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Success is not final and failure is not fatal, it is the courage to continue that counts…

This is the third blog-post from Nicolin Mamuya, the first ESOMAR Foundation scholarship in South Africa.

08 July, 2016

I am in Tanzania right now and I must say the weather is perfect. Not too hot and not cold at all. This is our winter. I’m living in a small village called Kibaha with my aunt Rosina, the woman who took it upon herself to care for my mother. I was never really close my aunt Rosina but my mother’s condition has brought us closer. She owns two primary schools named Treasure Day Care. In 2015 she was voted the best teacher in her district. She mentioned how she never really thought of building a school after retirement however; she was so admired for her intellect by her community that they actually contributed to building her school. In other words, the community decided that she would have a school.

My mom on the other hand is improving. She has already started walking with a walking stick. The doctor is working on mobilising her left arm. Being there, I try my best to help her exercise the side affected. The process is definitely not easy. She experiences a lot of pain but she understands that the journey to recovery will not be simple. On the bright side, one thing my mom could not stop asking about was the ESOMAR Scholarship I was awarded with. She is so happy and I could tell that she was at ease because she knew everything on my side was going well and I wouldn’t struggle next year.

12 July, 2016

Yesterday we went to visit my grandmother; she also suffered a stroke in 2015. She’s also on her journey to recovery. I am glad she’s still the same old strict grandmother I know her to be. It really feels good to be surrounded by family even though they still treat me like a baby-_-

There is not much to do here besides care for my mom. I offered to assist my aunt Rosina with teaching the school children English but she already had a full staff. Apparently, most of the Unique Women aren’t exactly doing anything back is South Africa. No one is saying anything which means no progress is being made. I am officially starting to get frustrated. Luckily however, one of our members, Trish, visited her previous high school to speak about the Unique Women, our purpose and what we aim to achieve. She also encouraged the pupils to never give up on their goals by emphasising the famous quote “Success is not final and failure is not fatal, it is the courage to continue that counts”. I am so proud of her! I can’t wait to go back so we can actually commence with doing more to build our organisation.

20th July 2016

My mother always reminds me that I am the only one she really has and that I should continuously work hard in school so that I am able to take care of her. I’d be lying if I said I did not feel the pressure to do well. I feel it from my mom, the rest of my family and the organisations sponsoring me. I mean, you pray for blessings and when God grants them, the responsibility to maintain those falls on you. I remain truly grateful regardless.

 

 

The scholarship awarded to Nicolin was sponsored by SSI and in collaboration with SAMRA.

https://www.surveysampling.com/
http://www.samra.co.za/

If you want to support the ESOMAR Foundation and people like Nicolin in having the opportunity to study and pursuing a career in market research…participate the to ESOMAR Foundation charity prize draw today!

Outcomes and reflections from training young entrepreneurs and NGOs in Rwanda

Phyllis Macfarlane and Will Goodhand have been involved to the ESOMAR Foundation training in Rwanda that was held in Kigali from July 25 to 29. Here you can find a little description of how the training was implemented and how the ESOMAR Foundation contributed to this. 

 

BUSINESS SKILLS PROGRAMME – YOUNG ENTREPRENEURSHIP TRAINING PROJECT

This was a 4-day programme to deliver business skills to young survivors of the Rwandan genocide. The Young Entrepreneurship Training Project (YETP), which is orchestrated by SURF, aims to eradicate extreme poverty and secure viable livelihoods and empowerment through entrepreneurship training and greater access to capital; enabling young survivors to establish their own businesses and build skills relevant to quality employment. As ESOMAR Foundation’s contribution, Phyllis and Will trained 24 young entrepreneurs in marketing and market research skills.

The daily schedule was as follows:

Monday/Wednesday July 25/27th

– Business planning: Vision, Mission, Business Goals.

– Business development: Marketing, Market Research, SWOT Analysis.

Thursday July 28th

– Financials: the P&L and Cash flow.

– Management and Business plans: Case Study, Developing a Business Plan.

