In this section, we bring you up close and personal with some of the Zimnat staff, so you get to know the person behind the face you see everyday in the office. In this edition, we profile Paula Thaka, from the Audit department in the Zimnat Life Assurance.

Q: How long have you worked for the company?
A: 20months (1year 8months)

Q: Before working here, what other places have you worked?
A: Lupane State University, Bulawayo City Council

Q: Are you more of a hunter or a gatherer?
A: Gatherer

Q: You’re a new addition to the crayon box. What color would you be and why?
A: Gold(my favorite color) because it’s associated with royalty plus i have never really seen a gold crayon, it’s usually all sorts of yellow but never gold.

Q: Suppose you found a lottery ticket that ends up winning $10 million. What would you do?
A: A greater part of it will be invested in property. I am into commercial livestock farming so i would invest in that as well. And obviously i would use the change for shopping hahaha.

Q: What do you think about when you’re alone in your car/room?
A: My future mostly. I wonder what it has in stock for me.

Q: What’s your favorite 90s jam?
A: Anything by Celine Dion and Westlife

Q: What’s your current favorite track?
A: Eish i do not have one particular track but i love Zulu love songs.

Q: What was the last gift you gave someone?
A: A set of towels.

Q: What were you like in high school?
A: Noisy in class hahahaha, very sporty. I was basically an all-rounder and very bossy.

Q: What was the last thing you watched on TV and why did you choose to watch it?
A: America’s Next Top Model because it’s entertaining plus it has lots of fashion going on hahahahaha.

Q: Tell me something about your job other than money that inspires you to keep working there.
A: Besides the love and passion i have always had for Internal Auditing, i developed love and passion for Zimnat through my experience here. I’m driven by the desire to make the company better, especially with regards to making all our business processes not only efficient but effective as well – meaning reducing costs and timely service delivery to our clients.

This is not an overnight type of task, but a continuous improvement and the desire to see that continuous improvement keeps me going.

Zimnat makes life better for others. Rarely do we mention making life better for Zimnat and that’s what my job is. Making life better for Zimnat hahaha.

Q: What is the funniest thing that has happened to you recently?
A: Ah i can’t remember.

Q: Pretend you’re the CEO. What 3 concerns about the company’s future keep you up at night?
A: Being able to operate as a going concern and further growing the company. Adapting to the fast changing technological environment. Ways of motivating and retaining the company’s human resources in the future, we wouldn’t want to lose our skilled staff to competition.

Q: What do you work toward in your free time?
A: I study a lot.

Q: Describe the color yellow to someone who is blind.
A: Hahaha that is hard but i would probably say it’s a very soft color like the warmth of the sun.

Q: How would you convince someone to do something they didn’t want to do?
A: Assist them to show them it is doable.