Fungai Mapondera, Head of Marketing Communications & Digital Experience, Infront Sports & Media

In order to help current students and recent graduates to find their way in the working world, many of our alumni shared their career story. Here the story of Fungai Alexander Mapondera, Associate Director - Head of Marketing Communications & Digital Experience for Infront Sports & Media in Zug (CH). USI Degree: Master in Corporate Communication, 2012.

How did you start your career?

Two internships while doing my Masters studies at British American Tobacco (6 months) + Landis+Gyr AG (9 months) before accepting a new role that was specifically created to harness my skills in digital communications to kick-off and drive Landis+Gyr's digital transformation as it pertains to digital workplace and customer engagement / experience (B2B). From there I developed a niche that I noticed was lacking in companies I had worked in which is connecting the technology aspect with the business side of things - marketing communications and corporate communications.

Why did you choose a career at Infront Sports & Media?

As mentioned before, I sought to develop a niche that I noticed was lacking in companies I had worked in which is connecting the technology
aspect with the business side of things - marketing communications and corporate communications. Having worked at Bosch after Landis+Gyr, the sports industry was an attractive industry where I sought to further disrupt the way that Infront is engaging with its customers.

What is your current role/duties? 

I am leading a team that is defining and managing the overall user experience and technology stack to enable the Infront Group's employee and customer engagement needs. Additionally, responsible for driving value for Infront and its business units through the production and delivery of digital marketing communications content for customer engagement and lead generation. Key focus areas: - Digital platforms strategy - Digital projects lead - Digital marketing and channel strategy - Lead generation for sales using a content marketing strategy framework.

In your opinion, what are the qualities necessary for a successful career at Infront Sports & Media?

One needs to be innovative and be able to think strategically in adding value to the business. It goes to say a strong business acumen is required with a willingness to experiment with new technologies. It is also essential to have strong communication skills as these are called upon in the collaboration cross functionally and articulating some of the concepts to the C-Suite in a concise manner. You also need to be a knowledge work, one that understands the trends and how they impact the business and how you can capture these externally and internalise them for the benefit of the business.

What positive aspects and qualities meant most to you during the study programme you attended?

Being able to work with a diverse group of people with different insights that you can harness to archive your goals. There is great advantage in diversity, something that the program at USI offered for one to learn from and contribute to. The modules covered in my studies at USI have also come in handy to develop concepts that are not only grounded in sound theory but with enough practice in various case studies. The Swiss Mobility Exchange program offered was useful as it gave me the opportunity to spend a semester at the Universität St. Gallen. Having a different learning environment and different subjects that complemented those at USI further enriched my experience of the Masters at USI.

What competences and/or skills acquired in your USI Study Program have been useful/are useful to your professional career?

With each team assignment brought the need for project management, something that has become useful with time. As I lead a team that emphasises data driven communications, the ability to do research and draw insights from data has been useful from my studies.

What is your advice to USI students entering the job market?

My advice would be to have grounded theoretic knowledge, however this needs to be put to the test through taking up roles or tasks that can help
you bring these through in the form or experiments as well as innovating the areas that you're working in. Don't just identify a problem, but always look to add value in what you're offering.