Friday July 29th

– Using Social Media for your business/Presentation of Business plans: Awards for best Business Plans.

The ESOMAR Foundation’s role:

Thanks to the expertise from Phyllis and Will, the ESOMAR Foundation was able to deliver the Marketing, Market research skills training, and support the delegates throughout the programme with the development of their Business Plans.

Commentary from the ground: 

Rwanda is a very small country (the size of Wales) with a population of 12 million, mainly young people, and not a lot of natural resources. The Economy is basically agriculture (84%). The delegates from YETP were in their early 20’s, just graduating from college – some with businesses already thought about and set up – some with plans or looking for ideas for their business. Their businesses were mainly agricultural, for example the 3 award winners were:

1. Two girls who were breeding pigs, to sell pork and sausages to hotels and restaurants;

2. A guy who planned to grow mushrooms;

3. Two people who planned to grow bananas.

We had to have a translator, since neither English nor French is fluently spoken, and translation is not easy, because the local language does not always have the precise business/marketing terms that we have in English/French. Nevertheless the delegates were keen to learn and interested, and you could see the difference in them by the end of the course – they were more confident.

We need to remember that they are ‘entrepreneurs’ not by choice, but out of necessity. It is the most likely way that they can make a living.

       

BUSINESS SKILLS PROGRAMME FOR ELE

This programme was intended to train members of the UK Department for International Development (DfID)’s ELE scheme (Empowering Vulnerable Young Survivors who have left Secondary School to Create, Secure and Sustain Employment).  DfID is increasingly acting as an NGO, and is targeting 9,000 vulnerable school dropouts, focusing on women, to improve their lives through Entrepreneurship and job-readiness training, increasing female involvement in local decision-making and increasing the number of female entrepreneurs. Phyllis and Will went to Rwamagana, (about an hour and a half’s drive from Kigali) on Thursday July 28th   to teach 12 young people from ELE about marketing and market research.

Commentary from the ground:

These young people were younger and less well educated than the YETB delegates. And with a bit more ‘attitude’ – they were school drop-outs.

Again their businesses were mainly Primary: Beer and Honey, Beans and Maize, Fruits, Avocadoes, Domestic Animal Trading. Or Retail: Cooking Utensils, a Boutique, Shoes, a Pub. Some were just selling their produce in the market.

Half had active businesses, half were at the planning stage.

We told them about the 5 P’s of Marketing (Product, Place, Promotion, Price, Profit), and how to do basic market research. About the importance of understanding their markets and their customers, and giving good customer service.

There was the usual discussion about the exact meaning of terms – the Rwandan word for ‘Product’ can mean the overall ‘Business idea’, which is a bit confusing for them when we talk about which ‘P’ should be their focus.

They seemed at times to be a little ‘phased’ by it all, but then did ask good, intelligent questions – there’s a perception that (low) price is everything (which we try to dispel)  – and what if the price of your product/service is fixed by government – how can you attract more customers?

They all gained (and could articulate) some ideas of something that they would do differently as a consequence of the training, and at the end they give us a great ‘Rwandan clap’ in thanks.

 

NGO TRAINING PROGRAMME

Weds  July 27th – Association des Etudiants et Eleves Rescapes du Genocide Board Training

Commentary from the ground:

On Wednesday morning, we also did a session of Governance Training to some of the AERG Committee/Council and Senior staff – the issue here was that the governance approach of AERG has not really evolved – the Committee/Council is still an elected body of Students from the University (mainly second/third year), and they believe that they should be very intimately involved in the day-to-day management of the organisation – which was probably, quite correctly, the case at the beginning, when they had no permanent staff. But now the organisation is much larger, and has highly qualified full-time specialist staff, who can be safely left to handle the day-to-day management and decisions, so that the Council can focus on developing strategy etc. But the Council still expects to be consulted on quite minor management decisions.

Once again there were language issues: we referred to a ‘particular’ project – meaning a single, normal, everyday project (ie that Committee/Council need not be involved with), but to them the term means a special/particularly difficult/ project (that the Committee/Council should definitely be involved with). It was interesting and challenging to sort it out!

