Economic empowerment, digital innovations, and business leadership
Tina Fisher is the co-founder and growth chief marketing officer for SnapnSave. A seasoned business woman with extensive experience in pharmaceuticals & healthtech; financial services; marketing services, Fisher’s exceptional knowledge of strategic marketing including product positioning, brand plan development, growth hacking and launch excellence within B2C and B2B sectors positions her as a leader in the space.
Do you consider SnapnSave an economic empowerment technology and do you think these types of customer-centric innovations will dominate the tech industry going forward?
We do consider SnapnSave as a tool to aid in economic empowerment of consumers. SnapnSave helps supplement and increase consumers’ purchasing power by making groceries more affordable. Every little bit helps in a country where the cost of bread has increased 200% more than inflation. Basic food items are becoming unaffordable and SnapnSave can help consumers’ money stretch farther by getting 5-25% cashback on items. Every little bit helps.
I don’t think that there are enough customer-centric tech innovations helping consumers with the increased cost of living. We welcome and would love to partner with other organisations that help augment and supplement the average South African’s income – the more in this sector, the better. There are plenty of fintech businesses in South Africa, but how many actually have an impact on consumer economic empowerment? On pay day there are still very long lines at ATMs and banks with people taking out their monthly wages in cash. Clearly not enough has been done to enable the average South African to manage their money digitally.
How important are PPC, SEO, social media, email, and newsletter marketing in driving growth for digital businesses?
The channels a business uses to drive growth should depend entirely on how the purchaser and/or the end user of the business consumes information. Good marketing practice dictates that you market your service/product using the channel that your intended audience/customer uses to consume information. Based on this, not all channels will be relevant, nor the best use of resources. Too often businesses rely on channels such as PPC to drive demand generation, however, it's not the most efficient nor most cost-effective channel. For SnapnSave, we’ve found that social media works best for growing our business. The best advertising is a user recommending our businesses to their friends and family. Our growth has come from customer retention and putting an emphasis on keeping our customers happy so that they endorse it to others.
At SnapnSave do you build your software in-house or do you outsource?
Our platform has been built in-house.
Women in the field of technology are definitely in the minority, so why did you decide to pursue a career in tech?
Since the early 00’s, I have been passionate about how tech can have an impact on consumer behaviour. Living in London during this time, I saw the impact that digital vouchers had on my own purchasing and shopping behaviour. This is how the idea for SnapnSave was born.
In a management position, how have you found it best to promote and nurture women in the workplace?
I work with and mentor women just starting their careers and try to give them a sense of confidence that their voice should be heard. I try to show them that their different point of view is a blessing and gives them an edge up on their colleagues.
Do you think there is a diversity issue in the tech sector? Has it affected you in any way?
There needs to be more businesses and investors focused on supporting and growing companies that improve and enhance the lives of South African women and underrepresented populations. Too often I am the only woman in the room having to convince a mostly male panel the impact that SnapnSave can have on a family’s life and the fact that the majority of South Africans are living hand to mouth and struggle to make ends meet. The trend overseas is to invest in businesses that not only make profit, but also have a social impact. Given the difficulties that we have in South Africa, it's important that we create and grow businesses that can have an impact on society. Having a more diverse pool of tech founders will create businesses that solve problems for a wider portion of society, thereby creating the norm that more businesses should have an impact on society
What do you think are the biggest misconceptions about working in the Tech sector as a woman today?
The biggest misconception is that in 2020 the tech sector is diverse enough and we don’t need to focus on it anymore. Teams made up of diverse members i.e. different genders, races, cultures, backgrounds, etc foster the best environment for creativity. By looking at the same issue from different perspectives, it creates the best possible situation to solve a problem.
What influences your leadership style and what values are important to you?
My team influences my leadership style. You can’t manage everyone the same way, as not everyone needs the same type of guidance or structure. Above all else though, I value passion, and the desire to do a good job as essential traits for our new hires. Employees may not have had experience or education, but if they have the desire to do good work, then that attribute will make them an essential member of the team.
How important is it to be exposed to all areas of the business in order to be an effective leader within your business?
It's really important to be exposed and involved in all aspects of the business which then helps inform your decisions, especially in a small business. If you understand other functional areas such as finance and operations, it allows you to make better decisions on the direction of the business.
Originally published in Business Africa Online
https://businessafricaonline.com/tina-fisher/
