Zainab commenced her career with the Brunei Shell Joint Ventures Companies in 1983, accumulating valuable international experience in countries like Oman, Qatar, the UK, Netherlands, Norway, and the ASEAN region. She actively contributed to multicultural teams, enriching her global perspective.
In her role as the HR Director of Brunei Shell Petroleum from September 2017 to July 2023, Zainab played a pivotal role in enhancing the organisation’s competitive performance and supporting ambitious growth goals through a strong commitment to people excellence.
Zainab’s journey is deeply influenced by her family, drawing inspiration from her mother’s values and benefiting from her husband’s selfless career sacrifice in support of her success. Their unwavering support has been instrumental in her remarkable story.
With extensive career-spanning roles at BSP, BLNG, Petroleum Development Oman, Qatar Gas, and the Ministry of Energy, Zainab’s expertise in performance management, leadership development, competence management, coaching, and mentoring garnered her the prestigious “CEO Award of Excellence” in 2012 during her tenure at Qatar Gas, along with the “Best Coach & Mentor” Award.
Zainab holds professional coaching and mentoring credentials and obtained external certification in Executive Leadership Coaching from the FORTON Group in 2021. Her active involvement in various groups, including the Young Professionals Network (YPN), Global Shapers Brunei Chapter, Brunei Mentoring Entrepreneur Network, ASEAN Mentoring Entrepreneur Network, Brunei Young Leaders Conferences, INITIATE HR Summit, and University Technology Brunei, is a testament to her dedication to guiding and shaping future leaders.
She is also the founder and current President of the Human Resources Society in Brunei, which also provides coaching and mentoring to HR professionals in Brunei in addition to executing workshops and panel discussions for HR upskilling.
Key themes emerging out of our conversation:
- Identifying and nurturing talent.
- Insights on the Muslim way of being.
- How equity and equality are not the same.
- How her mom was her greatest role model.
- When someone is emotional, there is no rational thinking.
- Using coaching and mentoring as a tool to change mindsets.
- How roles reversed, and her husband supported her journey.
- The abundance mentality, what is it that we can do differently.
- To solve it, first bring the focus on the problem, not on the people.
- Recognising when a conversation is not getting anywhere, reconvening.
- Building a learning organisation that allows its people to make mistakes.
- It doesn't matter where you start; what really matters is where you end up.
- Not listening when people say you cannot do this, showing them what you can do.
- Seeing opportunity in adversity, being prepared for opportunities, creating opportunities.
- Navigating cultures, understanding that people will always be people, focussing on similarities.
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