How Susan got to the corner office

Susan Wakhungu-Githuku is a woman living her dream. In her 50s, she has achieved all a woman her age would ever dream of achieving and more.

She has travelled the world and lived in different continents. She has worked for multinational corporations in the most senior positions.

But even her high flying career could not hold this ambitious lady down. It only served to motivate her to strive to achieve her innermost potential.

Today, Susan, who left Coca-Cola in 2009 as Eurasia & Africa Group Director for Coca-Cola University, spends her time serving in corporate boards and growing her two businesses - Footprints Press Ltd and Human Performance Dynamics (HPD) Africa.

HPD is an Organizational Development & Human Resources consulting firm based in Nairobi.  She continues to grow as her star shines even brighter in both enterprises.
Despite her excellence in her career, business and even sports, Susan is quick to offer her time to the media when they need her insight. “I can’t say that I am always successful but I try. I must, however, say that I have a very indulgent family who allow me to be me,” she says.

Maseno

Her journey to excellence is one which this Fortune 100 woman never misses to narrate.

Susan was born in Bungoma some 50 years ago and later moved to Maseno at Siriba College to live with a family friend as her parents were out of the country. 

Thereafter the family relocated to Nairobi. By then she was 11 years old. The city is what has shaped her and is the place she knows best despite having travelled and lived in numerous countries around the world.

“There was a brief stint in Kampala during the days of Idi Amin and as my father lived in London. There were many happy days spent in the United Kingdom,” Susan adds.

LIFE JOURNEYS

As Human resources Director for Coca Cola Africa, Susan lived in London before moving to Johannesburg. She was responsible for 90 countries in Europe, Asia, Middle East and Africa - including fast growing markets like Russia, India, Turkey, South Africa and Nigeria while at Coca Cola.

Although it seems fate had Susan’s life cut out from the onset, she says she didn’t quiet have a dream about where she wanted to be in her life. “I don’t recall that I had many concrete dreams about that,” says Susan. All she remembers are her life growing up as a child and the things she enjoyed doing then.

Susan is the second born of five children and is followed by Judi Wakhungu, Cabinet Secretary, for water and Environment.

“I enjoyed playing sports, pranks, reading and generally being a child. When I was in high school at Loreto Convent Valley Road, I took up Lawn Tennis,” she adds.  Tennis marked one of the high points in Susan’s life. Until today, she never fails to put it down in her biography.

In her recent publication, of her Harvard review magazine - The Edition, Susan reminiscences about her days in school and the role extracurricular activities played in their lives as they grew up. She is of the opinion that sports helps children develop a wider perspective of life.

Susan represented Kenya in international tournaments throughout her high school days.  She won gold and silver at the All Africa Games. She is also said to be the first black African woman to have played at Junior Wimbledon tennis championships in England.

She later went to university in North America as a scholar-athlete alongside her sister, Judi.

Although Susan’s enterprises both touch at the core of human beings, their behaviour, performance, existence and excellence, it’s her coffee table publication that has impacted Kenyans the most.

Established in 2010, Footprint Press Ltd has so far released three books and two Musings on Kenya.  Her first edition - Life Journeys, Seeking Destiny: Conversations With High-Achieving Kenyan Women was the prototype of her dream.

But why did she find it necessary to start with women? “It was natural that we start there as we needed to showcase women who are blazing trails and overcoming impediments,” Susan says by way of explaining her decision.

Her passion on the role and potential of women in society, she admits, was her driving force. She feels that women cannot effectively deliver their full potential when subdued.

“There is a Chinese proverb that says that ‘women hold up half the sky’ and for a long time, their position has been subdued. How can we collectively deliver to our capability when we suppress some of the citizens? She asks.

AFRICAN STORY

The book features 74 conversations with Kenyan women - those that have seen Kenya grow from independence as they lead a pack of men in their respective professions, as well as a younger generation of women.

