Tell us a bit about your role and your career journey do far.
I am a part of the amazing AME Profiles team in South Africa and am currently a Project Manager in the Profiles Delivery Team that I joined in May 2021. My role is to provide our clients with consumer data and insights so that they can stay competitive, build market share, and retain customers. Our main client base includes, but is not limited to: FMCG, Retailers, Fast food brands, Online shopping, marketing, and financial institutions.
I’ve been working in research since I left university and joined what was TNS in 2009. When TNS became Kantar, I then joined the Kantar Insights team as a Research Executive in the Projects team and worked directly with the Kantar Netherlands office on a Global Heineken project. All this was while I was based on my hometown of Durban.
In 2017 I made a personal choice to relocate to beautiful Cape Town and continued within my role. After more than 10 years with Insights I decided to make a jump and apply for a position in Profiles last year. This has been the best decision I have made professionally thus far as I can honestly say I work with the most inspiring individuals. My team garners every opportunity for learning and development for each team member.
How does the work you do impact on consumers?
Our team supplies first-party data from online research panels and sources that our clients can act with, quickly via our extensive profiling efforts. This in turn allows our clients to ensure that consumers are getting the best offers they can provide in terms of service delivery and products.
What’s the culture like?
Kantar has a culture of curiosity and learning; the more we know the better we can help clients make productive business decisions. The business has ongoing transparent discussion about business changes, decisions with employees and updates us on clear vision and values that we all should be working towards.
Kantar in South Africa is extremely people and culture focussed and has events for every occasion imaginable. A lot of events are also based on giving back to local communities via charitable distributions. Events vary from business centric, employee and community centric.
We also have a lot of events to honour our heritage and culture and celebrate the diversity of the employees. Being South African, we have one of the most diverse office communities with our myriad of local people from various races, religions, and languages. Colleagues freely speak to each other in local languages, and we respect and foster an environment that allows each of us to embrace our uniqueness within the business.
Do you feel supported as a colleague by Kantar?
The business always supports me with having a healthy work- life balance.
The team has been amazing through my cornea transplant journey in the 2020 and has allowed me the time needed for recovery and has taken my situation seriously when it came to returning to office post covid restrictions being lifted. Therefore, I can work flexibility as needed based on my special needs.
What advice would you give to someone who is thinking about joining at Kantar?
Be open to learn from everyone, there is such wealth of knowledge in this business. Get excited to do things as the business is ever evolving, change is constant and there will always be something new to learn, do and conquer.