A bright & promising young woman on the move; let’s catch her Fever!!!

Birkti Kahsay

Branch Manager at Wegagen Bank S.C.

Birikti has worked her way up from teller to having her own branch in a few short years. Birikti, as young as a high school girl started working for her family business with greater responsibility one would give to a 15 year old girl. She tells us that she used to work for her family business with full responsibility; and from that experience at a very young age she learned what helped her: to be proactive, to think critically and to forecast future trends. She also learned the importance of commitment, punctuality and devotion to work.

However, Birikti learned the importance of self-worth, self-love and self-care after she joined AWiB. She learned that unless you are good to yourself, you can’t be a good mother, a good daughter, a good wife or even a good friend. She says “unlike the commitment that I had to my job I wasn’t paying attention or giving time to myself; I thought the responsibility of kids and house chores was solely mine which created a great deal of conflict and anger within me and through the process, I lost my self except the focus and commitment I had for my job”.

Birikti asserts that the time she spends on AWiB’s roundtable discussions (RTD), conversational English, and other workshops such as self-confidence and negotiation skills help her to find her voice, her passion and purpose in life. Not only talk but she has put what she learned into actions. “Now I made sure that the responsibilities of kids and house chores were both my husband’s and mine…no more conflict, no more anger”. That gave Birikti the space to transform and to think about her mission in life and to demand and request for what she wants.

As AWiB is first and foremost a networking platform, she met and became good friends with many professionals and experts especially HR experts who taught her how to interview for positions within the company and how to identify her talents and how to work on what’s missing. She has learned the importance of self-analysis, working on “Self SWOT” to identify her strengths and weaknesses. She learned to get what one wants in life is an ART that requires training, believing in oneself and knowing what one wants to do and how to arrange for other alternatives or always coming up with “Plan B” and a plan B for the Plan B. AWiB made sure she gets the concept of, “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail” and that life is a choice…we get what we choose in life and to plan well for our choices.

“Now I give time to myself and spend some money on myself. I have plan in the near future to pursue a Master’s degree program in finance that will someday catapult me to a higher position and lead a company.  I reflect much on life, what I am doing and where I want to go. Gradually I am finding and realizing my self–worth and moving on in life. Thanks to AWiB I am back in this game called “Living life to the fullest” and the possibility of dreaming for a beautiful journey”.

We, AWiBers are gloating on behalf of a fellow AWiBer and the “AWiB Effect” affecting us all in ways that we never dreamed of possible. We trust you will extend your congratulations to this dynamic woman and catch her fever.

AWiB Team!

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