Mr Paul Sagnia

Mr Paul Sagnia, Regional Head of Shared Services Centre (SSC) Standard Chartered Bank's (SCB's) East and Central Africa gave a talk at the University on Friday, September 26. The topic of the talk was "Excellence in the work place: how to be a leader". The talk was based on his experience in working at SCB.

He identified what he considers as important traits for one to have in order to achieve excellence and climb the corporate ladder. "Attitude, aggression, appearance, integrity, and technical know-how. These are what makes an excellent leader. You must have the hunger that will keep driving you every day, you must want to get to the top badly enough," he said.

Training for succession was another idea that he brought up, saying that true leaders should constantly train talented individuals to succeed them, once they move. "You can never move to another seat, as long as the seat you hold is still unoccupied. You must train someone to do the work that you are doing, if you hope to move to a higher position," Mr Sagnia said.

He outlined his working life – how he rose from junior clerk in SCB Gambia to the position of SCB CEO in Gambia, and now head of SSC in East and Central Africa. His hunger for success made him keep moving and never looking back.

To illustrate the highly competitive corporate scenario, he gave an analogy of an athlete running a marathon. As the finishing line approaches, he feels that he cannot go on. But if he gives up, the one sbehind him will overtake him. So he pushes  himself hard. And although his muscles ache, and his legs are shaking, he keeps fighting.

He also spoke of the need of having a sponsor to guide you in your career. "Having a sponsor will make those hard days seem easier. A sponsor is somebody you can lean on to get the support that you need, while at the same time having your feet firmly on the ground".

By Christine Matogo (BBIT IV)