Uvatera Mahua

At work

I was quite nervous on my first day of work. As days went by, I felt more relaxed and comfortable as everyone made sure I was okay and interacted with me. The first two weeks I was confused as I didn’t understand the main focus in my department. However, my line manager organized a lot of sessions where he explained everything in detail. Weeks had gone by and I started to understand, which felt pretty amazing because now I could relate my theoretical knowledge - into practice. My mentors and my line manager were very helpful, they encouraged me so much. They would always say “very good” “super” when I had completed my task, which really motivated me to work harder. I have made mistakes at work, but I learnt to embrace my mistakes and learn from them. The positive energy around me helped me to learn from my mistakes – which made me want to work even harder. I was exposed to a lot of tools, such as Bloomberg, MorningStar etc. I have also gained a lot of knowledge in Microsoft excel and my technical skills definitely improved. All thanks to my supportive team!

My Swiss host family

If I had to write about my host family, I would probably need 100 pages because words cannot describe how wonderful they are! My host family were very loving, caring, cheerful, supportive, generous and kind. I had an amazing time with my host family. They welcomed me into their beautiful home with the sign (WELCOME) with a Namibian flag. My host brother (Noe) and sister (Lina) would always draw for me and I found it really sweet.. My host family made me feel so comfortable and made sure I had everything I needed. My host mom always cooked amazing food. We travelled a lot as a family, almost every weekend. My host dad would always ask me which places I wanted to see and I was exposed to new experiences. We travelled to Basel, Luzern, Ascona, Locarno, Germany and took a trip around Zurich as well. I really enjoyed travelling with my host family. I loved having conversations with my host dad because we could talk about anything. I will forever be grateful for my loving host family.

Highlights & challenges in Switzerland

My greatest highlight was when my family and I travelled to Locarno. The weather was absolutely amazing. I sat by the lake and read a book, listened to music. I was at peace and really happy. My greatest challenge was adapting to the weather and food and constantly being ill. It sometimes made it difficult to travel and explore. But nonetheless, I had a great time!

My future plans

I plan on completing my Bachelors degree and continuing with my Honors degree as well as my Masters degree. This internship gave me an idea on what I actually want in terms of my career. I plan to focus more on the Investment Banking department and I would definitely love to work for Bank of Namibia. In addition to that, I would love to work as a part time Mathematics and Statistics Lecturer.

 Personal message

This internship has been life-changing, shocking and mind-opening. I would like to thank Ms. Sabina Balmer for seeing potential in me. Many thanks to Credit Suisse (my team) for helping and supporting me throughout this internship. I learnt a lot about myself and I’ve learnt anything is possible as long as you put your mind to it and you continue to work hard. I’ve learnt that perseverance and hard work will open opportunities as long as you believe in yourself. This is only the beginning.