THINKING BIG: HEBO Consult is a Project Management training and consulting company that was formed two years ago
No Project is too Big to Manage, With over 16 years of project management experience in various areas such as banking, tech, real estate and telecommunications, Bulla has also managed mega projects including satellite sites and coordinating corporate mergers.
Bulla Boma is the co-founder and director of HEBO Group Company Limited, which trades as ‘HEBO Consult’. She is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP®) as a Discipline Agile Senior Scrum Master (DASSM) both credentials issued by the Project Management Institute.
With over 16 years of project management experience in different industries like banking, tech, real estate and telecommunications, her experience evolves from managing mega projects like Satellite Cities, coordinating corporate mergers, as well as setting up Project Management Offices and project governance frameworks.
HEBO is a project management training and consulting firm two years ago. Bulla is passionate, with the aim of imparting the knowledge she has to others
HEBO learned of the gap in project management – and just as soon applied for authorization by PMI, a Global Project Management Institute head quartered is in the US which issues global credentials for project management. HEBO are consultants who also offer training on project management practices.
“I’m a firm believer that knowledge is power. We have a lot of development projects going on, and the government and investors are pouring in funds. But the question is: do we have the right professionals who are equipped with the right skills and are able to ensure that projects succeed in terms of delivery, quality – and of funds utilizations?”
Working in telecommunication helped her grow technically – especially in terms of project management as she supervised project regarding the development of platforms – and the development of different products configured within those platforms.
This helped her build her technical skills. But she also wanted diversity and to do more in terms of exploring the world of project management from both the technical and business side.
She said there was a Project Management vacancy in the commercial department of the organization she was already working in. But, although she did not have much experience in project management, she was nonetheless interested in creating a product – and then seeing it benefit its users in the long run. In the event, she applied for the position and got it!
It was a promotion of sorts for her, form a mere planning leader to a project manage – and opportunity for her to add value in the services that customers already had.
Bulla worked with different stakeholders and she was able to see the business side because the creating of services in any business is not only about selling them but also about selling them to consumers, thereby generate good income for the company.
“I saw how project management adds value in the business. The Professional Certification helped to elevate my profile and skills to global standards: global practices which paved my way to project management”
She says key highlights of programs at HEBO Consult for this year are the Future Project Professional. This is a youth empowerment program geared to provide university graduates with the necessary set of skills that makes one stand out in the job market. Another is ‘Mentorship’ to empower them with the confidence to succeed in their careers.
These programs that kicked off this year will create well rounded young professionals who are ready to deliver exceptional performance in project teams across diverse industries.
Another program in on Professional Certification that up-skill and re-skill project managers across industries. These global accreditations – include the PMP® (Project Management Professional), PBA® (Project Business Analyst), CAPM® (Certified Associate in Project Management), Wicked Problem Solving (Design Thinking) for solving complex problems and Discipline Agile certifications.
The third program is DIY Workshops for Project Management Skills. This is structured for women entrepreneurs and small business owners to equip them with basic project management skills that they can use to plan and organize their businesses so that they can increase returns on their investments. The skills include writing proposals; creating budgets and planning schedules.
Commenting on the challenges she went through when climbing the ladder to her success, Ms. Bulla Boma says she went through plenty of challenges and opportunities as well.
Project Management is all about coordinating as well as setting up a good structure and framework in order to achieve the results being sought. The challenges include aspects of navigating and dealing with different stakeholders. And, if you are new to the industry, people would judge you on what you do know…or whether you are not qualified enough to be able to deliver.
For Bulla, whenever she gets a project, it is an opportunity for her to grow – and really immerses herself in it. The investment she has made in learning the challenges has never bothered her because she knows her abilities well – and her global certification bolsters her confidence in whatever she is doing.
The key thing is to deliver. Regardless of what people are thinking, just deliver – and thus prove them wrong. Show them it is actually doable”, she stresses,
Being in a male-dominated field, Bulla had a feeling that being a woman was reason she was being misjudged and not readily accepted. “But that never adversely affected me because of the strong foundation I got from my parents. My parents have always been very supportive, and all my sibling are girls.
So we grew up in an environment where our parents made sure were enabled in almost everything, and since I never grew up with boys at home I never had that feeling that men can do better than women. What matters to me are the skills we have as human beings and what we can bring to the table. Hence, my ability to deliver in projects started early”, she says,
Commented on the lack of qualified project management experts and the dangers a nation is likely to face as a result; Bulla says Tanzania has not more than 150 Project Management Professionals (PMPs). “Globally over 1.5 million PMPs undertaking projects globally.
But in Tanzania our numbers are still very small – because of different reasons, including lack of awareness and understanding of the relevance of global certifications.
The challenge is that the government and its developing partners are sometimes pouring funds into some projects that are not well-managed, with no returns on investments. That is why global certification are important to up-skill the professionals in the country.
