Meet Stella Nampijja, a female corporate driver

On the first encounter, you would mistake her for a corporate manager.

After all, like many of them, she sports neat braids, trendy glasses, linen trousers, black leather shoes and sheen of red on her long fingernails.

But she lacks the “tough” look. Ms Stella Mary Nampijja, 25, smiles coyly. Instead of clutching a folder by her chest, she twiddles a car key.

And as happens with flocks, she gravitates with colleagues, fellow drivers.

She has been a driver for the last three months, with Nation Courier Services (NCU), a parcel delivery company that operates in the five East African countries – Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda.

Not exactly the kind of job she had wanted because she studied Information Technology at APTECH Computer Education, a prestigious ICT training institution in Kampala.

“When a friend first told me about working as a driver, I exclaimed, “A female company driver! That is unheard of. How would I cope?’ Ms Nampijja asks in retrospect.

Besides, few companies can even conceive the idea of interviewing a woman for a driver’s job. It almost follows the unwritten edit -driver is simply another name for male, especially when it is one’s official source of income.

But it is also viewed that women are more cautious than men, which means their passengers and other motorists would be ‘better off’ with more female drivers.

Even then, only a few women, like Ms Nampijja, would agree to work as drivers.

Just three months ago, she had quit her job as a cashier at a supermarket in a petrol station in Luzira, one of Kampala’s suburbs.

“The station had been placed under new managers, who decided to reduce my salary from Sh280, 000 per month to Sh200, 000. They did not explain why. So I decided to leave immediately,” she says.

Jobless
She stayed home for three months. Luckily, she had saved some money. Her fiancé was also helpful. And then, her friend, who works with NCU broached the idea of Nampijja joining NCU.

She mulled over the idea with her fiancée. At first he was not supportive though they later ‘agreed’ that she gives it a try. So she applied and got the job.

“I like the job. It is fun doing new things. I am even paid better, slightly more than what I was earning when I had just joined the supermarket,” Ms Nampijja says.

But not devoid of challenges, she says.

“Thrice, while driving in the Central Business District, my car stalled. The drivers behind me honked that it gave my head a spin. The taxi drivers (especially, notorious for obscene jibes at females) said women are slower at navigating the streets. I got offended. I trembled,” she says.

It was her first time to drive a manual vehicle. But she maintained her cool as she restarted the car and then drove off.

Getting results
Mr Abbey Miiro Lule, the transport supervisor at NCU, says Ms Nampijja is coping well.

“I had not anticipated she would perform well. Our vehicles are manual and inconvenient for female drivers. But she has managed to adapt very fast,” Mr Lule says.

“She can carry out basic checks such as fuel, water, tyre pressure, which means she can handle the “small” problems that could manifest in the field,” he adds.

She is not “allowed” to drive to far-flung destinations such as Lira or Kasese districts, which would be mainly done at night.

Ms Nampijja is good looking too, which makes her “prey” to men’s advances but she fends off “suggestive talk” from some people. She puts on smart and decent trousers, skirts and dresses.

Sometimes she has to work past six o’clock in the evening, when she should, be heading home to prepare for the following day.

“I get concerned when my daughter is not home by 7pm. But she must work,” says her mother, Ms Rachael Muwombefu.

DRIVERS

Ms Sumaya Mbabazi drives a trailer from Hima Cement from Kasese to Kampala, and Ms Alice Nyambura, a driver with Swift Safaris Bus Company, that transports passengers between Kampala and Mbarara route.

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