Meet Lucrezia Pirani: Our Energetic Head of Business Development
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Lucrezia Pirani hails from Rome, Italy, and joined the Mesozi team in January 2020. As Head of Business development, she is in charge of sales, marketing, and customer success. Bringing structure, methodology, and a strategic approach to growth, she is helping MarketForce360 to get ready to scale and become the unquestioned leader in sales and distribution automation in Africa.
Professionally:
Lou, as everyone calls her, holds an MSc. in Strategic Management from Rotterdam School Of Management, Erasmus University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics and Management from the University Of Rome.
She has international experience in sales, growth strategy, and management consulting. As a Business Development Executive at a Dutch Saas startup called Shaman, she led the expansion of the company in Italy, delivering exceptional results in sales growth, business development, and strategy implementation. Before that, she worked as the youngest management consultant for an Italian consulting firm, gaining expertise in process re-engineering, organizational structure, and change management. Finally, she also gained some experience in building businesses from scratch as a start-up consultant at a Netherlands-based business incubator.
Outside work:
Lou is an adventurer who likes to explore and experience, a curious spirit whose most daring wish would be to have a thousand lives so that she could live in every existing country and learn from every existing culture. Unfortunately, living a thousand lives is not possible. Nonetheless, Lou is doing all she can to put her dream in practice. Together with Italy, Australia, Germany, and the Netherlands, Kenya is the 5th country where she lives in, and Nairobi and 7th different city, at only 24 years of age. Many people ask her why she didn’t stay in Europe, where she could get a secure job in the corporate scene.
This is her reply: “Why Kenya? Because I like the unknown path better than the safe one. Because only who sees things from a different perspective is able to make the difference in this world. Because Kenya, and Africa, is where our planet’s future lies. As someone nicely phrased it, I want to be there before it becomes cool for everyone else. While I was planning to move to Kenya, many people thought I wouldn’t have made it. I had never worked in Kenya or in Africa before, I didn’t have a resident permit, and I was doing my job search remotely, while still in Europe, because I didn’t have the financial resources to come here first and be unemployed for a while. Furthermore, I wasn’t looking for any job. I was looking for a position that could enable my career to grow high, give me the opportunity to learn from the best, and make a radical impact across industries and societies. Chances to make this dream were slim. However, I gave myself 6-8 months for the search, and here I am! I got the job at Mesozi after only two months of searching, and it was far better than what I was aiming for.”
Why Mesozi?
Mesozi is a market-leading startup which develops cutting-edge technology, with a flagship product, MarketForce360, that has the potential to revolutionize how distribution is done in the African continent. My position in Mesozi gives me the opportunity to deal with many different responsibilities and to lead an incredibly talented team. Last but not least, the blessing of being in a Kenyan-led startup, which grants me the possibility to learn fast about the local market, the culture, the way of living. The key learnings from my personal story with Kenya is that there’s nothing you can’t do if you have determination and ambition, and if you stay true to your beliefs. My belief is that if you are a visionary, you should consider investing your time and skills in Africa. My belief is that Africa will grow big and prosperous, and that there’s only way for this continent, and this way is up. That’s why I am here.
