In one of our latest articles, we mentioned that engineering is often referred to as the workhorse of innovation, and that when engineers use their skills to solve problems and come up with innovative solutions to enhance the lives of the people, they are making a difference in their communities, enabling a sustainable future for the African continent.

Today, we’re talking to Winfrida Swai, Senior Planning and Controls Engineer at CSI Energy Group, at our flagship project in Tanzania, the Kinyerezi 1 Extension Project. The story of Winfrida (Winnie as she’s called by her peers), starts back in 2016 when she spent three months within the organization as part of her university industrial practical training. Later, in 2017, she enrolled to our internship programme and was then employed as Planning Engineer Trainee in 2018.

She is now working as Senior Planning and Controls Engineer for Kinyerezi 1 Extension project, where she is responsible for projects planning, scheduling, progress monitoring and controlling and supports the Commercial team for generation/ development of financial reports.

To start this interview, can you tell us what inspired you to become an engineer?

I realized that I wanted to do something with a purpose and be able to impact people and society positively through my work. Since young, a career in engineering seemed to be the best option, as I would be able to learn daily while helping to create the world around me. Being an Engineer is a daily learning, problem-solving and creation process.

A day in your life

Depending on the project I am assigned to, my normal day starts at 5:30AM - 6AM, I get up and meditate for a few minutes, head to the shower, clean up, get dressed and drive off to work. On my way, I grab breakfast snack/bites from a local ‘mama Ntilie’ (local food vendor).

I arrive at work early on most days, so I have spare time to go through my emails and plan my day.

Days at CSI Energy Group starts off with the morning toolbox talk. As we commit to promote a culture of safety in the workplace, these safety talks facilitate a sharing of knowledge and safety best practices among employees. Once done, we have a coffee meeting where we get to review previous day’s tasks as well as tasks and duties for the current day. I. will usually have my breakfast just after, fuelled up for a busy day!

With my mind fresh and focused, I get back to my typical/usual tasks, reviewing and updating project schedule, progress reports preparations and submission, attending progress meetings. These tasks will normally take up all my morning, until lunch break at 12:30PM.

After lunch I finalize remaining tasks from my morning schedule, go for a site walkdown, tutor my subordinates where assistance is required and go through the day’s site works plan and report accordingly. I get off work at 4:30PM and get back home just chilling, watching movies, catching up with friends and sleep.

How would you describe the company’s relationship with local communities?

I am inspired by the company’s dedication to uplift the community not only through the projects that they are so passionate about for the sake of the communities’ welfare but also their humanitarian aids to the most vulnerable in our local community. All through time CSI Energy Group has been a very close ally to the local community, by creating job opportunities, ensuring that the local community benefits/are put first in all projects it is involved in, ensuring that the food vendors, transportation services, labours & experts housing accommodations are mainly supplied by locals.

What advice would you give to aspiring engineers in the energy sector?

As an engineer in the energy sector that constantly evolves due to technological advancement; keep learning new skills, stay innovative, work hard, be dedicated, be focused, and remember that confidence on what you are doing is built with time, so be patient with yourself.

What are the opportunities to travel?

When I first started my career journey, I never thought I would ever leave the boundaries of Tanzania to venture abroad for work. CSI Energy Group creates an environment that exposes its people to different projects and people and as one keeps interacting with this environment, you find yourself moving to different places. There are enormous opportunities to travel not only within the country but abroad as well. In 2020, I got the opportunity to travel to a project in Iringa and shortly after travelled to Kenya for two years where I learned new cultures, met different people, and discovered new places.