Martie’s Success Story – NELGA Alumni

Martie Mushaukwa is a 2017 NELGA-DAAD Scholarship Alum with the Namibia University of Science and Technology. In his words, he shares his story on how NELGA’s support helped achieve his career goals.

I was born in the northeast part of Namibia in the Zambezi Region, in a small settlement known as Lusese, where I grew up with my brothers and sisters, raised by my father and stepmother. As a child, I only wished to be a better person which was supported by my father and his push for his kids to get a better education and succeed through hard work. At a young age, all I knew was to pass my classes, courses or exams. I could not understand how others failed class tests or homework that is until I got to high school, where my activeness in social life became more meaningful.

After completing high school, I was not sure what I wanted to study. I ended up enrolling for a degree in education at the University of Namibia.  Within a short period of time, I realized that the career path I was about to take was not what I had imagined. I decided not to enrol in any field of study and devoted the whole year to getting better career guidance. The following year I settled for a career in real estate. This led to my enrollment for a Diploma in Land Valuation and Estate Management at The Polytechnic of Namibia (now transformed into Namibia University of Science and Technology, NUST). In 2013, I decided to further my studies by pursuing a Bachelor of Property Studies (Honours) at the same university. Upon graduation, I decided to further my studies in my field and In 2017, I was awarded a DAAD Scholarship through the NELGA programme to further my studies toward a Master of Spatial Science at NUST.

My experience with DAAD and NELGA was great. It enhanced my professional career, in the sense that after I obtained my master’s degree, I became more attractive as a job candidate and more knowledgeable in my field of specialization. I am thankful to the DAAD and NELGA for the scholarship as it has made my education and career goals easier to achieve.  With this scholarship, I became a better researcher and analyst in my field of specialization. These endear me to my contemporaries in my field of work.

Since graduating, I have been working for an agricultural bank, where I am at the forefront of developing, implementing, and guiding the real estate valuation function within the organization, thus providing an overall framework for valuation approaches and practice. Hence, I have become one of the key leading professionals in the field of Real Estate, engaging in real estate matters and contributing to vital decision making at a high level.