Jallah Selmah, Assistant Mines Manager, is one of many Liberians whose successes and progress in education and career manifests the reality of ArcelorMittal’s mission statement, “Transforming Tomorrow.”
Beginning with the Odebracht Construction Incorporated as a Supervisor for Infrastructure, he worked with several other contractors to rehabilitate the rail line from Buchanan to Yekepa.
Upon completion with active ore transport commencing, Selmah was then called by ArcelorMittal Liberia’s Mines Manager at the time to work with him after assessing his potential.
“Be humble, be respectful. If you are at this level and you want to go to the next level, be grateful in the first place for where you are. Remember that at the level you are, someone wishing to be there and will feel better that life is okay with him or her,” said Selmah.
Furthermore, the success storyteller indicated, “Let your hand-marks sell you; let people miss you for what you do when you leave them.”
Jallah joined AML in 2009 as Superintendent for Infrastructure, but as he stayed on the job, the Mines Manager at the time asked him to get involved in the mining work and he moved to the mines in 2010.
With little knowledge in mining from the initial stage, ArcelorMittal has sponsored him to attend several training courses including in Luxemburg and he’s currently studying in Ghana through AML’s sponsorship.
“I have received a lot of training and coaching from four Mines Managers here, and thanks to ArcelorMittal for helping me to study Mining in Ghana where I will soon complete to come back,” he said.
Now adjusted to the mining industry, Jallah Selmah has become adapted to activities there and the occupation is now very exciting too. “I love production; I love to meet the target and go above target. The position has impacted me, and my team, and I always love to be with them and they with me,” he asserted.
Adriaan Strydom, Chief Operation Officer under whom Jallah has worked in recent times, confirmed the strong leadership and charisma of the ever-energized Assistant Mine Manager.
“Jallah is a natural leader, highly respected by his colleagues. As a manager, he is extremely dedicated and always performs at his best to ensure a safe working environment to achieve production targets within budget. He is always up for a challenge and is a person that sees the glass half full and not half empty. He truly can ‘transform tomorrow’ and lead AML to future successes,” Strydom stated.
Some of his team members also attest to his workaholic approach and leadership. “He is influential, a good risk-taker, focused, and curious,” said Theresa Nuah, Mines Supervisor.
Joanna Tokpah, another Mines Supervisor said, “He is persuasive; he tends to work intensely to achieve his goalsand inspires others.”
Pit Supervisor, Oscar Quee, works directly with Jallah.
In his description of Jallah, Quee said, “He is always coaching workers to do their job properly and be on the safe side. His first point of advice is about safety. He trained me and usually gives me more ideas about Mining and the safety aspect.”
The Assistant Mines Manager also believes in creating opportunities for others. According to him, blessings associated with helping others give one the internal security to always move freely. Janet Arthur, a female operating the Articulated Dump Truck at the mines attributes her present level to Jallah’s help.
“I passed through so many situations that I thought I could not even enter ArcelorMittal. I must bless God that today, I, can be employed with ArcelorMittal Liberia after many years of struggle. I must be grateful to Jallah Selmah, Assistant Mines Manager who, after seeing me suffering, recommended me to have my first truck-driving job and told me to undergo training for ADT, and today I am where I am and people who never used to call me can now call just to check on me.”
Jallah, during his first vacation from Ghana to Liberia, is on the record for printing safety shirts at his expense and distributing them among several employees of ArcelorMittal Liberia in Yekepa.
He is one of 25 emerging leaders recognized by the Human Resources Department late last year.