But by the end we all had a better understanding of the proper relative functions of the Council and the Staff, which should be helpful going forward.

Friday July 29th – SURF Partners Committee

Commentary from the ground:

This Board, which comprises the heads of all the SURF Partner NGO’s, had asked for Training on Meetings Management and Presentation Skills – so we did some standard trainings, which they said they found useful.

 

CONCLUSION – DID THE ESOMAR FOUNDATION MEET ITS OBJECTIVES?

From Phyllis Macfarlane

1) Training Entrepreneurs

It is a great belief of mine that everyone in business needs market research skills – and particularly entrepreneurs and start-ups. So many small businesses fail because they don’t systematically collect the information they need  to make good business decisions.They don’t make the effort to understand customer needs properly and fail to acquire new customers, or grow current customer spend.

These are  things that knowledge of market research can help with. So, training entrepreneurs to ‘think’  about understanding and listening to customers, about being systematic in what they do, and counting/quantifying the effect of different actions, should have a huge effect on the way in which they tackle their business development.

What we learnt in Kigali was that many of these young ‘entrepreneurs’ are planning Primary Sector businesses: ie Growing Mushrooms, Making and selling Pork sausages, Farming Chickens and selling eggs. These are very basic businesses and so you have to tailor the training to be appropriate for them. There is little concept of value-add, and not a lot of concept of customer service – these were new ideas for them. But useful one’s, I think.  Nevertheless, by the end of the course you could see the difference in the delegates – they were more confident in themselves

2) Training NGO’s

The concept here is that many aid initiatives are not as effective as they should be because they fail to understand the people they are trying to help – if EF can help NGO’s think about their ‘customers’ in  a market research way – understanding what really makes them tick, then we believe we can also help make their interventions more effective. At ESOMAR Foundation we’re building a ‘body of knowledge’  of all the great social research experience we have as an industry. Sharing that expertise with NGO’s will help, I’m sure. The training in Rwanda was a ‘pilot’ for EF.

What we found was that, in Rwanda, the issues for the NGO’s are much more about Governance structures, running effective meetings, making effective presentations. They’ve had a lot of M&E (Monitoring and Evaluation) training from others – it’s how to run  an NGO that’s the issue for them. So, we were useful, but not in a MR sense. This aspect needs more thought and improvements for future actions.

“Help the next person in the hope that they also assist others”

This is the second blog-post from Nicolin Mamuya, the first ESOMAR Foundation scholarship in South Africa.

June 22, 2016

We have already reached the middle of 2016; I guess time seems to fly when you have a lot on your plate. I wrote my mid-year exams this month. How did it go? Well, the first two exams (Business to Business Marketing and Logistics Management) went great and the marks justify. Marketing Research went all right as well. Strategic Management on the other hand was unpredictable. I mean, we all had the previous exam paper which was a precise duplicate of the actual exam paper however; the subject accounted for my lowest mark and had many people in tears. On a positive note, the University awarded me with a R4 230 merit bursary for attaining a 70% average for my second year. I am hoping to use the money to purchase textbooks for my second semester.

I am learning to cope with living alone. It has its pros and cons. For instance, I enjoy the idea of not having a curfew however, for a talkative person like me, coming home to no one can be a nightmare. My mom is slowly recovering. She is learning how to walk and I am really proud of how well she is doing. My family has arranged for me to go see her at the end of this month. I am excited but already dreading the heat in Tanzania. Tanzania is a very hot country and I don’t mean it in a good way. Nonetheless it is a very beautiful and peaceful country to live in.

Let’s move on to what has been happening with Unique Women. We have created a Facebook page as well as a Blog. There are only 6 people in the group, each with different responsibilities. We wanted to keep the circle as small as possible, at least just until we become established. We have printed our own Unique Women shirts and I must say they look really good. On the 16th of June we paid a visit to a local orphanage to donate groceries and also lend a hand with the toddlers. The babies were adorable and they absolutely loved the attention.

