[Full Text] TelOne Chairperson’s speech at Executive Development Programme Graduation Ceremony

TelOne today held a graduation ceremony for its Executive Development Programme Graduation Ceremony at the state-owned company’s Centre for Learning. The event was attended by the Ministry of ICT’s Jenfan Muswere, Africa University Interim Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor Pamela Machakanja and many others.

Below are the remarks from TelOne’s chairperson, Dr Douglas Zimbango, at the event:

I am pleased to stand before you at the occasion of the Executive Development Programme Graduation ceremony. Today is a mark of an important leadership journey for TelOne senior management as they are achieving a remarkable milestone in their careers.

Honourable Minister, Invited Guests: today’s graduation has been influenced by our values of Excellence, Teamwork and Commitment as well as our Client Centric approach. These values particularly Client Centricity, requires relevant skills in order to improve business efficiency for our clients in line with our strategic thrust.

TelOne places skills development and improvement highly and this is incorporated in our organisation strategy and policies. We are committed to always seek ways to cement our ability to attract, develop, deploy and retain employees who have the right competencies, culture and attitudes in the context of the company’s business model.

Ladies and gentlemen, the graduands you see today have undergone an intense leadership programme, facilitated through our partnership with Africa University who are also here present today.

Over the past years, we have ensured a proactive and accurate identification of training needs at all levels within TelOne. As such the enrollment of the 22 graduands of the Executive Development Programme was influenced by an identified skills gap through interaction with our senior management.

The programme was then specifically designed for our team graduating today to entail the following aspects:

• Servant Leadership,
• Personal Effectiveness,
• Thought Leadership,
• Influence,
• Creativity & Innovation,
• Decision Making,
• Planning,
• Solution Development,
• Opportunity Identification, and
• Execution

This programme is testimony to how the company empowers and supports its employees through such integrated learning experience. Further, TelOne being a technology organisation which is currently undergoing digital transformation, requires employees with adequate education qualifications and necessary skills set.

Honourable Minister, TelOne is committed to compliment Government efforts in human skills development for the betterment of our economy and towards achieving Vision 2030.

Our aim is to develop and retain talent through the provision of clear and distinct training programmes.

To the Graduands, congratulations for attaining this leadership certificate. We are positive that this is a step towards personal discovery of what true leadership is all about. We believe that through this course your business acumen has changed, you are now better leaders who are able to handle more complex situations, manage people, come up with solutions and be more productive. We would like you to immediately apply the concepts learnt for the success of our organisation. In return you will be fulfilled because you would have channelled your efforts towards a greater cause.

Honourable Minister, as we celebrate International Customer Service Week which started on Monday the 4^th of October, we are positive that the attainment of the leadership certificates by our senior management is going to create value not only within TelOne but for our customers who will benefit from our efficiency.

Once again congratulations to all the Graduands!