Overachiever Mwatukange takes on Old Mutual
"My primary responsibility as a customer experience administrator is to analyse data gathered by the organisation from both internal and external sources in order to learn more about our clients' preferences and behaviour."
Joseph Mwatukange was recently appointed as the new CX administrator at Old Mutual, and his appointment was a foregone conclusion given his impressive resume.
Joseph Mwatukange is from Engela, a small town in the Ohangwena Region. The town that birthed Namibia's very own Einstein. He went to Weyulu Primary School, where he learnt how to correctly spell his name. He then went on to Ongha Secondary School, where he was dubbed one of those "scientific stream nerds". Background
His academic achievements include majoring in physics and minoring in geology at the University of Namibia (Unam) from 2013 to 2016. He was so taken with it that he returned to the university to pursue a master's degree in renewable energy. Mwatukange's dissertation focused on manganese-iron oxide materials for thermochemical energy storage.
Meanwhile, Development in Africa with Radio Astronomy (DARA) operates a radio astronomy basic training programme in Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia. Each year, 10 physics or other relevant discipline graduates from each country receive basic radio astronomy training delivered in four intensive, two-week units. Mwatukange was chosen to take part. And thanks to DARA's financial assistance, he now has a United Kingdom-based research master's degree in astronomy and astrophysics from an advanced programme.
Thereafter, he worked for the City of Windhoek as a hydrologist and data scientist intern, where I assisted in the collection and monitoring of underground water usage in the aquifer that surrounds Windhoek, as well as dabbling in software development as a junior developer at Colab Technical College in Walvis Bay after that.
"My thesis' use of machine learning from the Atacama Large Millimetre/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) telescope to investigate star formation was out of this world," he said.
If that wasn't enough, he and one of his friends spent time developing a platform to automatically translate texts from Oshindonga to English.
Call of duty
Mwatukange has a demanding job that necessitates considerable skill. "My primary responsibility as a customer experience administrator is to analyse data gathered by the organisation from both internal and external sources in order to learn more about our clients' preferences and behaviour," he said. This enables the company to provide the best services and experiences to customers. He spends his days in front of a computer, writing scripts to automate tasks, creating user-friendly dashboards to display data, and creating reports.
"Since I started, the numerous discoveries I have uncovered through my data analysis have captivated me."
Challenges at work are a part and parcel of professional life, and one of the most difficult aspects of Mwatukange’s job is feeling pressure to make an immediate impact on his department and the firm as a whole.
Second, the complex phrases and acronyms used in financial and insurance terminology can be difficult to understand. Nonetheless, he sees this as motivation to learn as much as possible and keep up with his colleagues, he said.
“When I'm not buried in the world of analysis, I enjoy watching football. To unwind, I enjoy playing video games and watching football. When I am feeling fancy, I like to experiment in the kitchen, but let's just say my culinary skills are still developing. Anyone who is brave enough to try my food will receive a free stomach pump!” Mwatukange said with a laugh.