A powerhouse to be reckoned with Helena Ngaifiwa is a newly appointed youth advisory council member of the African Leaders Malaria Alliance (Alma). Monique AdamsNgaifiwa a media personality, is also a project manager at the One Economy Foundation, which is part of First Lady Monica Geingos’s office. She is also the co-founder of the Simply You magazine that celebrates Namibian creatives.
Helena Ngaifiwa was born in the small town of Arandis but was raised in Swakopmund. She started her television career at a very young age with her first television gig at TBN and after that she moved to Windhoek where she started working at Radio FM and considers that her home till this day. She was also a news anchor on One Africa television and later moved to print media by establishing the Simply You magazine. “I saw a lack of a platform where I felt like our Namibian personalities are not being celebrated enough, so that is why I started the Simply You magazine,” she said.
As an Alma youth advisory, she is excited about her new journey. Sitting on a panel with many other young people across Africa, she feels a great sense of honour at being the only Namibian on the panel.
“These are young people that are fighting at creating awareness and of course running campaigns as to how we can do better to push the message when it comes to fighting malaria and other health-related issues we are facing in Africa. Coming on board with my media background just to advise on what we can do better and what measures can be out in place,” she said.
With the One Economy Foundation she manages the BeFree movement which provides financial support for schools.
Her day-to-day work consists of several Zoom meetings. Apart from that she meets up with young people and has conversations with them that change their mindsets and way of thinking.
“I haven’t really prepared myself with this new appointment, especially being the youth advisory at Alma, I still pinch myself when I think about it, and it just feels so surreal. At the One Economy Foundation having to sit in the presence of the First Lady every day is something that a young girl just dreams about and now you are just in the office with the First Lady and you keep pinching yourself and think wait what am I doing here, am I really here?” she said.
With her long working career, one thing Ngaifiwa has learned is to never think that anything is too big for you to achieve. She learned that you can do literally anything you want and be anyone you want to be by believing in yourself and trusting that you are capable to achieve anything you set your mind to.
One of her biggest accomplishments to date is establishing the Simply You magazine and also launching the SYMLAFA.
The young Ngaifiwa would have never imagined where she is now in her life but years from now and with Simply You magazine she hopes to see our local digital entrepreneurs and influencers be paid for their content an get big endorsement deals.
With the BeFree movement, she would like to change more lives and transform Namibia into the place we want to live and see.
Ngaifiwa had a lot of naysayers in her life but she turned a negative into something positive and used those remarks said towards her as motivation in proving those people wrong by doing better every time.
“To young aspiring people out there, do not limit yourself, the sky is not the limit because once you reach the sky, it is the limit but you can go beyond that, trust that God has put you on a journey and he will not let you down. You are placed there for a reason and not a season, challenge yourself and believe in yourself,” she said.
10 Fun Facts:
1.99% of my music collection is local music
2. I can talk all day
3. I love travelling
4. My son is my bes tfriend
5. I love food
6. I actually love reading
7. I have new found love for gardening and I love family
8. I own a pet (pitbull dog)
9. I’m a little tiny bit of a perfectionist
10. 100% go-getter