MIS) degree. As the student with the highest result, Talitakuum was awarded the 2016 Johnny Smoes Award for excellence in Information Systems (IS) Strategy and Governance.
Talitakuumplans to continue studying after a break and taking time to focus on personal goals. The dedication she has shown to her study and career so far suggest a bright future in whatever area Talitakuum chooses to focus.
