"I want to grow with Baridi Baridi to see where does it go"--Nelson Edmund 【Baridi Baridi employee interview vol.3】

This time, we interviewed Nelson Edmund, our IT assistant in Baridi Baridi. 

Baridi Baridi members appearing in this interview

Nelson Edmund 
Born in Ruvuma. Worked as an IT officer at a technology company in Dodoma hospital. Experienced two years of being involved in creating and maintaining hospital management systems. Joined Baridi Baridi as an IT assistant in August 2021.

Shuto Sakai (Interviewer/Editor)
Currently a graduate student at Kobe University. Joined Baridi Baridi as an intern in October 2020. Experienced working as an intern at Baridi Baridi Tanzania from August to October 2021 

To get the interview, I hopped on a long-distance bus to Dar es Salaam a few hours after receiving the call.

--Thank you for having time! Today, I would like to ask you about your work at Baridi Baridi.  Let's start!

Nelson: Yes!

--First, I heard you worked at hospital in Dodoma as an IT officer. How did you find Baridi Baridi?

Nelson: Okay. Actually, I used to know one of the workers in Baridi Baridi.
When I was young, I played with him.

--Wow, who?

Nelson: Amos. (Our Marketing Officer)

--Oh, I didn't know that.  Did you meet Amos at Ruvuma(his home place)?

Nelson: No, in Dar es Salaam. My home place is Ruvuma, but my family shifted to Dar es Salaam at some time. So when I was in Dar es Salaam, Amos and I contacted with and became friends.

--Specifically when was that?

Nelson: I think I was 5 or 7 (years old). After that I left Dar es Salaam, and we lost connection for a while. But Last year, we started again to communicate again. 

Firstly, I met his brother when I was in Dodoma in this year. He came to a place where I was working, so I asked him about Amos and I asked for his number.

So then I contacted to Amos and heard about Baridi Baridi. At that time, we talk about many thing  about Baridi Baridi and our careers. 

And he said, "If you're interested, you can send me your CV." So I said " Okay, I think I want to send one".

Then I sent my CV to Baridi Baridi. After some times, then I received a call from Baridi Baridi.

Nelson: I remember it was 9 in the morning.

-- Do you remember that day that precisely?

Nelson: Yeah! Because It was a very memorable day for me. I was washing my clothes when I received the call.

Baridi Baridi: "Are you Nelson?"

Nelson: "Yes."

Baridi Baridi: "Interview is tomorrow at 2pm. Can you manage to come say?"

Nelson: "Ok, I will come."

Then I left my clothes, I called to my mother, uncle, and brother to share the situation. They understood my situation and said "Go and try"
I think it was about 3pm. I took the bus from Dodoma to Dar Es Salaam.

-- Wow, in one day! It sounds like you had a dramatic day. I know it was hard to make the decision right away, but was it easy?

Nelson: Not so easy.

--But you said "Yes" right away on the phone, didn't you?

Nelson: Yes, I said, "Okay" the moment I was told, I thought this was my chance, so I did it without thinking twice.

In fact, I had sent my CV to other companies at the time, and they kept calling me, but I have declined.

--Why?

Nelson: Most of my work experience on my CV is related to IT. But I couldn't imagine myself working at these companies. It's just my feeling, but if these companies were a good fit for me, they should have automatically sent me some signal.

So I didn't want to apply to other company, but when Baridi Baridi contacted me, I knew it was a perfect fit. I also heard from Amos that Baridi Baridi is a growing company, and that’s why I applied. I thought that in a growing company, I would be able to learn many new things and have the opportunity to share my experiences. 

I was also curious to see how it is possible to switch on AC with smartphones. Because most of us know that we need a remote control. I was wondering, “Will customers be buying those packages?” “Will customers be subscribing to the service?” I wanted to see everything about Baridi Baridi’s business in my own eyes.

"IT team is one of the greatest teams in Baridi Baridi"

-- Before joining Baridi Baridi what are interested you about the company?

Nelson: At Amos's suggestion, I went to Baridi Baridi's website. There I found the company’s interesting values and was impressed. I was also impressed by the mission and vision of this company. Especially, the value of “Work as professional” was so. 

In my experience, many companies are not interested in “working as professionals.” Therefore, I liked the fact that Baridi Baridi presents "Work as professional" as one of the company’s shared values, and I wanted to confirm it.

--I see. Now I understand the dramatic story of how you came to join Baridi Baridi! Now, I would like to ask about you current job. What kind of work do you do every day?

