Sandra Kambikambi is on a deeply rooted mission to transform financial independence for women in Zambia. As the founder and managing director of MyScape Resource Center Limited, she has earned over 14 dedicated years of experience in accounting and finance. Through MyScape, she focuses on empowering women through financial resources and financial management education to build generational and sustainable wealth in local communities. In this interview, Sandra shares her contagious and relentless entrepreneurial spirit, which have inspired and equipped hundreds of Zambian women to pursue their passions.
Connect with Sandra on LinkedIn
Tell me about where you grew up in Zambia?
I was born and bred in Lusaka, which is the capital city of Zambia. To be particular for those who may have some background knowledge on Zambia and Lusaka, I was born and raised in Makeni, which is in the southern part of Lusaka. Both of my parents were born from a very big family. I have sibling’s from both my mother’s side and dad’s side, but I am the only child between my parents. I think I was born very independent, I was always trying to be the person who unites the two siblings from my mother and father’s sides. There were 10 children in the home and I was the youngest. I had all the support I could get from my siblings as well as from my parents- it was a really great childhood.
Me being the last child of my mom, I think she was a little tired after having six or so children and so she would see me more as a grandchild than her child. From that, I think the approach that they had with me was not to baby me and be careful, but expected me to be independent. I remember immediately going into high school after my primary school which was almost six kilometers away from home. I used to use public transport even though my dad had a car at home. Because of my travels, he introduced me to the principle of managing my own finances to the level that he would give me money for my transport to and from school for the whole month. He would give me a budget and say this is what I could spend during the month and I was not expected to say I overspent the money, don’t have it anymore, or if I can have more money. That taught me to budget because I had to use the funds and allocate it. Thankfully, my parents were also still there to support me and check on how I am doing with money or how I spent it. He gave me a reward if I managed to save money from that allocation. This motivated me knowing that if I spend wisely at the end of the month, he’ll either double it, give me more, or give me the opportunity to buy something after that. I grew up quite independent, both in terms of trying to find my way and also financially.
Did you know that you wanted to study accounting and finance?
No, growing up, I wanted to study pharmacy. At some point I wanted to do something with travel and tourism. Growing up, I was very slim like a model and everyone around me would tell me to go for Miss Universe to pursue modeling. I started to think that I would have a career around that industry in terms of tourism and entertainment, but my father was an accountant and programmer. He was self-employed and running his own accounting firm that I would go to work at an early age. I think as young as 13 was when he would invite me on days off of school to give me information and books to capture into the system. In terms of early usage of computers, I was already there. He also introduced me to accounting quite early. None of my siblings had interest in accounting and I am sure it is typical of a parent to want one of their kids to do something like them.
Immediately after I finished high school, I joined him. Although, my father gave me an opportunity to go and explore and encouraged me to take time to find something else to try. I think I took a year where I tried to find a job immediately after high school. While I was waiting for my results to know where I’ll be placed in university, I was out already looking for a job because I was eager to work. I spent a couple of months looking but wasn’t successful. I think it was after picking me up from the airport that my father asked me to join him and maybe at some stage I will discover what it is I want to do. I immediately joined him and when I started, he began introducing me to accounts because he was dealing with various clients. He allocated certain client tasks for me to work on.
My results then came and it was time to go to university, but I was already now into accounts and enjoying my work so I decided I needed to study accounts. Due to financial constraints, I had to study part-time and not full-time while working. Most of the programs here in Zambia are flexible when it comes to accounting tuition unless you do a degree so I immediately went into a professional study, which is with the ACCA. I started out with a certified accounting technician qualification so that I could have some backing for the role I was doing with my father, and it also gave me a good bit of background. I went to work in the morning and shared my timetables with Dad so he could allow me to work full-time instead of part-time with school.
When did you get the idea to create MyScape?
I started off working in the treasury department and after a couple of months, it was clear I was more of an accountant than a treasury person so I switched into the finance department. I also noticed in this role that the organization was not able to take on some of my suggestions because it was international and not all decisions were made in the local subsidiaries and we had to get approvals from the head office in Washington DC. This was during COVID and with the time difference between Zambia and Washington as well as the waiting process for approvals and meetings, it was an intense and difficult year. For me, I am a workaholic so when I am working on something, I want it done and finished before I can go to sleep. I put in quite a lot of time and it was taking a toll on me. I told myself once I’m done with this last audit, I need to have some rest.
At this point, I was really interested in microfinance management to design products. I resigned from my job going into 2020 and said I think I am ready to try this out on my own. I made this decision at 31 and had conversations back and forth with my dad about if I was sure I wanted to stop working to do this, but I said I want to try to do something on my own. Even after leaving my job, I got a lot of opportunities asking me to work, but I think I was tired to an extent where I still wanted to manage my own schedule. If I’m doing it for myself, then I’m definitely building something for my future, as well as the future generations to come. Immediately after making that decision, I started working on a microfinance business with one of the colleagues that I was working with. We set up a microfinance business and we started to lend. With my experience in the field, I found myself very inclined to the women entrepreneurs. Whenever it was a woman, I was very interested to understand their business and how best we could help them.
I think I explored a product which was purely women-based, lending to women entrepreneurs. It went quite well for two years, we made a very good impact in less than six months and were able to reach more than 200 women. It was not only about lending money, but also trying to understand how they are managing these funds, how their business is growing, and what impact is this financing having on them. After two years of working with them, I realized a lot of them started to default. The long-term performance quality was not good so I took a step back and did research. I realized I might not be giving the right assistance to the entrepreneurs from not doing much background work with them before giving them the funding. From there, MyScape was born. MyScape Resource Center Limited is aimed at empowering women entrepreneurs as well as giving them training to support and ensure that they are financially independent as well as adding to the socioeconomic development of our country.
What is your advice to women entrepreneurs?
My message is not only to women entrepreneurs, I would say this to all women, that it is never too late to start. That is number one, to not wait for it to be too late to start. I think the entrepreneur world is not easy, but it is easier when you start young because you can take on as much risk as you can without time working against you. When you start getting a bit older, I think about my children’s investment fees, there are more responsibilities and it’s no longer about you, but maybe more about the responsibilities that you have. If you start young when it is just you and your career, then you have more leverage to face the challenges that you are likely to face.
For me, I would really encourage the young ladies out there to start quite early, don’t wait until you spend 20, 30 years working for corporations. If you’ve got something that you’re passionate about and you’d like to see it work, then start now, don’t wait until tomorrow. For those who still feel they’re late and can’t start, please start. There’s a lot of support and resources available to hold your hand and see you through this journey. They say it’s better late than never, and there are institutions like ourselves at MyScape who want to help guide and mentor you through this process regardless of age. It’s important to take that first step. It’s one step at a time, so take the first step as early as you can.
