Wandera Kweyu, director of people and culture at Jambojet, says culture comes alive when it becomes a practical model for how an organisation’s people behave, share information and run the business
When Wandera Kweyu joined Jambojet as director of people and culture, the airline was in the process of establishing its culture, the Magenta Way. The name was inspired by the vivid magenta on the airline’s aircraft livery, the distinctive colour that makes a Jambojet plane recognisable from the ground.
The idea was to build a community of people who were as recognisable as the brand itself, expressing its identity not just in uniform but through how they worked, made decisions and treated each other. What the culture lacked was a practical framework to translate those aspirations into consistent, everyday practice.
“When I became a Jambojetter, some elements of the culture had been articulated. My contribution was to create a framework that translated the intent into everyday behaviours and embed them into how we work,” she explains.
Wandera adopted a framework known as the Culture Canvas to give the Magenta Way structure. It covers the organisation’s purpose, priorities and values, as well as the behaviours it celebrates or discourages. It also sets out how decisions are made, meeting etiquette, workplace norms, rituals, feedback and psychological safety. Each element was designed to be specific and reflected in everyday practice rather than remain an aspiration.
“Using data to guide decisions is one way we put our culture into practice at Jambojet. Even if someone says, ‘Let’s move this pen to this space,’ the question is: ‘What data supports that decision?’ It is one example of how culture becomes tangible in our everyday work,” she says.
Culture in practice
That approach extends to workforce planning, where Jambojet uses analytics to project staffing needs ten to fifteen years ahead and determine how fleet growth translates into people requirements.
“Our data tells us what adding an aircraft means for staffing—how many people we will need and in which roles,” she explains.
Meetings follow the same precision that defines the airline’s operations. A meeting scheduled for 8:05 starts at 8:05, not 8:06, reflecting the discipline and punctuality that the business values. The culture is also reflected in the physical workspace through its open-door policy. Rather than simply making it easier for employees to walk in, the idea is to encourage leaders to step out and engage with their teams.
“Sometimes you can have an open door, but the individual in that office is the biggest wall you will ever see. So, we always insist, go out, and engage the people,” she says.
Wandera notes that the walkway leading to the office is now painted entirely magenta, a physical expression of their culture. What started as a small plaque nailed to the wall has become a physical marker of where the culture begins.
“Rituals give the culture its uniqueness. We have Magenta Giving, which is an entirely staff led program that runs once a year, with staff donating items that are taken to schools and communities. One of my favourites is the ‘shout out’ made to each Jambojetter on their birthday. Even on birthdays, employees are remembered,” she adds.
These are what Wandera calls authentically theirs; the rituals no other organisation does in exactly the same way.
“Accountability sits at a level above the rest particularly because Jambojet operates in a high-consequence industry where errors can have serious implications. This is reflected in a concept called wilful violation.
“A wilful violation occurs when an individual is aware of what is the correct procedure and deliberately chooses not to follow it. We have a zero tolerance for wilful violations while encouraging staff to promptly report genuine violations so that they can be addressed quickly and accountability strengthened,” she says.
Living the values
Helping leaders bring these cultural expectations into life is leading the Magenta Way, a leadership development programme, which Wandera describes as one of her best co-creations. It develops emotional intelligence, leading with coaching, and commercial awareness alongside an understanding of what it means to represent the brand as a leader. The programme equips leaders to demonstrate the behaviours they expect of others and embed the culture within their teams.
Beyond developing leaders, Jambojet also checks whether these values are being put into practice across the organisation. Annual surveys assess whether the culture is experienced consistently across the organisation or whether pockets exist where it has not taken hold. External validation of Jambojet’s people practices came through its certification as a top employer by the Top Employer Institute, which assesses organisations against approximately 90 standards of people practice and awards certification only to those that reach a required threshold.
For HR leaders looking at the Magenta Way, Wandera’s message is that culture requires the same rigour as any other business process: a practical framework, clear expectations and leaders who make it real.
“Culture requires clear standards, rituals that create belonging and a willingness to address behaviour that contradicts what the organisation says it stands for. Culture is not what you write on walls. It is what you do every day. For us, The Magenta Way is who we are. You can feel it, you know it, you can understand it,” she says.
