Recharge long with Patrice Chung

Garfene Grandison, lifestyle assistant editor

Responsible for driving the Online Top Up business for 25 Caribbean and Central American markets, including Jamaica, Diaspora Online Recharge Manager Patrice Chung has led quite an interesting-yet-rewarding life.

Her journey to this professional destination has been mirrored by an equally fulfilling personal life, filled with the unconditional love and support from friends and family. In a recent interview with Outlook, Chung noted that her parents, although strict when it came to her academia, attending parent-teacher association meetings, as well as ensuring homework was done and corrections were made, and described her experience at St Andrew High School for Girls as the best years of her life. She went on to pursue her lifelong dream in marketing. She explained, "My dream was simply to be successful at doing what I love - marketing." It was while attending the University of the West Indies, studying for her bachelor of arts degree in mathematics and human resource management, that she did a few promotions with an agency to earn some extra cash, thereby entering into the wonderful world of marketing.

Pretty soon, she was an account executive at a marketing agency for which Digicel was a client. She kept climbing the success ladder, as shortly after, while she was an account executive, she saw an ad for a marketing executive at Digicel. Chung applied and got through. "I started in Digicel as a brand marketing executive. After almost one year, I was promoted to online recharge manager," she revealed.

She went into greater details of her job description, "My core focus is on providing a service by which persons living in the diaspora can stay connected to their friends and families back home by sending them credit online on our website. We offer an anytime, anywhere, convenient way to top up; available 24 hours a day on your desktop, smartphone, tablet, and Facebook. And you can send a top-up from anywhere worldwide," she stated.

It has been a great learning and growth experience, but it has also been a very complex business, Chung pointed out. "One has to try to understand the mind of the Jamaican consumer, and given the changes in the economic climate, marketing has to become a lot more clever in its approach, as the consumer is demanding higher value for money." She highlighted, too, that they listen to their customers and ensure that, with both Online and Diaspora retail top up, customers can receive up to 200 per cent free bonus credit daily.

She considers her role an important one as it gives customers the means to stay connected with their loved ones even while several miles and seas separate them.

Chung's job comes with great responsibility and requires so much time and energy that it makes it difficult to do anything else. And with her number-one motivation being her child, she laments the challenge that balancing both work and family life poses. "It is truly a challenge to find that balance, but I try to ensure that time is made for family. Homework time is sacred," she tells us. She also unwinds leisurely with the occasional happy hour.

Her advice for aspiring businesswomen or marketing enthusiasts wanting to emulate her success is to, "Stay focused. Be a go-getter. Be willing to take calculated risks and don't be afraid of change. The future generation has the potential to take Jamaica out of its current economic situation. We have many junior geniuses on our hands. However, we need to ensure as parents and guardians that we support and encourage our kids to excel. It's very important that while we ensure a good education, we also instil good morals and values."