Living her dream through CSR
Veripura Muukua is proof that you can live the dream by making other people's dreams come true.
Veripura Muukua was raised in Windhoek, where she was born. She still resides in the "humble streets” of Wanaheda. Muukua completed her high school education at Khomas High School after attending Namibia Primary School in Katutura for her primary education. She wasn't sure what academic direction she wanted to take after school. She was admitted to a course to study education, but her heart wasn't in it.
She had a brief conversation with a lecturer about public relations at registration and left, having decided to learn more about it and switch courses the next day. She started at the University of Namibia (Unam) with a diploma in public relations before pursuing an honours degree in media studies with public relations and politics as her majors at the same institution. Currently, Muukua is a graduate student at the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST), studying journalism and media technology.
On 1 September, she became a member of the Capricorn Group when she was employed as the coordinator of the Capricorn Foundation.
The foundation, a non-profit organisation incorporated in Namibia under Section 21 of the Company's Act, was created in February 2020 as the group's vehicle for its corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives.
In this role, she is responsible for the day-to-day administration, coordination and management of the Capricorn Foundation’s activities and programmes and liaising with all key stakeholders, including the foundation’s beneficiaries and board, “to which I will be reporting every quarter”, she said.
“My career did not start with corporate social responsibility, but directly working with communities created a passion for community development and the impact possible through collaboration to improve our communities and socio-economic development,” she added.
Muukua approached Namibia Nature Foundation (NNF), where she did an internship during her senior year in 2016. She collaborated with a foreign volunteer that year and helped him with the yearly report and social media administration for the NNF. She learnt from the articles and success stories how organisations can advance good change when they collaborate and how local communities can profit from the natural riches nearby.
She next worked as a communication intern, a communication officer and finally a communication officer for the NNF until December 2019, she said.
In January 2020, she started working at Bank Windhoek as a communication practitioner for corporate social investment and stakeholder engagement.
About the job
She highlighted that her job allows her to give back to the community, adding that the position embodies the joy that CSR brings to the faces of community members, which is where their mission of being a ‘Connector of Positive Change’ excels.
Through her position, she has the opportunity to work with communities to promote hope, improve and give them the power to improve themselves and become sustainable.
Muukua added that she adores the distinctiveness, diversity and range of her work's contact points. According to the foundation’s focus areas, team members can make an impact through entrepreneurship, education and health.
Further, she said managing CSR initiatives keeps you on your toes.
“It's a position that calls for a lot of harmony, professionalism and humility at once.”
She would advise young people to begin developing their curriculum vitae (CV) and careers as soon as feasible, rather than waiting until the internship in their fourth year of university.
She had the guts to seize the chances that presented themselves, she said. Apart from that, she worked as a data entry clerk and did stocktaking to gain job experience over the holidays. In her second year, she worked part-time at a media monitoring company to pad her CV in line with her subject of study. “Please take into account business potential as well,” she advised.
Last but not least, she urged students to start learning about job prospects as soon as they can. “You can do this by attending career fairs and reading online about the many study disciplines that interest you and the subjects you like.”