Mala Suriah, Telkom Business
Name: Mala Suriah
Designation: Executive, Strategic Marketing
Company: Telkom Business
What do you do every day? I execute tactics and plans that build positive reputation and profits for Telkom Business and its shareholders/stakeholders. I advice, educate, and inform customers on technology solutions that solve their business challenges. The end goal every day is that my customer’s customer will have an improved customer experience in everything that he/she does.
How did you get into the tech space? By sheer bad luck! I was retrenched as a pharmaceutical sales rep and took the first job that presented itself. This was at Transtel (the telecommunications arm of Transnet) 20 years ago. I fell in love with the sector (and stayed). I simply thrive in this dynamic and fast changing world.
What was the best advice anyone ever gave you? “Be the fearless leader that you are – it’s your unique selling proposition”.
What advice would you given someone wanting to get into the tech sector? You don’t have to be technical to succeed in this industry, all you need to have is the passion to serve customers and people and the insatiable desire to learn.
What motivates you to get out of bed everyday? I feel that I have found my purpose. Living my “purpose-driven life” is a miracle in itself. I am driven by the creation of new ideas and almost everyday I have one to offer to my sector or company or team.
Who do you want to be when you grow up? I want to be “ME”- the brand called “Mala”, because I am CEO of brand me.
Find me on:
Twitter: @suriahm1
Linkedin: za.linkedin.com/pub/mala-suriah/9/973/9ab
About The Author: Samantha
Samantha Perry is the owner and founder of SJ Perry PR, a small, independent agency that specialises in providing public relations and media relations services to small to medium-sized businesses. She recently served as the JHB Agency Lead for Irvine Partners, an integrated public relations and marketing agency. She has over 20 years' of experience writing for a range of media - print and online - mainly in the ICT sector including Computing SA (editor), ComputerWeek, and Brainstorm magazine (editor). In her capacity as a PR professional and consultant, she has and does work with a variety of companies including Google (South Africa & Nigeria), Salesforce, CLEVVA, Euphoria Telecom, Paymenow and Tiger Content (UK). She also has a Masters degree in ICT Policy & Regulation. She served on the IAB SA Marketing Council as the PR rep, has worked as an independent telecoms researcher for some of the analyst houses in that field and was regularly called upon to comment on telecoms issues in the press. Nowadays she can be found commenting on women in tech issues in the press and speaking at conferences on the subject and the issues women in the sector face.
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