Among those included in her 347 page book are banker Mary Okelo, Hollywood award-winning sensation Lupita Nyong’o, scientist Norah Olembo, Eunice Kiereini, Prof Julia Ojiambo, authors Muthoni Likimani and Marjorie Oludhe-Macgoye, Wairimu Nyoike and Eddah Gachukia, an acclaimed educationist.

All her books serve to rewrite the African story, painting a more desirable picture of the continent that has been termed as dark by Western writers. “The universal narrative that has been over-baked by the west of the starving, poor African is jaded and jaundiced. It is time for Africa to celebrate its triumphs and tribulations in a manner that eschews gratuitous pathos,” says Susan.

Susan not only wants to write the story of Kenya, but Africa. She says her mission is to tell the story of the contemporary African. She wants to identify and salute what is great about its people and by so doing to ignite a ‘can-do, able-to-do and willing-to-do” attitude that can enable the continent to fulfil its vast potential.

SCALING HEIGHTS

Life Journeys: Scaling Heights was dedicated to men. Susan’s favourite uncle, Hon, Dr Moody Awori was among the exemplary men who shared their thoughts in the book.

He was also the chief guest at her recent book launch - Where is Kenya - 50 Years Since Independence.  The book is a socio-economic and political contemplation of Kenya’s post-independence journey.

“The 51 individuals, most of who are seated in this room (the auditorium, during the book launch), rose to the occasion and were willing to put pen on paper.

They responded to my emails with professionalism, passion and truth. I told one or two of them to ‘allow your pens to just write, and they did,” says Susan of the collaborators in her new book.

The book has mixed emotions - optimism, misgivings about the direction Kenya is headed, each from the writers’ perspective.

But you can’t fail to catch humour in it from a piece written by one of the essayists retired journalist Horace Awori who likens Kenya to the mad matatu culture suggesting that the country may get to where it seeks to go, but how it does it is what should be the issue.

Footprint Press is finalising on another book - Life Journeys: Dialogues with the Elders. Susan says this is the book that has refused to come out yet she can’t explain why. It is more than a year behind its scheduled release.

But as she pushes her team to deliver the highly anticipated edition, Susan is troubled about women and business. She acknowledges there are a handful of executives who lend to the diversity of work places and the organisational productivity it raises and wishes there was more.

“There are a number of CEOs in this country who appreciate this incontestable reality. Richard Etemesi of Standard Chartered Bank and Bob Collymore of Safaricom are two leaders I have worked with who understand the significance to the bottom line of equitable workplaces.”

Susan also looks forward to policies and practices which support women entrepreneurs. She blames inconsistent policies and political will on the inability of women to achieve their entitlement. To achieve the most, Susan calls on women to shake off the fear in them.

JUST DO IT

“Women need to believe in themselves. “The question Sheryl Sandberg, COO at Facebook , asked in her recent book LEAN IN is hugely instructive…What would you do if you were not afraid?” said Susan. She asks women to answer this question with brutal honesty.

“We tend to be tentative and, as such, deny the world our talent and capability.  Seldom are men afraid. I find them exceedingly charming in this regard. Women, on the other hand, typically seek permission.”

Susan is a wife and a mother of two. Her energy and the resolve of a sportswoman is what she says help her juggle her work and life.

She currently sits on the board of East Africa Breweries and UAP Holdings. She has also served as a board member for Kenya Women’s Finance Trust and Zawadi Educational Trust.

She was a nominated director by capital markets regulator on the embattled motor company CMC, before she left in August 2013. She consults for Safaricom Ltd, Kenya Red Cross, Coca-Cola and International Finance Corporation.

To men and women scaling heights, Susan has this for you; “I would say, as in the Nike advertisement, Just Do It. I also suggest you banish the critic inside your head and those around you. Try. If you fail, pick yourself up and try again.”  She considers life to be for living and we each have a role to play.

The article first appeared in The Business Daily.