Meet Microsoft’s bubbly GM

Mariam Abdullahi is techy to the bone. She doesn’t feel it though. (“I occasionally worry that I will be called out as a fraud when in a room full of my counterparts and colleagues discussing how many megabytes are in a gigabyte,” she said in an earlier interview.)

Kenyan-born and British-trained, her CV speaks of 17 years handling tech business in Europe, the US, Asia and Africa for Zain, Dy and Brightpoint among other companies.

Prior to joining Microsoft, she was part of the 4Africa team, a Microsoft initiative that engages Africa’s economic developments to improve its global competitiveness. We meet in her office on Ngong Road. She’s bubbly, smart and playful when the occasion calls for it.

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I didn’t Google you before I came here and frankly, I expected you to walk in here in a hijab. Instead I find you with your funky, frizzled hair. Why don’t you wear a hijab?

I should wear it, but I don’t. I hope I will one day. I come from an extremely religious and conservative family – a weird mix of conservative but pretty open-minded as well. My parents taught me from a young age what’s wrong and right, but believe me, I’m a Muslim girl brought up in a Catholic school.

My mother, who was by then separated from my dad, covered from head-to-toe, took me to a convent Irish school in the UK, because she always said, “by the age of 15, you should learn what’s right and wrong and you should see the world in an open way.” This is a mother who had not gone beyond Standard 4.

She said, “don’t ever wear something because society forces you to, or your parents force you to. Do it because you believe in it.”

Do you believe in it [the hijab]?

Yes, I do, but it’s not something I have gotten around to.

Being in a Catholic school must have brought with it a massive clash in ideologies and thought?

Not really. I grew up very curious about culture and religion. Let me tell you an interesting story; I used to walk around with two girls who were from Jehovah’s Witness when I was 8 or 9 years old. I was curious about their religion. I was taught one thing at home and school was this mix of everybody and I was interested in religions and culture.

My mother used to ask me, “who are these people you are running around with” and I’d say, they are the Jehovah’s Witnesses and she was like “Is my child leaving Islam, what’s going on?” I said no. Then she said, “Ok, find out, understand it.”

For her, it was the only way to get a well-rounded view. At 14, I moved to England and that’s when I ended up in the convent school, one of the best in London. Mind you, she [mom] couldn’t speak English so I had to translate to the head teacher when I was being admitted.

The school asked her if I would have a problem being in a Christian school with prayer sessions and all and she told them, “she is almost an adult, she knows her religion but now it’s up to her what she chooses.”

[Her phone rings, screen shows ‘Hooyo’. She picks up and speaks in staccato Somali]

Well, whatever it is that you just said sounded so nice. Hooyo?

Yes, Hoyoo is Somali for mother. That was my mom. She always told me you are a Muslim, you respect people, but you need to learn. Going to that school was the best thing that happened to me because it opened my mind to other things and complemented my interest, which is cultures and religions. Eventually you learn that we are all the same.

How do your conservative Muslim relatives take this open-mindedness?

In my own way, I’m pretty conservative and respectful about my religion but I also believe that your look doesn’t describe who you are inside. You say your prayers, give your charities, respect the pillars of Islam which are things that are very important to me as a Muslim.

How do I interact with my conservative relatives? I have no issue with them and they know who I am so we don’t have too much of a problem. Of course there are aunties who say, “Hey Mariam, cover up a bit!” And I respect that and I do as they say because I feel that they are telling me what is important for me.

How is your family?

Pretty close-knit. I’m the oldest of nine kids. Mom had eight kids and my dad has a half-sister from another mother.

And how is your dad?

Funniest man you ever met. Reminds me of “Wariahe” of Vioja Mahakamani; dad is hilarious. He’s a charmer. Mom, on the other hand, is matter-of-fact. Black and white. In her head, things are simple and uncomplicated. I take after my mom.

Has it been harder for you to move up the ladder because of being a woman and a Muslim?

Absolutely not. Do you wake up feeling like a female African-Muslim? No, that’s just who you are. You wake up feeling unhappy or tired or not pretty enough, you know, those things, but you don’t wake up feeling female, Muslim or African. You just wake up as a human being. It’s society that dictates these for us when they ask; “How do you feel being a strong, female Muslim? Pssh, (rolls eyes) I’m just who I am.

When are you most vulnerable?

(Pause) That’s a tough question. I think I’m vulnerable all the time, like all the time.

It’s not showing.

I’m pretty sensitive as a person. Thank God for this colouring because if it was any lighter I would constantly be blushing! (Laughs). But I’m shy and most people find it funny.

What makes you shy?

Attention on me, like this session here. (Laughs) Serious, like this interview! Being from a big family, you don’t get attention, you are not the youngest, you aren’t the oldest and you aren’t even the only girl, so you just get on with it.

When was the last time you cried?

Over the weekend.

Why?

My uncle passed on in December, his oldest daughter isn’t feeling well and I just thought of these three young kids growing up without a father and it just made me cry.

Has a man ever made you cry?

(Pause) Could be any man, right? (Smirk).

I see where you are going with that... you are about to avoid the question.

(Laughs) Well, actually, I’m going to say something. (Pause) Two weeks ago, a friend told me something exceptionally nice about me, or rather my outlook of things. The genuineness of the compliment touched me.

Did growing up without a father figure impact who you are now?

My dad and I have a great relationship, but has growing up without a father figure impacted on my life? Yes it has! I’m traditional, I’m happy for a man to take the lead if he wants to. I don’t have to prove that I’m independent. I’m more than happy to be the woman behind the great man.

But yes, the impact of dad’s fatherly figure taught me that nothing gets handed to you, there is no father who goes hunting and brings the bacon home... or beef for that matter, there goes the English language. You learn to get your own.

Has his absence affected how you relate with men?

Well... I see through bull crap quite easily when it comes a to a man chatting me up. Unless he is cute, then I will take his crap! (Laughs).

Do you think you are pretty?

I think I do okay. I’m happy with what God gave me. I think every woman will say what she is unhappy with on her body. I am just grateful for what God gave me.

What has been your greatest regret in life?

I actually don’t know if I have a regret. (Pause). Being back home now, I wish I had come back a little earlier. My mom would always say to me [puts on a Somali accent] “Do not think this [UK] is your kanthry, you have a kanthry! You take your tax dollars back to your kanthry!”

She always said that. She used to remind me that I’m an African, my dad is Kenyan Somali but my mom is naturalised. She used to say I’m lucky you have a nice country, Kenya, not Somali, so...uhm...what was the question again?

You are funny. Do you pray five times a day?

I try to. I try to.

What has been your greatest lesson in life so far?

Never think that you know it all.

Married?

Nope.

Single?

Yep.

Seeing somebody?

(Smiles) Nope.

Kids?

Nope.

You have a cat?

Nope!

When was the last time you dated?

(Pause) Year-and-a-half ago.

You are straight?

Damn straight!

Just checking. Are you a romantic?

Very much so. I live in an ideal world in my head, I have a romantic book in my head. I become a little girl in relationships.

What animal do you think you are?

I think I’m a lioness, but in my head I’d like to be panther. Lionesses protect what’s their own, go out and hunt and are nurturing and can be real leaders. But they are not as graceful as a panther, are they? I’d like to be a panther.

This article was first published in the Business Daily.