Victorine MAKALU is a Logistics and Purchasing Technician at NMC, an is based in Ducos’ offices in Noumea.
Graduating from secondary school with a professional level in accounting (called BEP-CAP), she works for a time in a Town Hall. But she doesn’t like the job much. With a BEP-CAP accounting, she worked for a time in the town hall, but she didn’t really like the job. She wants something else. Moreover, she realizes that in the field of accounting, places are often already taken, and well installed in companies.
She does a bit of research and find out that logistics is a dynmic area, and the jobs related to it offers quite various possibilities. She decided to resume her studies and passed a Bachelor’s degree in logistics.
She was hired by a freight forwarder and worked there for 10 years.
And she joined NMC in 2008 where she has been operating for almost 13 years now.
Today women have their place, we can pass our CACES licenses (Froklift driver’s license), drive gears and companies like the NMC open up opportunities for us. Women must be trusted.
“I manage purchase orders from mining centers. It is first processed by a colleague who is in charge of data entries, he looks the availability in the stock and then transmits to our purchasing department to place an order. I make sure that orders are available from the supplier and a roadmap is prepared for our carrier to collect orders and deliver on centers according to the schedule provided for this purpose.
For international orders, I contact the freight forwarder so that the goods are transported on time and at best either by sea or by air in accordance with the terms agreed with the supplier. It also depends on the parts. For example, we have very heavy and/or very large parts, like buckets for shovels. The difficulty sometimes is that when the pieces are not available locally, we literally run after time. And the COVID has stressed the delays. We’ve come a point where we take off by boat because there are too few flights. And our daily challenge is to meet the deadlines and deliver the centers as quickly as possible so that the machines are not stuck for too long.”
As women, we must catch opportunities. We see more and more women who look like us, being at management level, assuming responsabilities in companies, it’s encouraging for us. It makes us wanting to go further.
“I would say that before there must have been more than now. Though in the logistics area now most of us are women. And even on NMC sites across New Caledonia, most of logistic referees are women. So let’s say that in logistics area, it’s pretty ok. For other areas though I don’t know, but what I know is that we, women or men, contribute exactly the same as long as we do our job.”
“Personnally, along the 13 years I’ve been working for NMC, I trained thanks to the company and progressed a lot in terms of missions and position. All of if is a success. Lately, my proudness is to have pass my forklift driver’s license, I’m much more autonomous.”
“I would like to keep progressing in NMC, and stay in this company. It’s a country company. I’m planning to stay here for long.”