Kicking failure into touch – and remembering Ubuntu

ALUMNI ACHIEVERS … The winners at NMMU’s annual Alumni Awards evening on Monday were (from left) Dr Amber Anderson, Dr Hanningtone Gaya, Nomkhita Mona, Baxolile Mabinya, Nicholas Hafner, Deon Schoeman, Tracy Cheetham and Garret Barnwell.

By Guest Blogger (Nicky Willemse)

This week, NMMU celebrated the cream of its alumni crop – those who have graduated from the institution and gone on to achieve great things.

People like South African cricket coach Russell Domingo, Tracy Cheetham, who manages SKA SA (Square Kilometre Array South Africa), the biggest science project in the world, wine guru Nicholas Hafner and Dimension Data’s Baxolile Mabinya, who is the group’s strategy director for the Middle East and Africa.

Then there was author Isla Morley, Coca-Cola Fortune’s HR exec Dr Amber Anderson, the president of the South African Association of Doctors Without Borders, Garret Barnwell, Kenyan brand and marketing authority, Dr Hanningtone Gaya, and the founder of Klinicare Pharmacies, Deon Schoeman. And one of last year’s winners, Safcol CEO Nomkhita Mona, was also in town to belatedly collect her award.

It was a glittering event with speeches galore – some short, some (a tad) long, some clever, some humorous.

But in the speeches, there were two common threads – and that’s what really stood out most for me.

The first was that a number of these top achievers had experienced failure along the line. In fact, three of them were hauled over the coals as university students for dismal marks and told to buck up or get out. Deon’s pharmacy lecturer, appalled at Deon’s 19% for a test, told him he wasn’t a “pharmacist’s backside”. Tracy’s told her she had to improve her marks or get kicked out of architecture, while Isla’s lecturer called her essay a “howler” – when she asked what he meant, he said it was so bad, it had made him howl with laughter.

They could have lost heart, fallen out the system, tried something else (as other students have probably done). Instead, they chose to prove their lecturers wrong – and have gone on to excel beyond their lecturers’ and, more importantly, their own expectations.

For these three individuals, those comments marked a turning point in their lives, where they shifted gear from mediocre to excellent.

A little bit of failure can work wonders.

The other thread that stood out was the spirit of Ubuntu. Just about all the recipients thanked those in their lives who had helped them get to where they are today. Many recited the Ubuntu philosophy: I am because you are.

Their achievements are not theirs alone. They are the result of the endless support of parents, spouses, lecturers – and their awards are an indication not just of the talent of the recipients, but the talent of the people and places that have “grown” them.

Congratulations to all.

And as you go forward, “just believe” (to quote the catchy mantra of Computing Science’s Prof Jean Greyling, as recounted by award recipient Baxolile).

Just believe … in yourself, in your ability, in the things that keep you going forward (your faith, family, friends, colleagues – all the things you mentioned in your speeches) – and keep making your alma mater, city, region and country proud.