By Joe
Nowlan
In April, the editors of tED magazine sent out a call for
the industry’s “rising stars”—electrical professionals 34 years old or younger
who have the initiative, drive, integrity, and creativity to move the industry
forward in the decades to come. The call drew nominations from all segments of
the industry—distributors, suppliers, rep firms, software/services providers,
and VARs. Here on tedmag.com, we will post a new, full interview with one of
these impressive young people weekly; coverage of all of the honorees can be
found in the July 2012 issue
of tED. Watch for information about our next “30 Under 35” competition in
early 2013.
When Mildred
Munjanganja began at CableOrganizer.com in 2004, the company was two years old
and had six employees.
“It was a
small business, with six or seven people working here. There was a warehouse,
but it was more of a one-box warehouse. So at first I asked myself, ‘What am I
doing here?’“ Munjanganja laughed.
While Munjanganja
had dreams of working for a billion-dollar company, the size of the small
business did not discourage her.
“Every company
starts small, and it takes people with the right vision and the right goals and
attitude to make a small company big or great. [I had] the realization that I
could make an impact there,” she explained.
Today, CableOrganizer.com
employs 45 people. Thirty-two years old, Munjanganja is the vice president of
sales/managing director. CableOrganizer.com was founded to help clients with “cable
clutter” in homes and offices. In recent years, the company has expanded its
product offerings to include electrical supplies.
“The most important
aspect of my job,” Munjanganja explained, “is finding the right people for the
company, making sure we have them in the right positions and doing the right
jobs. And then developing them, making sure they are reaching their full potential
and becoming more than they imagined they could ever be.”
She came to
the United States from Zimbabwe in 2002 and earned her bachelor’s degree in
business from Rhodes University. Both her parents were “business people,” she
explained, and are still living in South Africa along with her youngest brother.
A second brother works in London and another brother lives in Australia and has
just earned his bachelor’s degree.
“I consider
us like the United Nations,” she laughed.
She is also
involved with two web sites: organizedleader.com and lifeorganizers.com.
“I believe
that we as leaders are responsible for shaping and developing the people that
we have the opportunity to impact….Some of the information and tools [that are
needed] are not always going to be available,” she said. “So I started
organizedleader.com to give some tips and ideas to other leaders.”
Her other
site, Lifeorganizers.com, provides an array of home and office organizational
tips—”ideas on how to rid clutter from every part of your life,” the site
explained.
CableOrganizer.com
was co-founded by a woman, Valerie Holstein. While the number of women in the
electrical industry is slowly growing, they are still a distinct minority, Munjanganja
admits.
“There are
very few women in our industry [and] very few young women, at that,” Munjanganja
said. “But this is what you make of it…. The industry is very, very welcoming.
It hasn’t been difficult to embrace [electrical] … because it is very open to
women and for young people.”
She would
eagerly recommend the electrical industry to a younger employee and hopes the
industry makes itself more known to potential employees.
“[Electrical]
impacts so many facets of the global world. That may not be recognizable in the
beginning [of a career]…. Our reach is so broad that we are not limited. You
can come into our industry and find a niche that you can focus on and that you
can flourish in,” she said.
Joe
Nowlan is a Boston-based freelance writer/editor and author. He can be reached
at jcnowlan@msn.com.