An excited BCom Honours (Marketing Management) class met an equally excited team of directors from Mafori Group via Zoom on 21 April 2021. Mafori Group was the Marketing Management honours class’ third industry client for the Marketing of Services module, facilitated by Dr Michelle van der Merwe.
The module affords students the opportunity to act as consultants for industry partners in the services space. In turn, the partners provide valuable feedback to the students on whether their suggestions are feasible, and how their suggestions could be improved. The aim of these industry client challenges is to encourage students to apply their knowledge, and gain real-life experience before entering the world of work.
Founded in 1998 by Pakie Mphahlele (the current Managing Director and Group CEO), Mafori Group’s primary focus is assisting municipality workers and the general public with credit repair. Mafori Group is a proudly 100% black-owned company and boasts a team of directors that is 70% female. Mafori Group comprises various divisions, including Mafori Bank, Mafori Credit Repair and Mafori Housing, to name a few.
Mphahlele and Tjitjila Chokwe (Chief Operations Officer) gave an insightful presentation to introduce the students to the company and to provide them with enough background information to develop a digital marketing campaign to expand Mafori Group’s current client base. After the enthusiastic presentation, the students realised that an exciting, yet immense challenge lay ahead for them over the next two weeks.
Mafori Group introducing the assignment to the students (via Zoom) |
From left: Pakie Mphahlele (Founder, Managing Director and Group CEO), Tjitjila Chokwe (Chief Operations Officer)
The students excitedly arrived at the Sanlam Auditorium (UP Hatfield Campus) on 12 May 2021 to pitch their digital marketing campaigns to Mafori Group. The presentations took place while strictly adhering to Covid-19 protocols. The honours students were surprised to present their findings to a panel of nine representatives from Mafori Group, including the Founder/Managing Director!
The Mafori Group panel provided the students with a valuable learning opportunity by posing thought-provoking questions and giving overall positive feedback to the teams. One of the teams – Finance Junkies – were delighted when a panel member commented, “Wow, what a great idea! We never even considered that before”. Through this experience the students have grown as a group, and have gained valuable insight into the world of work.
Mafori Group chose four top teams that suggested digital marketing campaigns that resonated most with their company values:
The Loaners (winners): Ruben Jansen van Vuuren (team leader), Anke Frenzel, Chaney Weyers, Karlien Bester, Nicholas Veale.
Streamliners (second place): Chandi van Rooyen (team leader), Jani Nel, Kival Dhavraj, Kristen Oldfield, Mohamed Jaffer.
Let's Get Fiscal (tied for third place): Tariro Mutomba (team leader), Brittany Chapman, Daniel Skirrow, Margaretha le Roux, Nicole Joubert.
Marketing Masters (tied for third place): Kate de Wet (team leader), Andrea Tratschler, Henru van der Merwe, Keyuran Moopanar, Reolin Ramsamy.
“This client challenge was a learning experience for all the students to find the best solutions for Mafori Group. We thank all the students for their insightful presentations, as well as Dr Van der Merwe and the panel members for their participation and [for] presenting the students with this opportunity”.
~ The Loaners (Ruben Jansen van Vuuren (team leader), Anke Frenzel, Chaney Weyers, Karlien Bester, Nicholas Veale).
Streamliners (second place) after their presentation | From left: Kival Dhavraj, Mohamed Jaffer, Kristen Oldfield, Jani Nel, Chandi van Rooyen (team leader)
The Money Honeys | From left: Emma-Leigh Torry, Amieke Visser, Gabriella Simaan, Jennifer Cazalet, Polné Viljoen (team leader)
The Loaners (winners) | From left: Chaney Weyers, Nicholas Veale, Anke Frenzel, Karlien Bester, Ruben Jansen van Vuuren (team leader)
Finance Junkies | From left: Sonja Adelaar, Chelsea Strydom, Robert du Toit (team leader), Henrietta Amofa, Sean Musgrove, Camille Desvaux de Marigny
The Accountables | From left: Phemelo Khunou, Luke Henman (team leader), Nuvesha Naidoo, Cameron Sathiah. Chad Gold (insert) presented virtually
Delta Force | From left: Sashe-leigh Padiachy, Kimberlee-Jane Craythorn, Erin Buirski, Michke Terblanche (team leader), Jachin Thomas
The LOANly Five | From left: Keagen Fulton (team leader), Luke Macpherson, Chantelle Grobler, Landi Visser, Mieke Birkholtz
Goal Diggers | From left: Benjamin Williams, Hayden Jones, Jason Engelbrecht, Amy (Melanie) Njoroge, Tialeigh Greyling (team leader)
Let's Get Fiscal (tied third place) | From left: Brittany Chapman, Daniel Skirrow, Tariro Mutomba (team leader), Nicole Joubert, Margaretha le Roux
Marketing Masters (tied third place) | From left: Henru van der Merwe, Kate de Wet (team leader), Andrea Tratschler, Keyuran Moopanar, Reolin Ramsamy
Mafori Group introducing the assignment to the students (via Zoom) | From left: Pakie Mphahlele (Founder, Managing Director and Group CEO), Tjitjila Chokwe (Chief Operations Officer)
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