Nairobi Business Monthly
Date: 25.12.2014
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jgieirens
second act:
CEO enters a
new play field
Former Ipsos­Synovate MD. who now heads
a sports marketing firm, shares insights in
leadership and growth in the corporate world
BYJAMESNDONE
When she held the reigns of the Kenyan
office of an international research agency,
she was a darling of the media. However, few
knew that for Ipsos­Synovate Kenya head Mag­
gie Ireri stumbled into the career.
She had just finished her graduated with a
Bachelor of Education degree from Kenyatta
University when the government froze hiring of
teachers. It turned out to be a blessing, as she
decided to volunteer at a local research firm. "I
would do fieldwork and prepare reports and this
shaped my research skills," she says.
She joined stead man Synovate Uganda in
2000 as a research executive and was promoted
to research manager the following year, a post
she held for two­and­a­half years. She was then
promoted to country manager in May 2004. Her
career went a notch higher in 2005 when she
became Steadman Synovate business develop­
ment director for Pan Africa for six years.
After Synovate acquired Steadman Group in
2008, Ms Ireri continued in her pan­African role
before she was named the Ipsos­Synovate Kenya
managing director in aoit after the French re­
search company, Ipsos acquired Synovate. She
took over from Mr George Waititu.
After several brushes with the public over
opinion polls as head of Ipsos­Synovate, Ms
Maggie Ireri felt it was time to leave the com­
pany and do something different. "It may sound
crazy hut when you feel it's time to try a new
challenge, don't procrastinate," says Ms Ireri,
In September, she moved to TransAfrica Me­
Ipsos Kenya ­ Acorn House,97 James Gichuru Road ­ Lavington ­ Nairobi ­ Kenya
Nairobi Business Monthly
Date: 25.12.2014
Page 27
Article size: 341 cm2
ColumnCM: 75.77
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dia, a sports marketing company with roots in
South Africa, "Kenya has good sports marketing
companies but they lack strategic positioning
that gives sponsors value for money," notes Ms
Ireri. "TransAfrica Media is bridging this gap
because we are using international experience
from South Africa, India and United Kingdom. In
fact our digital communications manager used
to work for Arsenal."
She says growing in the corporate world calls
for resilience and being on top of the game.
Before leaving Ipsos­Synovate, Ms Ireri launched
the Mentor to Leader (MTL) initiative, an online
mentorship prog ram me for sharing her leader­
ship and management experiences with young
people. MTL seeks to develop the next genera­
tion of leaders and its activities are 80% online.
"Lack of trusted advisers on careers and
people who can help our youth prosper in their
careers made me venture into this initiative,"
she notes. "Our first class had 450 participants
while the second one had 336, a sign that Ken­
Market gaps
"Kenya has good sports
marketing companies but they
lack strategic positioning that
gives sponsors value for money.'
Ipsos Kenya ­ Acorn House,97 James Gichuru Road ­ Lavington ­ Nairobi ­ Kenya
Nairobi Business Monthly
Date: 25.12.2014
Page 27
Article size: 341 cm2
ColumnCM: 75.77
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yan youth are in dire need of mentorship,"
Targeting youth aged between 18 and 30, the
programme hopes to save employers the head­
ache of hiring professional mentors and career
guides to hone the skills of new recruits. "I don't
want the youth to suffer my fate where I had to
hire a professional career coach after taking
over as Ipsos­Synovate MO in 2011. Although
management books came in handy, I found the
value of my mentor incalculable," says Ms Ireri.
The online initiative is ideal because anyone
can log in and ask for advice from mentors. Re­
sponses to the questions are published, "Every
day presents a learning experience to me. i have
made mistakes just like everyone else," she
says, recalling that she once vouched strongly
for an employee who later proved to have no
integrity. "Firing someone is not easy, but you
have to crack the whip at some time. Preparing
someone for a sack it's quite hectic."
Quitting her job to join TransAfrica Media
took a lot of soul­searching and consultation.
"There's no timeframe in moving on in your
career. However, in your current job you need
to learn multiple roles especially if you are
planning to venture into entrepreneurship," she
says.
This is crucial because you will wear many
hearts and emotional intelligence is a key ingre­
dient in managing people. "I want to share my
experience and use it to make others succeed,"
Ipsos Kenya ­ Acorn House,97 James Gichuru Road ­ Lavington ­ Nairobi ­ Kenya