The Institute of People Management (IPM) last week hosted a leadership awards gala dinner at Windhoek’s Palm Hotel. 

The evening was sponsored by MTC and the Bank of Namibia.
The goal of the IPM conference and gala dinner is to develop and celebrate excellence in the field of people management and leadership. 

The ‘IPM CEO of the Year’ recognises CEOs who actively contribute to people leadership in Namibia. 
According to the President of IPM and HR Executive at MTC Namibia, Tim Ekandjo: “Human relations and people leadership foremostly require executives and senior management buy-in.  By recognising ‘people champions’, we encourage leaders to have a people-centric approach in their leadership style to excel in business. The award is, therefore, bestowed to the CEO who was recognised for being an ambassador in promoting strategic people management in the executive community”.

Ekandjo, representing IPM, expressed “we are proud to give this prestigious award to Natasja Beyleveld by recognising her outstanding role in enhancing executive people leadership. From the many nominations that were received, the Executive Committee was unanimous in Natasja’s outstanding contribution and her leadership role at NaMedia. She is fully deserving of this award, and we want to encourage her to continue being an excellent ambassador in the field of people leadership”. 

Natasja is well known in the media industry. She also received the Namibia Economist Young Business Woman of the Year award in 2013 and the Sam Nujoma Woman Innovator of the Year 2014 award, amongst others. 

Beyleveld said “the award is testimony of the relationships and people in leadership that I am supported and challenged by, and it celebrates their successes and, at times, seemingly impossible situations that I have learned from. Leadership is not about motivating people to win; most people already have that desire. The aim is to inspire and prove that you will be the person that will help them to get there. Our NaMedia clients are the leaders we admire; they show up, they support local businesses, and they nurture true engagements and the ‘true moments’ of ongoing success stories. It is seeing each other truthfully, and climbing these mountains at times with injuries and always with the scars to prove that we’ve made it. And at the end, we show off our scars to each other – and just maybe, we have the guts to laugh about it.”