When it comes to CEOs in Zambia, few are as admired, respected and intriguing as Mizinga Melu. She has a healthy resume and a string of accolades besides her name. She has become a brand who is sought after for interviews, motivational talks and is a thought leader. Mizinga Melu is also one of the few female CEOs in this country at the helm of a large financial corporation. Following her storied career, she has become an inspiration to many people and esteemed by thousands more. There is no shortage of inspiring leaders in this country. The missing link is the wealth of knowledge and experience the leaders have is rarely documented. As a result, we neither know the depth of their accomplishments nor how they achieved their success. Mizinga Melu is one of the few changing that script by penning her memoir and taking control of her narrative in Braving the Odds.

Braving the Odds: A Memoir on Perseverance, Finance and Faith is Mizinga Melu’s debut book, which hit the shelves on 29 January 2021. It is a memoir that covers Mizinga’s career. She introduces us to her family— her parents and six siblings. It is immediately apparent that her father would play an integral role in many of the choices Mizinga would make in future. The first few chapters are slow burners as she describes the modest beginnings that would catapult her to be the woman she is today.

She completed high school at Roma Girls Secondary School and detoured to pursue a nursing career that did not go according to plan. From this disappointing episode, she found the motivation to embark on a career in banking, which was sparked by her first job with Zambia National Commercial Bank (ZANACO). From here, Mizinga began to chart her path through the steep, bumpy and unforgiving terrain of the corporate landscape.

After getting her academic qualification in the United Kingdom, Mizinga joined Standard Chartered Bank as a management trainee. A determined young lady brimming with ambition and packed with potential, she would navigate through various departments. She soaked up as much knowledge as she could and took on challenges that most would avoid. “I saw the advantage of having a lot of tools in my tool kit and disadvantage of being a specialist,” she narrates. Even in situations when she was unsure of herself, she did not cower away from a difficult assignment, this was a trait that her supervisors quickly identified in her.

Braving the Odds is a reflective and inspiring book from a woman who believed in her potential and was bold enough to take the reins of her life’s ship. This book will motivate women to become champions in their fields and not to settle for crumbs. Mizinga has set an example of what is possible in a male-dominated corporate world. The leadership lessons shared in the book are applicable for anyone who leads a team and aspires for the top positions in their organisation. Mizinga has already achieved so much in her career, she certainly has many more chapters to write. We will be here to read them.

It did not take long before the Mizinga was considered for leadership positions that saw her work in Tanzania, South Africa, United Kingdom and the United States of America. She narrates her different experiences in these places both the good and challenges that were presented. With each leadership role, Mizinga would often find herself the only African woman in the boardroom and had to prove that she belonged. She says, “Although I knew I deserved to be where I was, I sometimes had the feeling that I was a ‘token’ woman in the boardroom; like I was there ‘for the number’—to make the room look more diverse or the company statistics more progressive or equitable.” These are sentiments that have been echoed by other female leaders in books such as Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg and Women and Leadership by Julia Gillard and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. Mizinga did not let the challenges deter her from doing her job, culminating in her being the first African female CEO of Standard Chartered Bank.

In as much as Mizinga focuses on her career in the book, the other thing that stands out is that she does not at any point claim to be a self-made woman. A cast of individuals have supported her along the way; this includes her husband, siblings, father, supervisors and faith. She made sacrifices to be where she is, and some of those sacrifices have come at a price, perhaps that is what makes her such an endearing individual. She is honest to admit that she does not always have everything figured out, but she tries.

In the book, we get the opinions of what Mizinga’s supervisors thought of her work, which were often glowing reviews. It would have also been great if she added more of what the people she led felt about her leadership style, character and ambition. The font in the paperback version is not easy on the eyes; standard fonts like Caslon, Caslon or Minion would have been suitable. There are punctuation errors on the dialogue that somehow are difficult to miss. These are errors that should have been picked up by the editor.

Braving the Odds

165 pages

Duende Press

Available in Bookworld