Creating powerful change

Monique Adams





Talita Horn is passionate about making a change in the corporate governance field in Namibia as well as contributing to the national economy.

Before becoming a chartered accountant (CA), Horn spent several years in the hospitality trade in the Western Cape, Mpumalanga, Eastern Cape, Swakopmund, Windhoek and Cape Town.

Once she became a qualified CA, Horn went to London for two years and used that opportunity to travel to 22 countries in just two years. But as they all say, home is where the heart is, and she longed for the dry dust of Africa and returned as a seasoned professional.

Horn currently works at Namibia Wildlife Resorts (NWR) as the chief financial officer (CFO) where her job is about fiscal discipline and good internal controls that protect individuals in an organisation.

“I’m also responsible for balancing the wishes of my colleagues in operations with the resources we have and to report on effective use of those available resources to the shareholders,” she added.

Setting goals and working towards them

Horn is an individual who likes setting goals and working towards them and has successfully conquered all the challenges she has faced.

“Being able to study part-time and become a qualified CA within six years has been one of the things I am most proud of, because it normally takes three years of studying full time for a degree.”

Adding to her accomplishments of becoming a partner at a large audit firm was hard work, but Horn believes that hard work will also be worth it.

To conquer her fear of public speaking, Horn decided to put herself out there and started presenting training, hosting events, networking and always trying something different. “Going through this process, I have learnt that if you believe in your message, it will reach your audience.”

Changing from working in the private sector to moving towards the public sphere, Horn has gained great insight into the differences. After joining her new team, she understood and started truly believing in the value of excellent work and helped her team to update their audits and managed to report profit for the first time last year.

A day in the life

Horn does not believe in the idea of a typical day at the office.

“If I ever had a typical day, I believe I have not yet empowered my team to run the tasks required of the office.”

She deals mostly with problem-solving issues and is sometimes based behind her laptop, travelling to resorts, meetings with shareholders or exploring product development for the company.

She said she believes that each person brings a unique and necessary skill to the team. “Team work makes the dream work.”

She loves nature, farm life, developing people, working towards something and seeing that idea become a reality, which makes her really happy.

Her advice to aspiring young people is to never stop; to continually educate and evolve yourself.

“Reach out, don’t be afraid to ask for help, hold yourself accountable for making the most of that assistance and use it forward in some way,” she added.

There is also more than meets the eye to Horn, who hopes to establish a thriving vegetable growing business, so that her future continues to be diversified.

She said she hopes to continue to make a difference to Namibia, whether in the field of corporate governance, contributing to the growth of the tourism sector and its contribution to the national economy, or in any other way that this new world presents.