Meet Natasha Naidoo, one of Nissan's leading women
NATASHA Naidoo is living the dream, literally. The third generation Nissan employee has been nominated as Motoring Woman of the Year in the leadership category of Nedbank's annual awards for the industry.
"I would really like to win it," she says, "as an affirmation for myself and my journey as a leader and for my Nissan family who have supported me throughout."
Natasha was born in KZN and grew up in Richards Bay. Her grandfather was salesman at one of the oldest dealerships in Stanger, and her father a parts manager then service adviser at Motus Nissan Zululand.
"I grew up spending my time between the sales floor and the workshop floor," she laughs, "helping my dad do stocktakes and interact with customers."
After school she studied industrial psychology and received a diploma in Human Resources, before deciding to focus on her personal life, get married and raise a family. She moved with her fiancé to Pretoria where she got a job as a receptionist with Geely.
On the way to work every day, she would pass Nissan South Africa.
"I'd tell my husband; I'm going to work for that company. I'll take a job as a cleaner, just to get into the building!"
Natasha didn't have to, instead she got a job at Nissan South Africa a year later as a customer care consultant, where she worked under executive director for communications Wonga Mesatywa andJacques Labotsky, who is today the Head of Customer Quality.
"It's where I found my voice," she says, "I was very timid when I started, but I discovered what I liked about myself. I'm a problem solver.
"They say you spend the first six months in a job learning and the next six months mastering as you prepare to move on. My mentors saw something in me."
Natasha moved steadily up the corporate ladder; first as a customer care team leader, then as a supervisor, a call centre manager and finally manager of the entire Customer Contact Centre where she oversees the entire customer management process.
Natasha's projects have been globally recognised within the Nissan family;; one project Quick VOC (Voice of the Customer) which she pioneered at Nissan South Africa in 2017 which became the benchmark in 2019 for roll outs in the rest of the Nissan World. She's been recognised three years in a row as an outstanding performer. But her greatest achievement, she believes, was automating the reporting for post warranty queries to ensure almost automatic authorisation for the clients.
"In the old days it would be a back and forth thing on an email and take days if not weeks for approval, now it's on the portal and you get authorisation within 24 hours."
Then she did the same thing with courtesy cars for customers when their vehicles were being fixed under warranty. And, even though she's a manager now, customers remain her driving force.
"I try to speak to customers at least twice a day. There's no better feeling than taking someone who was considering defecting and converting them into staying."
Now she has been nominated for Nedbank's annual Motoring Women of the Year Awards in the leadership category. She was one of 4 000 nominees. Now she's made it to the last 14 competing for the title.
"My Nissan family has stepped in incredibly to support me, but so have my customers. If I win it, I will be winning it for them.
"Being a woman in the motoring industry, you are surrounded by men and it's easy to lead as if you were a man. When I came into my position, one of the most important things that was taught to me was to lead as a woman would. I do this by showing compassion, positive reinforcement, treating everyone with respect and not forcing my opinions on anyone but listening."
If you would like to vote for Natasha in the Motoring Women of the Year Awards, please follow the instructions below;
- Like and follow the page Motoring Women of The Year Awards Powered By MFC, A Division of Nedbank, link: https://www.facebook.com/MWOTYAWARDS
- Next step is to navigate to Natasha's photo and like it https://www.facebook.com/MWOTYAWARDS/posts/356120036113434
