#BABLAKEPUPILSEVERYWHERE (3) KONDWANI MHONE For the third in our series of interviews with Bablake former pupils, we contacted Kondwani Mhone (pictured extreme left below, alongside friends attending the recent Old Wheatleyans RFC Vice Presidents’ Day), who is Global Head of Outlet Execution for Diageo.
When did you leave Bablake? 1997. Which A levels did you study? English Literature, History and Business Studies. Which degree did you study? Law at the University of Leeds. What did you do after your degree? A Master’s in Marketing at Liverpool John Moores. What turned you away from Law? I had wanted to do law since I was 12, without actually understanding that the day-to-day work was not like the world you see on TV. At the end of my first year at university, I took a summer job in a local solicitors’ firm and, by the end, I knew it wasn’t for me. So, after finishing my degree, I enrolled in a Master’s programme in marketing which involved work experience. You work for Diageo - what does this company do? It is a multinational beverage company that is only 21 years old, but many of our brands are more than 100 years old - Guinness, Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff, Gordon’s to name a few. Part of your current job title is 'Commercial Leader'. What does this entail? My job is to develop the standards and the ways of working for our sales organisation, and implement this across all our major countries. Put simply, the work I do is focused on that moment when a person is deciding in a bar, club, supermarket or shop which drink to purchase and ensuring they choose our brands more than our competitors’. One of your briefs with Diageo is to deploy and embed Digital Image Recognition across 20 countries. What does this involve? This involves creating the roadmap of how the solution will be used and providing a framework for all countries to utilise. The best part is working with the countries to get the technology adopted by their teams. This does mean that I am lucky enough to visit a variety of countries across all continents. My personal favourite being Argentina with its red wine and beef. What’s not to love?! What do you see as the most exciting development that will happen in the next 5 years? In the next 5 years, the most important people - whether in commercial, supply or marketing - will have mathematical or computer science backgrounds, as technology and analytics will be how companies drive growth and improve their business. Key areas that I see being most important are predictive analytics, machine learning and the internet of things. What was the best piece of advice you ever received at Bablake? It was from Madame Field: “You are good at French. You should stick with it - languages are so important.” I didn’t listen and regret it daily when I speak to my colleagues around the world in their second or third language. Finally, what would you tell your 16 year old self? Failure is OK, if you learn from it and get better. Trust your instincts and take more risks.
#REALISEYOURPOTENTIAL