Hello, I’m Tumelo Fani.
Nice to meet you.
I am an MBA graduate with more than 6 years of experience.
I studied Marketing in undergrad and began my career working closely with customers and commercial teams. That foundation later grew into broader work across products, commercial strategy, customer growth, and large-scale programs.
Over the years, I have helped build and grow subscription-based SMS and USSD products used across African markets. I have also developed commercial proposals that helped win enterprise and public-sector work, and shaped go-to-market strategies for national product launches.
Projects across product, marketing, and growth.
Amazon
Marketplace strategy
Campaign strategy for major sales events
Evaluated more than 400 deal campaigns across Prime Day, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Big Spring Sale to understand what was driving performance.
The work helped teams focus limited merchandising space on the strongest opportunities and improve how campaigns were selected for future events.
Meta Accelerator
Product experimentation
Scaling feature-phone products in Botswana
Worked with Meta Accelerator mentors on product experimentation, user-centered design, and data analysis.
The work helped shape the launch of a local e-commerce marketplace and a ride hail taxi service.
Stanford Seed
Business and product strategy
Strategic transformation for a tech startup
Worked with senior leaders to reshape the product vision for SMS, USSD, and IVR services reaching 800,000 monthly users.
The work included mapping the business model, identifying gaps in the sales funnel, and defining priorities for the company’s next stage of growth.
UNICEF U-Report
Zero-to-1 product launch
Launching a national youth polling platform
Helped launch UNICEF U-Report in Botswana, an SMS platform that gave young people a way to share their views on issues affecting them.
I worked across primary research, field activations, go-to-market planning, and stakeholder reporting, helping the platform reach more than 20,000 users.
Botswana Ministry of Health
Public-sector product launch
Launching a COVID-19 contact-tracing app for Botswana
Supported the beta testing and national launch of a digital permit application and movement-tracking system during the COVID-19 pandemic.
I tested product features, identified usability and accessibility gaps, and worked with the team to improve the experience before the platform reached more than 1.4 million users.
Thanks for taking the time to explore my work.
If any part of my work or story connects with you, I’d be happy to continue the conversation or share a copy of my résumé.
Product marketing across technology, consulting, and energy.
Product research and lifecycle management
Managed the research, launch, and ongoing performance of SMS, USSD, and contact-center products serving large subscriber bases.
My work included field interviews, focus groups, surveys, A/B tests, and customer research for new products, including an e-commerce marketplace and a ride-hailing service. I also managed recurring subscription, retention, revenue, and engagement reporting, using SQL, Excel, VBA, and product dashboards to identify performance gaps and support product and go-to-market decisions.
Proposal strategy and business development
Managed high-volume consulting proposals from opportunity sourcing and qualification through submission, client follow-up, and post-bid review.
I researched public and private opportunities, supported go or no-go decisions, coordinated partners, team leaders, and consultants, and developed methodologies, templates, technical documents, and tailored consultant profiles for each assignment. I also tracked submissions, attended tender openings, gathered client and competitor feedback, and used those insights to improve the quality and competitiveness of future proposals.
Alongside proposal work, I supported client events, presentations, publications, website updates, and other marketing materials across the firm’s service lines.
Brand, product, and commercial strategy
Led a 360-degree brand and commercial redesign for an energy company offering solar systems, generators, UPS solutions, batteries, and related infrastructure services.
I built the company’s digital presence and customer touchpoints from the ground up, including its website, social channels, sales materials, proposals, presentations, email signatures, and brand templates. I also worked across product positioning, pricing support, customer communication, field marketing, and service workflows, coordinating closely with engineering and operations teams.
The work strengthened how the business presented its products, supported customers, and converted commercial opportunities.
Agentic AI prototypes I created through my MBA coursework.
Northbridge AI
MBA product prototype
Volunteer support AI assistant prototype
Built an AI assistant that helped nonprofit coordinators find and assign suitable volunteers to community projects.
The product replaced a manual Excel-based search process and enabled coordinators to identify potential matches in approximately 15 seconds.
Lobelo AI
MBA product prototype
Turning paper athlete records into coaching insights
Built an AI-supported coaching platform for visually impaired Paralympic athletes in Botswana.
The platform helps coaches move from fragmented paper records to clearer athlete tracking, performance insights, and more informed preparation.
Products that were launched, tested, and later discontinued.
Blaza
Blaza was a local e-commerce marketplace built to help merchants sell online and reach customers through digital ordering.
I worked across go-to-market strategy, product testing with engineers, usability feedback, merchant onboarding, customer activation, segmentation, and launch readiness.
Vuka
Vuka was a social messaging tool for USSD product communities, exploring how users on low-connectivity channels could move from basic USSD interactions into a chat-based experience.
I worked across primary research, segmentation, targeting, usability testing, product design, and go-to-market planning.
Mpitsa
Mpitsa was a local service product, similar to Uber, built to help customers in Botswana connect with nearby service providers.
I worked across product testing, usability feedback, segmentation, targeting, customer behavior, launch planning, and go-to-market strategy.
About me.
I grew up in Botswana and studied Marketing at the University of Botswana before starting my career in sales. Working directly with customers taught me to pay attention to what people need, the questions they ask, and what ultimately influences their decisions.
As my career progressed, I moved into broader roles across product, marketing, business development, and strategy. I have worked with startups, consulting teams, public-sector partners, and global organizations, often in environments where the work was still taking shape and the team was working out the best way forward.
A large part of my career has involved listening closely to customers and using those insights to shape what happens next. I have conducted field interviews, focus groups, surveys, and A/B tests, then worked with teams to identify bottlenecks, understand customer sentiment, and turn what we learned into product, marketing, and growth strategies.
These experiences have made me comfortable thinking about the bigger picture while also getting close to the work itself. I enjoy understanding the problem, finding the patterns in the research and data, and helping teams turn those insights into decisions and action.
I later moved to the United States to complete my MBA at the University of Rochester, where I strengthened the strategic and analytical side of my experience while continuing to build on the customer and commercial foundation I developed earlier in my career.
I am naturally curious and enjoy exploring ideas creatively. That has included helping startups develop their logos, websites, sales enablement materials, and digital touchpoints, as well as learning new creative tools and exploring an interest in fashion design.
Experience.
Amazon
Senior Marketing Manager InternWorked on deal merchandising, campaign performance, and automation guardrails for high-traffic retail events within North America Stores Marketing.
Grant Thornton
Proposal and business developmentWorked across bid development, commercial response materials, client opportunity assessment, pricing follow-up, and proposal strategy.
Odita Energy
Marketing and commercial strategyBuilt marketing systems, 360 branding, customer support workflows, product/service positioning, pricing support, and field-service coordination across energy infrastructure products.
Brastorne Enterprises
Product marketing and growth strategyManaged product performance and lifecycle analytics across SMS, USSD, IVR, and mobile-first digital products, using retention, segmentation, acquisition, and engagement data to improve adoption in low-connectivity markets.
Education.
Simon Business School
MBA, Marketing & Strategy
University of Rochester
University of Botswana
Bachelor’s Degree, Marketing