Vanessa (my best friend) and I have assumed the position as leaders, which means we set out what the team should do, this of course includes ourselves. We have created a profile for Unique Women stating our mission, vision and values. We plan on also offering tutor and mentor services to primary school children. We also plan on assisting to clean the outside areas of hospitals. Our biggest project so far is raising money to actually pay the school fees of a deserving primary school child. We don’t want to award it to the smartest student but rather the most hardworking. This will be done through fundraising and monthly donations from each member.

As predicted, a group of young females working together is quite problematic with everyone being entitled to their own opinions. Some members are not co-operating which makes other members feel skeptical about the success of the group. Seeing as we are such a small group, the resignation of one member could affect all of us significantly. I spoke to Vanessa about it and she assured me that if it had to come down to the both of us then we would continue to carry out our plan as this is bigger than just a group. It is about helping people in the end.

I just hope everything goes well in the end. When I think of how blessed I am I just want to pay it forward. You know, help the next person in the hope that they also assist others. I remain truly grateful for absolutely everything I have and if we could just have a positive effect on just one person through this initiative then our efforts would not go in vain.

Nicolin Mamuya

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The scholarship awarded to Nicolin was sponsored by SSI and in collaboration with SAMRA.

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Training Young Entrepreneurs and NGO’s in Rwanda!

Our next Training Workshop will be held in Kigali, Rwanda, July 25-29th , and brings together two of our passions at the ESOMAR Foundation – the Education programme, which aims to train researchers and young people in market research skills in disadvantaged markets. And the ‘Better Results’ programme,  which aims to help the philanthropy sector to make more effective use of market research expertise and skills to monitor and evaluate aid initiatives.

Will Goodhand, Social Researcher at TNS, has been involved for many years in a UK Social Action programme to support SURF (the Rwanda Genocide Survivors Fund), and has proposed that we should support SURF and AERG (Association des Etudiants et Eleves Rescapes du Genocide) in a project to train c40 young entrepreneurs in Business Skills, including Marketing and Market Research, and also to train the board of AERG, and other Rwanda based NGO’s, in Market Research and Governance skills.

Here’s what we’re planning to do in July as the ESOMAR Foundation:

1) Deliver market research, market analysis and marketing training to young survivors of the Rwandan genocide.

The Young Entrepreneurship Training Project (YETP), which is orchestrated by SURF, aims to eradicate extreme poverty and secure viable livelihoods and empowerment through entrepreneurship training and greater access to capital; enabling young survivors to establish their own businesses and build skills relevant to quality employment. We will be training c40 young entrepreneurs in market research skills.
Also, whilst we are there, we hope to train members of DFID’s ELE scheme (Empowering Vulnerable Young Survivors who have left Secondary School to Create, Secure and Sustain Employment).  The UK Department for International Development (DFID) is increasingly acting as an NGO, and is targeting 9,000 vulnerable school dropouts, focusing on women, to improve their lives through Entrepreneurship and job-readiness training, increasing female involvement in local decision-making and increasing the number of female entrepreneurs.

2) Deliver market research and governance training to Rwandan NGO’s.

Principally  AERG, the 43,000 strong organisation of student survivors in Rwanda, and also potentially other NGO’s based in Kigali.

The aim here is to help them better monitor and evaluate the impact of their work in Rwanda.

Why train entrepreneurs?

It is a great belief of mine that everyone in business needs market research skills – and particularly entrepreneurs and start-ups. So many small businesses fail because they don’t systematically collect the information they need  to make good business decisions. They believe they are ‘close’ to their customers, but they are biased in their views, so they don’t see the whole picture, and can lose customers. Or they  are so convinced by their own product that they fail to see what others see with regards to its faults or its position relative to competitive offerings. They don’t make the effort to understand customer needs properly and fail to acquire new customers, or grow current customer spend.

