Wellness

Mumbi Kahindo, CPO at Absa Bank Kenya, believes success is about knowing what deserves your attention in each season, asking for what you need and using every position you hold to make space for others.

Mental health in the workplace is no longer a once-a-year conversation. Across East Africa, HR executives are increasingly embedding wellbeing into everyday business strategy, recognising that employee performance and retention are closely linked to psychological health. HR leaders share the steps their teams are taking to destigmatise mental health and prioritise holistic wellbeing.

When Jemima Ngode, Radio Africa Group HR manager, was diagnosed with a condition that could have led to brain surgery, she chose a different path. By making deliberate changes to her daily routine and prioritising her health, she reversed the condition and changed the way she approaches leadership and work.

Mother's Day lands differently when you spend your week managing other people's wellbeing for a living. Human resources leaders from across East Africa have a message for mothers: you cannot pour from an empty cup and stopping to fill it is not a betrayal of anyone who depends on you.

Rose Karugu, human resources, administration and information technology director at Ishara Towers Rwanda, has a physical board positioned directly behind her desk. It is a board that she has personally written on, and it remains highly visible every single morning when she sits down to begin her working day. It carries her strategic professional plans for the year 2026. 

Raising her autistic son reshaped how Hannah Karuru, CPO at Capwell Industries, sees people at work, pushing her to question rigid ideas of talent and build space for different ways of thinking. In her world, leadership is less about polished strategy and more about patience, attention and designing organisations that actually fit the humans inside them.

This year's International Women's Day theme, ‘Give to Gain,’ resonates deeply with four senior HR leaders who are committed to making a real impact. Juliet Muheirwe, head of HR at Equity Bank Uganda, Lilian Makau, head of HR at Standard Chartered Bank Tanzania, Mumbi Kahindo, CPO at Absa Bank Kenya and Agnes Wachira, senior HR manager at CYBER RANGES, each have valuable insights that go far beyond the slogan.

Every organisation faces the delicate challenge of balancing the wellbeing of its people with the demands of performance. Head of human resource and administration at Population Services International (PSI) Uganda Charlotte Mirembe says that the art of leadership lies in finding that equilibrium.

For HR leaders, the work week rarely ends at the office. Meetings, strategy sessions and people management stretch into long hours, leaving little space for personal time. 

For Bernard Atonga, HR isn’t about people as a resource, it’s about people as people. With a career spanning factory floors, creative teams, public service and global NGOs, Bernard has learned that HR must adapt to culture, context and purpose.