Despite the difficult COVID-19 circumstances since 2020, the Department of Marketing Management appointed three new staff members: Dr Felix Bello (1 March 2021); Mafanedzwa Makumbi (1 May 2021), and Dr Rejoice Tobias-Mamina (1 June 2021). Some of these appointments took over a year to materialise due to the restriction COVID-19 placed on obtaining work visas.

 

We would like to take this opportunity to tell you more about these special colleagues.

 

 

Dr Felix Bello is from the district of Chikwawa in Malawi. He is a soccer fan and often unwinds with good music. His PhD study investigated the extent and scope of local community involvement in tourism planning associated with protected areas in Malawi. He attributes who he is today to perseverance and hard work. The central goal of his teaching philosophy is active and student-centred learning. One of the main objectives is to facilitate learning by equipping students to gain the necessary skills to take control of and become active participants in their own learning. This is based on the belief that knowledge gained through active participation is knowledge that will stay with an individual. He is most looking forward to more research opportunities and the supervision of the PhD students in Tourism Management.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr Rejoice Tobias-Mamina is originally from Harare, Zimbabwe. She is an avid traveller of the African continent and enjoys having debates on any current affairs issues. She obtained a PhD in Marketing Management at the University of the Witwatersrand. Her PhD study contained interdisciplinary research on branding in political marketing, an emerging research area that lies at the crossroads of marketing and political science. Her career path has led her to be an innovative and driven leader in the research management space. Resilience and perseverance are two personality traits that she attributes to her success. To quote her: “I enrolled at an unregistered university to get a PhD (unknowingly, of course). I worked so hard for almost three years just to find out that the university was not accredited. Only three of the 25 students opted to reapply to other universities and start over.” She strongly believes that effective lecturing involves a collaborative and synergistic relationship between the students and the lecturer. High expectations of both herself and her students mean that they push each other in a mutually respectful manner. She is excited that the Department has such a strong focus on teaching, learning and research.

 

Mafanedza Makumbi grew up in a Venda village called Mpheni in Limpopo. He enjoys photography and videography, more so when he is behind the camera. He is currently completing his PhD in Tourism Management at the University of the Pretoria. His PhD study aims to determine the extent to which African destination marketing organisations (DMOs) strategically use social media to effectively communicate brand identity-themed content to project the desired brand image, and secondly, to evaluate DMOs social media content engagement. He is deeply rooted in “faith, passion and action”. Faith makes him believe in the impossible; passion allows him to grasp what faith has confirmed; and then he follows through with action. His lecturing philosophy is based on simplifying complicated concepts and explaining them in an understandable manner with the aid of scenarios, case studies and practical examples. Recognising the unique culture of the Department, he is excited about fully immersing himself in the work, including colleague collaborations and student interactions.

 

The Department is delighted to welcome the new colleagues to the team and is looking forward to seeing them develop and grow in their new environment.