Lesetja Malope

Vodacom’s regional Marketing Manager, Ms Dora Francis’ journey through the telecommunication giant’s corridors of power has been one driven by nothing else but the pure pursuit for happiness.

Born and bred in the diamond-mining town of Kimberley in the Northern Cape, Francis cut her career teeth in the local community radio station as a teenage presenter before jumping ship to work for a major parastatal as a receptionist.

Her passion when manning the front desk job of the company led her to being headhunted by one of the clients, her current employer, for the same job in the same area.

After spending two years on the job, she sought greener pastures within the company but in a form of a transfer to the nearest city, Bloemfontein. "In Bloemfontein I was an administrator but I also had the opportunity to study marketing management at the Central University of Technology (CUT)."

Following a promotion to a business consultant position she ceased another opportunity to go up the corporate ladder when the company opened two new regional offices, one in the province and another in Mpumalanga.

"I preferred Limpopo because of the language factor, in Mpumalanga communication would have been a challenge because of isiSwati", she said of her eventual choice to relocate to the city.

During her tenure as the informal Market Manager, she managed to scoop a Managing Director’s award for outstanding performance top up her flourishing career, she was recently received an international nomination from Vodacom’s global partner, Vodafone.

Surprisingly, as a teen she wanted to be a food scientist but after her pet dog died she developed a liking for veterinary. ‘’After my dog died I wanted to be a vet but after matric I went on to study journalism and marketing through correspondence because my family did not have money for me to attend a tertiary institution full time," she said. Though her career seems to be blossoming, she maintains the best is yet to come and as long as she is happy at the company, she sees no reason to move away.

"I want to be happy, that’s all. The money will follow. I am very patient. I believe in taking it one step at a time, I’d rather have few dreams and achieve them than have too many and achieve none", she added.