Dar es Salaam, July 6th, 2022

Smart Codes is a digital transformation company with a mission to solve African challenges through technology and make a mark in everything it does across Africa. The agency is an award-winning digital problem solver and covers everything from advertising, social media to websites to ground-breaking mobile apps.

Beatrice Nyamari is the Managing Director of Smart Codes, based in Dar es Salaam. In an interview with TIA, Nyamari described her role in the agency and her personal and career journey that took her there. She also described the challenges currently faced by the industry and the opportunities in the African market.

To kick things off, could you please tell us why Dar es Salaam is a great place to work?

I will not only speak of Dar es salaam but Tanzania as a country. I relocated to Tanzania because the country presents growth opportunities, especially in the marketing and advertising industry. With favorable policies enacted by the government, these have been a driving factor in steering Tanzania on the road to further ground-breaking innovations and development. I am glad to be part of that journey.

How did you get to where you are now, career-wise?

My curiosity to learn and stay ahead is how I ended up in marketing and advertising. My first interaction with this environment was an Accountant for an advertising agency. I was given an opportunity to learn agency management and marketing in a full-agency service. I earned my stripes as a media practitioner in that environment. The curious bug didn’t end there so I learnt about various industries and platforms as I interacted with clients and agency partners. I eventually led a media agency that led me to my next role looking after media and digital marketing for a telecommunications company and a global beverage company as an integrated marketing communications lead.

I learn, take the risk, fail, move fast, and repurpose those lessons and knowledge into improvement. As a leader, I understand the role of digital transformation for a business through disruptive solutions, while providing consumers with unique and memorable experiences. Ultimately, it’s how you make consumers feel and meet their needs.

As a result, I have over 15 years of experience in B2C and B2B, strategic marketing and consumer experience across diverse markets. I have led teams across Africa, the Middle East, Europe and India, with global companies such as Coca-Cola, WPP, and Airtel Africa. I have had the opportunity to work with diverse local and global entities, which have shaped my thinking into a glo-cal perspective. This means that I take the international aspects and feed those into a local perspective, bringing home a glo-calhybrid view, making me a versatile corporate leader.

Understanding marketing is one thing, but being an entrepreneur and growing and scaling businesses is a big passion point of mine; whether agency, client or personal perspective. Smart Codes gives me the opportunity to scale into Africa.

What do you think makes Smart Codes stand out?

Smart Codes, as a leading digital marketing agency, is on a mission to solve African challenges through creativity and innovation. Smart Codes has been on a journey to leading-edge transformation and changing how brands are communicated.

Could you explain to us briefly what your role as Managing Director is?

I lead and nurture a team of brilliant and creative minds who understand what digital disruption means and provide solutions that build memorable consumer experiences for clients.
My day-to-day involves strategic planning, business development, agile project management, performance analysis and client relationship building.

Which are according to you the greatest challenges that the industry faces right now?

As a continent, I see a mismatch between data/information and the end products in the market. We do not heavily invest in research and development. For successful products and services, we need to be informed in terms of qualitative and quantitative data on consumer and market requirements. Furthermore, the products and services developed should also cater for the needs of the consumers, and not only serve the organization’s growth objectives.

Also, Africa as a continent is rich in originality and uniqueness, but sadly, we fail to implement that in our go-to-market strategies. There is a tendency to copy and paste in the creative space; for example, in the marketing and advertising perspective, when one brand uses humor, all others follow suit. Our decisions are led by current trends instead of approaching our strategies with a futuristic lens. Communication doesn’t always have to be a hard sell, we need to use emotions to drive purchasing decisions.

With the occurrence of the global pandemic in 2020, we now know that our solutions cannot only be limited to a particular geography. We have seen this through remote working and how organizations managed to stay operational. With that, I leave you with one question; what is stopping us as a country from building locally skewed solutions that are scalable worldwide?

If you could describe the current landscape of Tanzania’s creative industry, which words would you use and why?

Tanzania’s current landscape is ever changing; always evolving. The role played by the global pandemic in shifting key communication drivers into the digital landscape cannot be ignored. Organizations then saw the need to venture into that space. The question is, was it applicable for all industry categories?

What opportunities does the African market present for digital creative agencies?

I always say that Africa is like a mine of precious stones, literally! Not to sound cliché, but our continent has vast opportunities. For any creative business, here is what one needs to understand; identifying a gap and tapping into it to make a difference is what makes any business stand out. What is your specialty in that space; is it creative excellence or innovation using data? You have to tap into a niche that identifies a gap on the consumer and business sides, thinking through a suitable solution for what marketers are looking for, and review that with a lens of future sustainability.

Can you outline the three most crucial skills any innovation specialist should possess?

• Curiosity & Creativity is essential to develop new ideas, strategies, products and improving existing products, brainstorming with the team and development of new processes.
• Research & Problem Solving helps to understand trends and research, consumer preference, inspiration for new ideas, working with clients to solve problems that arise in the innovation process.
• Communication helps with collaboration and sharing of new ideas.

Should we expect any new things to come to Smart Codes in the coming months?

Smart Codes wants to make a difference in the community, in partnership with our clients and other like-minded entities to deliver on community initiatives for sustainable development and creating shared value, industry training and innovation hubs. We are working with our clients to be disruptive, not only in the current platforms, but also in the platforms we create together. We are looking to scale further into Africa and deliver results through clear performance dashboards that increase return in investment.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received that changed your point of view?

My mother always said to me, stay true to yourself. That is where I am currently, and bring to work.

Do you have a message for young women considering a career in digital?

Success as a woman is not a measure of how you beat bias from a gender perspective but a sum of what you bring and deliver as an individual. Get to know the basics of the digital environment and digital marketing. Choose your specialization. You cannot be a master of everything. You can choose to do email marketing, content marketing, social media marketing or website development. Pick an area and specialize in it and learn about the rest. Also, ensure to get certification where possible. Its just not sufficient to have the hard skills, you also need to develop the soft skills. Don’t be afraid to take criticism, learn from it, understand how you can give value to others. Also, get a mentor or coach. This person will help you in that area of specialization.

Can you name the global issue you are most passionate about and why?

Food security. According to current global statistics, approximately 193 million people are food insecure, hence global hunger. Some of the reasons for this include global warming and technology. We need to build technology that helps build the amount of food available. Teaching farmers new techniques in water irrigation systems and supporting people who are poverty stricken are some of the things that keep me up at night. It is creating a viscous cycle of deforestation, climate changes, food insecurity and social unrest.

Tell us something about yourself that few people know.

I used to be a 100 to 200-meter sprinter in high school with a number of certificates in my name!

Thanks Beatrice!

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