These are all things that knowledge of market research can help with. So, training them to ‘think’ in the way we do about understanding and listening to customers, about being systematic in what they do, and counting/quantifying the effect of different actions, can have a huge effect on the way in which they tackle their business development. A lot of aid initiatives these days are about developing entrepreneurship in emerging markets – the market research industry has a lot to offer. You should think about mentoring young entrepreneurs – there are lots of online schemes run by big charities. You’ll help someone and at the same time learn a lot – not just about business, but about the situation in these countries and doing market research there.

And why train NGO’s?

Well, many aid initiatives are not as effective as they should be because they fail to understand the people they are trying to help – if we can help NGO’s think about their ‘customers’ in  a market research way – understanding what really makes them tick, then I think we can also help make their interventions more effective. At ESOMAR Foundation we’re building a ‘body of knowledge’  of all the great social research experience we have as an industry. Sharing that expertise with NGO’s will help, I’m sure.  We’re also very excited to be ESOMAR’s representative on the Paragon Partnerships committee – more on that next.  Why don’t you familiarise yourself with the UN’s 2030

Sustainable Development Goals

in preparation….

Trainer volunteer experience in Kenya – Meltem Karahan

As a volunteer to train for this initiative, I had great experience Before, During and After the event.

 

First of all, it was very challenging to put the training content together. Besides day to day work, I had to set aside significant amount of time to understand the objectives of the training, to find out about the needs of the audience in Kenya and most importantly to develop the content that best meets the objectives and the needs for the majority. While I put the content together for the sessions such as, ensuring research quality, translating clients’ objectives to discussion guides or analyzing data to tell impactful stories, I felt quite challenged as there was so much to share but not available in an organized format and there was little time to deliver the key messages. Hence organizing my knowledge, distilling key themes and messages, tailoring them to the audience and meeting the time requirements were quite challenging. However, as much as it was a challenge, it was a rewarding exercise too.  I experienced good recall of my knowledge from many years ago which motivated me to use them again in my day to day work with my own organization.  I ended up with well organized training modules which I can reuse given the contents are timeless and will always be of value. And importantly, I better understood some of the concepts I thought I knew well before. Aristotle said “Those who know, do. Those who understand, teach”.  This is so true.

 

During the event, I met great people, heard great content from other trainers and also from the participants. Engagement with the participants during breaks and during the sessions was invaluable. We had so much information exchange. I learned about the challenges of doing research in Kenya as well as in other parts of Africa from multiple perspectives (both from clients’ and from suppliers’), I learned about the challenges of young researchers as well as of experienced ones. I met great people dedicated to doing high quality jobs, seeking wisdom. Some of the questions I got were very inspiring, making it so clear why we need to take part in such events and help each other with our diverse experiences across different industries, different experience levels and different geographies. I also felt that, by networking, sharing these experiences, knowledge and ideas, there was better understanding of client and supplier perspectives, which I believe lead to healthier relationships, deeper dialogues and eventually to better quality work on both sides. After all “sharing is caring” and we need to care for each other as members of one big researchers’ society.

 

Finally, after the event, I left with great memories and having made many new good friends. My memories of Nairobi as a great city and its great people were enhanced. I had great bonding time with other trainers and feel quite confident that I have more resources around me if I need to tap into their experiences in future. The whole MSRA team made my experience unforgettable. I now have a different level of standard for what a great event looks like. I had many returns from the participants and organizers which enable a great sense of accomplishment.  So I encourage you all to try and volunteer because “every accomplishment starts with the decision to try”.

 

 

 

Meltem Karahan

Photos from the ESOMAR Foundation traning in Kenya!

 Developing the Impact of Research in Emerging Markets – the ESOMAR Foundation Education Programme!

Forty six delegates from 19 agency, client, and academic organisations gathered together in Nairobi on April 13/14th 2016 for an advanced Training programme organised and funded jointly by ESOMAR Foundation and MSRA – the Kenyan Social and Market Research Association.

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The Foundation completed another successful training in Africa!

Developing the Impact of Research in Emerging Markets – the ESOMAR Foundation Education Programme. A contribution from Phyllis Macfarlane – Treasurer of the ESOMAR Foundation and GfK.

