How Project Management Transformed My Career.
In 2005, I had freshly returned to Nigeria after training as a network engineer at the United Kingdom Telecoms Academy, I received an invitation to work with the new management team at MTEL (the organization where I had previously worked as an intern five years prior).
Though initially focused on telecom engineering, I transitioned into project management upon joining the Project Implementation Unit of the GSM Operations Department. It was a field I knew little about initially but soon embraced, seeking out formal training and certifications to deepen my expertise.
In 2006, my organization sent me to the United Arab Emirate for my first formal project management training, which proved to be enlightening. Still hungry for further knowledge in this newfound passion, I pursued another self-funded training and certification program in the United Kingdom, earning my first project management certification.
Upon returning to Nigeria, I became the sole certified project practitioner within my organization, granting me access to pivotal decision-making rooms where strategies and key projects were discussed.
However, I noticed a common misconception wherever I was identified as a project manager: it was perceived merely as a position, not a profession. This realization spurred me to take an action, leading me to conceive the idea of organizing Nigeria’s first-ever national project management conference – ProMaCon in September 2009 and sustaining for a decade (a story for another day).
In 2010, I was recognized by PMI Nigeria Chapter for the “Most outstanding contribution to project management”. Subsequently, I later served as the Vice President, Outreach of the Chapter from 2011 to 2012. Serving at the Project Management Institute hashtag#PMI was a privilege and an experience that shaped me as a leader.
Fast forward, 15 years after, I have pivoted from a telecoms network engineer and project manager to a management and technology consultant leading organizational and digital transformations for government, multinationals and development partners.
At this year’s PMI Global Summit, I had the privilege of being honored with the prestigious “PMI Eric Jennet Person of the Year” for outstanding contributions to the project management profession, its practice at an international level through leadership, technical project management, and strategic and business management acumen.
All thanks to the singular decision to pursue a career in project management when it wasn’t seen as a profession.
Project management is not just a profession, it’s a life skill, just like swimming.
In the next few days, I will be sharing details of my some initiatives (POTY initiatives) aimed at developing people and the practice in general.
Stay tuned.
Happy International Project Management Day!
TAB
PMI Person of the Year
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