Career lessons from Allan Wanga’s magnificent season

[dropcap]H[/dropcap]e has been absolutely sensational this season, finding the back of the net for his club 17 times. 33-year-old Allan Wanga’s form at Kakamega Homeboyz has surpassed all expectations. He is even on his way to bagging his second Kenya Premier League (KPL) golden boot in his career.

He scored his 17th goal of the season at Sudi Stadium as he helped Kakamega Homeboyz beat Nzoia Sugar 2-0 on Thursday and in the process secured one more than his closest rival, Sofapaka’s Umaru Kasumba.

But Wanga is not even done yet as he is expected to represent the country at the 2019 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) set to be staged at Egypt from June 21st. Even though Michael Olunga is preferred to Wanga by Sebastian Migne, there might come a time in the competition when the French tactician will need the Homeboyz striker’s services.

Many had actually thought that Wanga is too old to be still playing football but the striker knew nothing of the critics.

A lot can be learnt from Wanga’s magnificent season in reflection to our lives and even career. He is a professional footballer, which makes soccer his career. Business Today looks at lessons that can be learnt from Wanga’s season of glory.

Age is just but a number

Judging from his age, Wanga was the most likely player to be bantered by KPL fans but he has not given anyone a reason to banter him. I cannot remember any KPL player who was battling for the golden boot at 33-years of age.

Achieving your career targets can happen when you are of any age. You might have heard of people who made their breakthrough after over 20 years of trying. Morgan Freeman and Jack Ma are the most obvious examples but if you know nothing of the two you can as well get inspiration from Allan Wanga.

Working two jobs is possible

Wanga is known by many as a footballer but very few people, if any, know that he is also the County Director of Sports in Kakamega. He has managed to balance the two in such a way that he is the most impactful player at Homeboyz and still delivers as the Director of Sports.

A lot of Kenyans who work more than one job do so because they are in need of extra money. A little number does so as a measure to grow their career for a bigger reward later. Wanga’s two jobs are related and doing them side by side builds his Sports career routing him to continue earning after retirement.

We all yearn to build our careers but are not really willing to give it our extra energy. Give it extra energy like Wanga has done and you will definitely get the results you desire. It may take a while but you will get them.

You’ll fail often but still recover

Wanga might be on his way to clinching his second KPL golden boot but it has been a minute since he won the first one. The Kenyan International last won the KPL golden boot in 2007 in his debut season when he helped his then club Tusker FC to win the KPL.

Because it was his debut season, Wanga might have been positive that he would win more of those. After the 2007 season, he played for clubs out of Kenya but never won the golden boot in those leagues. He played for Angola’s Petro Atletico, Azerbaijan’s FC Baku, Vietnamese club Hoàng Anh Gia Lai, AFC Leopards in Kenya, Sudan’s Al-Merrikh and Tanzania’s Azam FC before returning to Tusker in 2016 and winning the KPL again.

In all those seasons, he was never the league’s top scorer and has waited 11 years to have a shot at it again.

In your career, you will fail often but that does not mean that you stop trying. Your breakthrough will come. Allan Wanga’s is on the way and so will yours.

Be ready to step up when needed

When Kakamega Homeboyz owner Cleophas ‘Toto’ Shimanyula sacked coach Paul Nkata on match-fixing allegations, the club spent some time without a coach. Wanga took this opportunity and stepped up as a player-coach and helped the team bag crucial wins. The most important win was against Mombasa-based side Bandari FC where they managed to win 4-0 at Bukhungu Stadium.

In that game, he went ahead to name himself in the team’s starting 11 in their match against Bandari. He scored twice in the match. Wanga declared that he was not a coach, just a leader.

In his short-lived tenure, Wanga clearly proved himself worthy of being appointed a coach permanently. In the event that he retires, it would be easier for him to get a club to manage as he has already proved himself.

In your workplace, there might come a time when you are required to step up to a leadership role. Most people are afraid to step up because they have no idea of how it can be beneficial to one’s career.

Give Wanga a few years and you will find him managing a top KPL side, simply because he has shown his worth. He has proven that he can do it.