Frieda Shigwedha. PHOTO CONTRIBUTED
Frieda Shigwedha. PHOTO CONTRIBUTED

Graceful towards self and others

PSN president dives into new job
Despite her brief term of service, Shigwedha takes pride in her accomplishments so far, adding that she could not have done it without the help of a great team at PSN.
Mariud Ngula
The Pharmaceutical Society of Namibia (PSN) recently entrusted passion-driven Frieda Shigwedha to be their new president. She is a healthcare professional with a specific focus on the pharmaceutical industry.

"I enjoy the level of professional growth I see in myself. I appreciate the challenges that make me stronger, wiser and much more graceful towards myself and others," said Shigwedha.



Proud moments

Shigwedha said being president is a great achievement, and she will continue to be a learner as every day is a work in progress. Despite her brief term of service, she takes pride in her engagement with PSN activities.

"To represent a group of professionals and their needs and potentially be able to influence a conversation positively is truly top-tier. To be entrusted with this role, fully commit to its objectives, and achieve them is the greatest achievement."

Shigwedha urges everyone to believe in themselves and believe that others believe in them too. She said that passion alone is insufficient, and one must supplement it with hard work. "Be teachable, enjoy the learning journey, and strive to be a better you and teammate."



Responsibilities

As PSN’s president, she represents the interests of the collective membership.

"My key function is to maintain and improve the health of my fellow countrymen. I ensure that pharmacists, interns, and allied pharmacy professionals remain prominent as custodians of medicine in the provision of health services across the country. I am also an assessor and lecturer for our Pharmacist Assistant Certificate, established through a collaboration with the International University of Management (IUM)."

Shigwedha said she enjoys working in a team and said she owes it all to her PSN team for their continuous and immense administrative and technical support.

"Our secretary, administrative officer and education desk officer are my true pillars of strength," she said.

She widens her knowledge by engaging with fellow pharmacists and allied pharmacy professionals.

This also helps give a wider and more informed perspective of their functions, better understand the overlaps, and work on devising practical methods of intra-sectoral collaboration.



Career path

Shigwedha said that being at university made her take a keen interest in student-initiated activities. "They brought out the latent leader in me. After graduating, I joined the PSN committee in 2018. A year later, they elected me to be the vice-president. I served until winning the presidential elections in 2022." She said that the pharmacy industry boasts more than just counting tablets, contrary to popular belief.

Education ladder

Shigwedha attended Anton Lubowski Pre-Primary School in the heart of Soweto, Katutura. Next, she attended Emma Hoogenhout Primary School and matriculated at the mighty blue school, Windhoek High School.

She has an honours bachelor of pharmacy from the University of Namibia (Unam) and a postgraduate diploma in health information systems management from the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST).

Comments

Namibian Sun 2024-10-06

No comments have been left on this article

Please login to leave a comment

Premier League: Everton 0 vs 0 Newcastle | West Ham 4 vs 1 Ipswich Town | Manchester City 3 vs 2 Fulham | Leicester City 1 vs 0 Bournemouth | Brentford 5 vs 3 Wolves | Arsenal 3 vs 1 Southampton | Crystal Palace 0 vs 1 Liverpool LaLiga: Real Madrid 2 vs 0 Villarreal | Real Valladolid 1 vs 2 Rayo Vallecano | Las Palmas 0 vs 1 Celta Vigo | Getafe 1 vs 1 Osasuna | Espanyol 2 vs 1 Mallorca | Leganés 0 vs 0 Valencia SerieA: Inter Milan 3 vs 2 Torino | Atalanta 5 vs 1 Genoa | Udinese 1 vs 0 Lecce | Hellas Verona 2 vs 1 Venezia | Napoli 3 vs 1 Como European Championships Qualifying: West Bromwich Albion 0 vs 0 Millwall FC | Watford 2 vs 1 Middlesbrough | Swansea City 0 vs 0 Stoke City | Sheffield United 2 vs 0 Luton Town | Plymouth Argyle 2 vs 1 Blackburn Rovers | Derby County 2 vs 0 Queens Park Rangers | Coventry City 1 vs 2 Sheffield Wednesday | Portsmouth 1 vs 1 Oxford United | Norwich City 4 vs 0 Hull City | Burnley 0 vs 0 Preston North End | Sunderland 2 vs 2 Leeds United English Championship: West Bromwich Albion 0 vs 0 Millwall FC | Watford 2 vs 1 Middlesbrough | Swansea City 0 vs 0 Stoke City | Sheffield United 2 vs 0 Luton Town | Plymouth Argyle 2 vs 1 Blackburn Rovers | Derby County 2 vs 0 Queens Park Rangers | Coventry City 1 vs 2 Sheffield Wednesday | Portsmouth 1 vs 1 Oxford United | Norwich City 4 vs 0 Hull City | Burnley 0 vs 0 Preston North End | Sunderland 2 vs 2 Leeds United Loading... Currency: GBP to NAD 22.88 | EUR to NAD 19.17 | CNY to NAD 2.49 | USD to NAD 17.48 | DZD to NAD 0.13 | AOA to NAD 0.02 | BWP to NAD 1.28 | EGP to NAD 0.35 | KES to NAD 0.13 | NGN to NAD 0.01 | ZMW to NAD 0.65 | ZWL to NAD 0.04 | BRL to NAD 3.19 | RUB to NAD 0.18 | INR to NAD 0.21 | USD to DZD 132.61 | USD to AOA 910 | USD to BWP 13.21 | USD to EGP 48.29 | USD to KES 128.5 | USD to NGN 1656.86 | USD to ZAR 17.48 | USD to ZMW 26.4 | USD to ZWL 321 | Stock Exchange: JSE All Share Index Same 0 | Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) Overall Index 1868.17 Down -0.05% | Casablanca Stock Exchange (CSE) MASI 14167.03 Up +0.09% | Egyptian Exchange (EGX) 30 Index 31720.5 Up +1.24% | Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) DCI 9661.12 Same 0 | NSX: MTC 7.75 SAME | Anirep 8.99 SAME | Capricorn Investment group 17.34 SAME | FirstRand Namibia Ltd 49 DOWN 0.50% | Letshego Holdings (Namibia) Ltd 4.1 UP 2.50% | Namibia Asset Management Ltd 0.7 SAME | Namibia Breweries Ltd 31.49 UP 0.03% | Nictus Holdings - Nam 2.22 SAME | Oryx Properties Ltd 12.1 UP 1.70% | Paratus Namibia Holdings 11.99 SAME | SBN Holdings 8.45 SAME | Trustco Group Holdings Ltd 0.48 SAME | B2Gold Corporation 47.34 DOWN 1.50% | Local Index closed 677.62 UP 0.12% | Overall Index closed 1534.6 DOWN 0.05% | Osino Resources Corp 19.47 DOWN 2.41% | Commodities: Gold US$ 2 653.84/OZ DOWN -0.0008 | Copper US$ 4.54/lb UP +0.38% | Zinc US$ 3 189.00/T DOWN -0.06% | Brent Crude Oil US$ 78.66/BBP UP +0.23% | Platinum US$ 988.89/OZ DOWN -0.0035 Loading...