Forty six delegates from 19 agency, client, and academic organisations gathered together in Nairobi on April 13/14th 2016 for an advanced Training programme organised and funded jointly by ESOMAR Foundation and MSRA – the Kenyan Social and Market Research Association.

The ESOMAR Foundation volunteer trainers were Meltem Karahan (P&G), Pervin Olgun (ESOMAR Council and Barem), and myself, Phyllis Macfarlane. We’d been working together over several months on the content of the training programme, and were excited to be meeting our audience at last. (And perhaps a little nervous, on finding out it was so large!)

Our brief was to help the Kenyan MR Industry develop it’s work for market research to have greater impact on business decisions in Kenya – a big task, covering qualitative and quantitative research, understanding client’s business requirements, and reporting for greater influence at senior level.  We knew we had a lot to cover, and high expectations to meet – it’s always an issue to satisfy the needs of many experienced researchers, some interested in qual, some in quant, some in both – some in other aspects of MR altogether. And, with a big audience, it’s difficult to introduce the interactivity that everyone needs to learn effectively. Everyone was going to have to work really hard for the 2 days. So that’s what we all did – delegates and trainers alike!  It was exhausting but ultimately very satisfying.

Meltem Karahan played a major role in the training – generously sharing her 28+ years’ experience in P&G and showing us how clients distil information in order to make decisions. It was extremely useful to see how data from multiple sources is reduced to tell what appears to be a very simple story – deceptively so because of the huge amount of effort and thought that has gone into it – a real insight into how clients think and process market and customer information.

Meltem also spent lots of time demonstrating the importance of high quality qualitative and quantitative research practices – specifically asking the right questions and developing  true listening skills. The delegates truly appreciated her openness and advice on what clients expect from researchers .

Pervin shared her experience of the statistics that all researchers need – for sampling and for data analysis. And again this was much appreciated. In fact delegates would like to see even more detail on advanced analysis techniques and modelling – the challenge of Big Data was mentioned more than once!

I covered the importance of qual and quant research to business decision making, calculating the ROI of research, and speaking the right language for senior executives. The analysis and  communication challenges that the new generation of researchers face. Also Qual Group discussion techniques and the Future of MR – digital qualitative research and behavioural economics.

All the presenters shared Case Studies to demonstrate how research adds value, insight and how to report data effectively.

A real highlight of the workshop were the discussions  around client demands and to what extent researchers can push back – especially when clients clearly do not understand local culture and practices. Obviously the  way to do this is positively – explaining that certain things will not work or will not be acceptable to local respondents. The delegates particularly appreciated Meltem’s candour in answering their questions and concerns – which are clearly very real.

By the end of the 2 days everyone was exhausted, but all agreed that they had learnt a lot – both delegates and trainers.

What did we learn from the feedback?

Well, we had lots of good scores. Delegates particularly appreciated the content on story-telling and insight generation, the sessions on research quality and ethics, and  the newer techniques such as digital qual and behavioural economics. They would like more training on social research, advanced data analysis techniques, insight generation, reporting and presentation, big data, and behavioural economics.

They would also like more local case studies, more time(!), and more interactivity. It’s always a challenge, to cover both the amount of content required and spend time digesting it.

Some nice comments on what delegates particularly liked: ‘The use of case studies to demonstrate how insights can be maximised for the company’s benefit’; ‘It was forward looking and focussed on addressing changing industry needs’, and, my particular favourite: ‘It was a breath of fresh air!’ . We can ask for no more

In ESOMAR Foundation training programmes, such as this, we aim to stimulate both young and experienced researchers to stand back and think about their work and the future of MR. For so much of our research lives we are immersed in difficult and challenging process to deliver to ever increasing client demands and deadlines, gathering data from ever more busy, complex and elusive respondents – it is inspiring to see examples and hear stories of how research is used to impact our clients’ business. And it’s also important that growing, emerging markets develop and adapt approaches which are suitable for them and their culture. It should not be a case or replicating what is done elsewhere, but of innovation and fresh thinking. We hope to stimulate that thinking.

