Republikein Newspaper

Staff reporter

Samantha Geyser dreamed of becoming a pilot when she was a young girl. She admired Amelia Earhart for her achievement of being the first person to fly solo around the world and wondered how difficult it must have been at that time to be a woman in a man’s world – something she’s become somewhat familiar with in the telecoms industry.

Spending time with her father, who flew for Air Namibia, and other aviation enthusiasts in the family, Samantha quickly became a lover of aviation and received her private pilot’s licence in 2007 whilst working for Paratus. Samantha did not intend to land up in the telecommunications industry but did some networking courses as the new buzzword at the time was information technology and she believed it was – and still is - “the next best thing” to get into, and particularly towards the end of the third industrial revolution when the internet became available to the world.

Born in Johannesburg and accustomed to big city living, Samantha decided to slow down the pace and moved to Namibia, where she has now been living for 23 years. She is happy in Windhoek, as she prefers the smaller community vibe and likes the fact that everyone knows everyone … most of the time.

She feels she is in one of the best phases of her life right now and urges one to make the most of the moment you are in currently.

Samantha has three simple wishes in life: to have more time, to make Covid disappear and to stop corruption.

Samantha first worked for Paratus in 2005 for four years. She then re-joined the company in 2011 and says that returning to Paratus was like riding a bicycle because for her, she says “it’s second nature”.

At Paratus, along with a team of approximately 60 people, Samantha looks after various departments which are all involved with customer service: support centre, activations department, key accounts and systems development (where the team automates business processes and launches customer facing products and services to the market quicker).

“We always go the extra mile for the customer. It is all about service and about how important you make the customer feel, whether it is in onboarding them or in after sales support”, says Samantha.

“The future plans for the company tend to be short term as the industry and technology is evolving at lightning speed as we enter into the fourth industrial revolution. This changes the game constantly and what works today may be obsolete tomorrow. We need to work fast and be agile in our approach and stay ahead of the curve with additional product offerings.”

There is no average day in a week at Paratus for Samantha. It starts with coffee then work, work, work, and then more coffee and work, work, work. Each day brings a different challenge or an exciting project which makes her job really interesting, and thoroughly enjoyable.

Samantha wishes to share a message to all inspiring ICT newbies. “Start at the bottom and work your way to the top. Learn everything you can about the industry and the business, it is a long journey, but it is most certainly the best way to learn, and you will make small accomplishments every day. The bottom line is work hard and never stop learning. Working for Paratus has been my biggest accomplishment and I am so thankful for the opportunity.

Facts about Samantha

· She loves flying.

· She cycles most weekends and runs in the morning to stay fit.

· She loves horses.

· She is self-motivated and creative.

· Customer focused.

· Doesn’t let obstacles limit her progress.

· She is fair but firm and stands her ground.

· She has strength of character to push boundaries in the workplace and in her personal life.

· She works hard and plays hard (it is necessary in this industry).