Nelson: Okay, I am an IT person. I work with various departments. I solve daily IT problems that come from our colleagues and customers. Other than that, I also support digital marketing, for example managing our Facebook and Instagram advertisements.

I also analyze customer data in the Zoho system (a cloud-based customer management system) and work with the call center team. As you can see, I am in charge of a variety of IT-related tasks.

--I know you understand that you are doing various tasks. Then what goals do you have at working?

Nelson: That question is difficult for me (laughing). Okay, one of my goals is to grow with Baridi Baridi to see where it goes, especially getting involved in many technical things. Since this service is new to the world at large, it doesn't happen anywhere but in Baridi Baridi. 

I want to grow with that experience, see how society can adapt to these new technologies, how society will receive this kind of service, and how they will embrace it. It isn’t easy at the beginning because it is new. You don't have such kind of thing. But like I said, my goal is to grow with this company.

--I understand you like to work well. So what is the most interesting thing about working in Baridi Baridi?

Nelson: It’s the people. Both Tanzanian and Japanese are very cooperative. If you have a problem, even a personal one, you can tell them, and they will help you. Most of the employees are cooperative.

--Yeah, I think so too. Every every people understand our shared vision and values, and implement them.

Nelson: Yes.

--How about is the IT team's atmosphere?

Nelson: I think the IT team is excellent. I can say that the IT team is one of the greatest teams in Baridi Baridi (laughing). Teamwork is great. I'm here because of them. Also, if we see something and think that maybe that is what we need to do as a department, we will help each other by sharing our knowledge to improve it.

I remember the first day I joined. I tried to create an animation of Baridi Baridi to understand the company. Then I shared it with Joram (IT Coordinator). He later shared it with the entire company on Slack (a communication tool in our company). That made me happy. We have a great working relationship. If I have anything, I can ask Joram and Raymond every time to share the knowledge.

Nelson is growing up with Baridi Baridi to make his dreams come true.

--The Baridi Baridi will continue to grow. What do you think are the goals of the IT teams in the future? 

Nelson: So far, we know that as long as the company grows, and the number of customers will be increase. So our goal is to solve these customer issues, because that's what make us be here.

Our main goal is to solve customer issues and then expand to other issues concerning the company. Therefore, we always work as fast as possible. That's one of our shared values, "Speed matters." A speedy solution makes customers happy.

The number of issues that need to be resolved in the work of our colleagues is enormous, but no matter what the department or the issue, it is important to resolve it quickly and make our customers happy.

--Ok. And finally, what is your individual goal?

Nelson: I would like to own my IT company one day. It will involve User experience (UX) and User interface (UI) designing. So I want to have that kind of company and animation company that creates animations, videos, movies, and designing companies using technology. So that's my goal, but to achieve my dream, I need to grow more and more in Baridi Baridi. So I think the experience in Baridi Baridi will help me do that.

--Nice. Do you have a timetable for that goal?

Nelson: For now, I don't think about it. I don't have a clear picture of the timetable. I have a lot of things to do in Baridi Baridi. I still have a lot to learn, and I hope to grow with this company.

I want to see if this startup can survive for 50 or100 years, like Coca Cola or DAIKIN. How will we make it possible? How will we keep our customers satisfied year after year?

I feel like I can see that business process for making something great and exciting. So that’s why I am here and why I’m not thinking about anything else for now.

Ever since he was a kid, he have always been conscious of being unique.

--By the way, I think you are very fashionable! 

Nelson: Thank you.

--From where does your sense of fashion come?  Yourself?

Nelson: Nobody teaches me, but I like to be unique. 

--That's good. From now on, I will be checking your style every morning! I like to keep things simple when it comes to fashion.

--About being unique, when did you start to think to be a unique?

Nelson: Every time.(Laughing)

--Every time! So you mean that when you were a child, you thought about it?

Nelson: Yes, even in primary school, secondary school, and university. Every time I thought I want to be unique.

I have an episode about uniqueness. When I was young, an East Africa essay competition was held. Then I also participated in that competition, and I was the fourth winner in Tanzania. And I got the privilege of going to these nearby countries Rwanda. That's how I became to be the first child to get such achievement and to ride plane in our whole family. 

I was so proud of myself, but sadly, I forgot my camera and couldn't take any photos (laughing). Just like this episode, I have tried to be unique in almost every stages of my life.

--I see. I am sure you will continue to contribute to Baridi Baridi with your uniqueness and diligence. Thank you very much today.

The Baridi Baridi Times will be posting interviews with Baridi Baridi employees on note.
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