We aim to entertain as well as educate – the main enjoyment comes from sharing real case studies (with videos!)  – and we had excellent examples from Africa and all over the world. It is always good to see, and reflect on  what happens to research after it leaves the agency. After all, as researchers, we are very fortunate to lead such varied and exciting lives – many people do not have such interesting and challenging work, which impacts people and society every day.

The real highlight of the Kenya Workshop, for me, and for Meltem and Pervin, was to meet so many enthusiastic and dedicated researchers  – and hear of their experiences, challenges and questions – sometimes the best learning is done in the tea-breaks and over lunch. (The food – and especially the cake – is always excellent in Kenya!). We are grateful to the MSRA Council for all their support and hard work to deliver such an engaging and worthwhile experience. And I am particularly grateful to Meltem and Pervin for giving their time and expertise so generously. We all hope to continue in 2017!

Phyllis Macfarlane

Hear from Nicolin – The first ESOMAR Foundation scholarship in South Africa

Nicolin Mamuya has been awarded of the first ESOMAR Foundation scholarship in South Africa. This scholarship was sponsored by SSI- Survey Sampling International and in collaboration with SAMRA – Southern African Marketing Research Association.  Hear directly from Nicolin about the impact of this scholarship on her life:

About Me

I am currently a 3rd year BCom (Bachelor of Commerce) Marketing Management student at the University of Johannesburg and my name is Nicolin Byansy Mamuya. I was born and raised on the 25th of November 1996 in Johannesburg, South Africa although both my parents are from Tanzania. I was however, raised by a single mother who always stressed about the importance of education.

I attended Progressive Primary and then went on to Rand girls’ High School in 2009. I was always the quiet girl in the background until the 10th grade when I joined the RAPS acting club. It was a huge boost to my confidence and I felt it safe to label myself an extrovert. I initially wanted to study BCom Law and placed Marketing as my second choice however, I was only accepted for Marketing.

My first year in Marketing was very insightful and by the time I finished my 2nd year, I was already speaking Marketing. I found myself constantly rating service performances and being able to spot marketing strategies in ordinary convenient stores.  In my second year I was awarded a two year bursary from a well-known billboard and radio company called Primedia.

Now doing my 3rd year, I am a mentor for first year Marketing students as well as the Deputy Chairperson of the Democratic Alliance Student Organisation (DASO). I am also part of a group called Unique women were we aim to inspire and build women to achieve success. We are currently starting with visiting orphanages where we can assist, donate and speak to the young girls about working towards a bright future.

I am an outgoing, enthusiast who always plans for the future. Alongside my career in Marketing, I plan on opening a Jazz restaurant that offers a taste into the world. My ultimate goal in life however, is to be a strong, successful and influential woman, one that others can look at and admire but yet can relate to.

How will the scholarship help me and what do I expect from the experience?

On the 13th of March 2016 at 00:10am, 2 days before her birthday, my mother had a stroke. She was taken to the hospital where the doctor revealed the severity of the stroke. My family thought it best to return her to Tanzania where she would be properly taken care of. I was forced to grow up and learn to do things for myself. However, because my mom was the breadwinner it meant that I would suffer financially and my chances of pursuing Honours in Marketing would slim.

My lecturers always mention that a degree has become as common as a High school certificate, which means competition is very high. Hence, they constantly emphasize the importance of pursuing honours as a means of differentiating oneself. This scholarship will therefore, not only assist in providing for my basic needs but also the opportunity to pursue my Honours degree.

I would like the affiliation I have with the foundation to build on my personal career. I look forward to gaining greater insight on the Market Research field and hope to get the opportunity to apply my knowledge once I graduate. Greater insight and guidance in the field will assist in deciding which area in Market Research I would like to go into.

I am also hoping that my affiliation with the foundation, not just through the scholarship, will be a huge stepping stone towards my success in future, which in-turn, will also contribute towards the realisation of my long-term goals.

 

Nicolin Byansy Mamuya

 

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