People want somebody who gets the job done

Sharon Kiggundu is the President of Uganda Marketers Society, a body of marketing professionals in Uganda that is, among other things, responsible for professional skills development, promotion of professional marketing standards and practices. She says with all the required skills, one needs a high level of adaptability to achieve in marketing and other fields.

Give us an elevator pitch of yourself

I am energetic, creative, compassionate, practical, and cheerful. I am a marketer. I currently work as the Head of Marketing and Communications at Kabojja International School. I am also honoured to serve as the President of Uganda Marketers Society.

Could you please walk us through your career?

I was a student of Procurement and Logistics Management at Kyambogo University. At the end of first year, I got an opportunity to work with Mantrac, the dealers of Caterpillar in Uganda. I started out in the logistics department, but it started me on the path to Sales and Marketing. Logistics opened doors to what the sales team was doing. I fell in love. Eventually, my best friends were in the sales department. So whenever there was a tender, I would engage them on how they negotiate and make a sale. They would carry me along. I got mentorship in sales. I left Mantrac and joined AAR Insurance Uganda as a Relationship Manager, in charge of customer retention. This was the first sales job. I later joined FINCA. I spent seven years in banking, where I was introduced to full-scale marketing. I did all the aspects of marketing. Every role was new and brought its challenges. But I also had the zeal to learn.

How easy or hard is it for you to switch fields in your career?

It is very easy for me to switch fields, because I have worked on my adaptability to a new environment over a period of time. The unforeseen excites me and motivates me to make the move. When I made a career switch to marketing, I did not want to be a marketing person who works in one sector. I realised that every sector comes with its unique challenges. You only grow when you are able to work in a different environment. The people you work with will nurture you, if you are willing to learn.

Why would one choose marketing as a career?

Marketing jobs are readily available, because the organisations need to do business, and the marketer is the gate-way to the customer. Marketing is also broad. Mostly, it depends on which component you are interested in. Make sure you find an aspect of marketing that you really love. Even if you are woken up from sleep, can you do that thing? I can get a marketing strategy straight out of my bed. I can plan an event. I do those effortlessly. Find that aspect and shine there. Do the very best of what you do. Do not try to do everything at once, and at the end you are not known for anything. Legacy is important. Above all, the world needs more good marketers.

What is the best career advice anyone has given you?

Venture outside of your comfort zone. No one ever grows from their comfort zone. Part of the journey are the people that you meet and work with. My bosses stretched me. You have got to ensure you walk to them with a solution, not with problems. You should have the willingness to adopt. The biggest undoing for young people is taking things by the book. Marketing does not require that kind of rigidity. This is because every day comes with new challenges. The field is also so dynamic. You wake up and there is a lockdown, so you have to change the way you work to stay in business. That is where flexibility comes in for any marketer. Sometimes you will work long hours. And the willingness to adapt to different situations. Get somebody who has mastered that skill. Learn from them. Your personality at work is also key. Lastly, do not settle for the now. Dream, do not fail to dream.

How do you balance leadership work at UMS and your day-to-day job?

Commitment and time management are key for me. I allocate a portion of my time during the day to serve the society. It comes with its challenges a few times as the schedules collide however, the end goal is to get the job done. One of the major benefits of societies such as UMS is networking. Any marketing person that cannot network, there is no legacy for you. Even if you are so good, what will it be for when no one knows your product? It is important for marketers to meet fellow marketers and people. When you talk to people, you learn. Someone’s experience opens you up to certain possibilities.

What advice would you hand to a new entrant in the marketing world?

You should ensure you learn more than bare basic marketing skills. You need to understand how other aspects of the company work along. Finances are very key. You need to know the business in its entirety, beyond your own docket. How you work affects the whole organisation. Anyone in marketing should find a particular niche where they excel so much that they are used as reference. There are rooms where my name has been mentioned and I am not there. All my jobs have been referral. The basics of a degree and others can be essential at a certain point, but at the end of the day, we are looking for somebody that can do it the best. It zeroes down to what you can do.

What would be your advice to a girl who would want to follow your footsteps?

I have taken a journey of mentoring girls that even my cabinet at UMS has only one guy. But the girl issue most times leaves me at crossroads. Women need to want it. I stopped believing in woman emancipation, because you cannot emancipate someone who does not want to. In the era, we need more women to rise to the top, and no one is going to hand that to you. You as an individual need to want it and have to prove yourself. Find your space and make an impact in that space. Take on many opportunities as possible, and especially when you have been given an opportunity, make the best out of it.  Everyone wants somebody that is going to get the job done.