Maggie Ireri: Education Graduate Who Rose To Found TIFA Research

Maggie Ireri is the Founder and CEO of Trends and Insights For Africa (TIFA), an African-based market research company.

She served as the managing director of Ipsos Kenya Limited until September 2014 when she left to found TIFA.

Ireri has previously worked as the head of research and later country manager for Steadmam Synovate Uganda Limited and business development director for Ipsos Synovate.

Here is her story as told by WoK.

The research guru holds a Bachelor’s degree in Education from Kenyatta University (KU) having graduated in 1998.

Ireri also holds an Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) where she studied from 2009 to 2011.

Further, she is currently undertaking a Doctorate in Business Administration at the University of Edinburgh.

She is also certified in Strategic Communication for Developing Countries (World Bank), Training of Trainers and Development of Consultancy Skills (World Bank) and is a Certified Public Secretary.

Career.

When Ireri graduated from Kenyatta University, the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) was no longer recruiting teachers.

She started looking for an alternative job, and she secured an opportunity to work with SBO Research, a local social research organisation.

At the time, the organization was looking for part-time field interviewers to expand their reach.

Ireri worked with SBO Research for eight months before she quit to join Steadman Research on a full-time basis.

Within a year, she had earned herself a promotion that saw her relocate to Uganda where she served as Country Manager.

She served in the position until 2005 when she returned back home to assume a new role; Business Development Director.

Her job was to support the country managers in the Steadman network.

During her stint, Ireri oversaw the expansion of the company to Nigeria and Zimbabwe, and played a key role in the company’s growth in Uganda, Ghana and Zambia.

She was also a key person when Synovate acquired the Steadman Group to rebrand to Ipsos.

In 2011, Ireri was appointed the Managing Director for Ipsos Kenya, a role that saw her publish political and social opinion polls.

Other than being listed on Top 40 Under 40 for two consecutive years, she was also elected Chairman of the Marketing Society of Kenya (MSK).

In 2014, Ireri called it quits at Ipsos to found her own firm, Trends and Insights For Africa, popularly known as TIFA Research.

The company offers market research; customer satisfaction surveys, corporate reputation studies and product testing research among others.

TIFA also offers social research; formative research, opinion polling and monitoring and evaluation (M&E).