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Spearheading the marketing ­department like a boss

MICHELLINE NAWATISES



Abbelene Boer, who is the head of marketing at MultiChoice Namibia, started her career as a broadcast journalist and current affairs producer at the NBC in 1996 as her formal undergraduate training lies in journalism.

Following that she progressed into advertising as a media manager and spent many of her professional years in the field of corporate communications.

She further transitioned into the marketing field, in which she's been working since 2009 after completing her postgraduate studies.

Boer is responsible for the DStv and the GOtv brands at MultiChoice Namibia. This entails being responsible for planning, developing, implementing and monitoring the overall business marketing strategy.

Operationally, her team's duties include market feedback, product and service marketing, content marketing communications, advertising, content public relations and media execution.

“As head of marketing my portfolio develops plans to help establish and maintain our brands towards achieving short-term and long-term goals that ultimately promote higher profitability and competitiveness,” she says.



Challenges and ­accomplishments

It is always challenging to motivate a marketing budget and prove the return on investment (ROI) for marketing initiatives to non-marketing executives; however, results and research have mitigated this challenge significantly.

A challenge has been building her confidence to present her ideas and opinions at various platforms.

Boer has been fortunate to be able to apply her skills across diverse industries which include financial services, agriculture, telecommunications, technology and robotics, SME development and now video entertainment.

She feels accomplished because she has been able to mentor younger professionals and play a part in positively shaping their careers.

According to Boer, the video entertainment environment in both DStv and GOtv is very dynamic and no day ever looks the same. There are always multiple campaigns running between the two brands and a typical day focuses on monitoring the current campaigns and planning the next ones.

She is inspired by conversations. “I love communication and how it is interpreted through culture and language and I find words and their meaning(s) through diverse perspectives fascinating,” she says.

Boer loves music – it both energises and brings her joy. “I therefore also love rap music and hip-hop culture for the very same reasons,” she adds.

Her advice to young people is to take the time to know yourself. “Know where your strengths, passions and weaknesses lie. This will guide you in finding your success, choosing your path and motivate your continuous learning,” Boer advises.

One of Boer's plans to take on the role of chief customer officer within an organisation in the near future. Boer mentions that each phase of her life has been the best for different reasons.

“The best of these bests was becoming a mother to my daughter Angela and my son Abel in 2016. It's also a delightful actuality that this phase will not come to an end until I do,” she says proudly.

If she had an opportunity to change one thing in the world, she would stop the abuse of minors. “It breaks my heart that the innocents in our society are harmed in this shameful way – and if I could take this out of the world, I would.”