In the past few years, LATAM’s business and technology industries have seen a great deal of growth. To some degree, this is thanks to more venture capital investment in exciting startup concepts. However, another significant contribution is the emergence of strong leadership – individuals who are taking it upon themselves to raise the bar and drive this region forward. One such individual is Sergio Tang.

Sergio Tang is a Peruvian product and growth marketing expert who has led the development and implementation of groundbreaking growth strategies across a variety of industries, such as media, entertainment, fintech, proptech and edtech. He is a digital transformation pioneer and has been involved in leveling up both young startups, as well as established Fortune 50 companies.

A little background

Sergio was born with a curiosity for technology. He spent his childhood days pulling apart his toys to discover how they worked and sometimes even putting the pieces back together to create something new. He was also extremely motivated and had a strong work ethic from a very early age, helping with IT at a local vet office in exchange for fish and a small financial compensation. By 13 years old, he had launched his first business venture on Mercado Libre – a LATAM platform similar to eBay. Running this cell phone arbitrage was the first of his many self-driven projects and planted the seeds for his future career.

Driving engagement and business impact

After completing his studies in both finance and business administration – eventually culminating with his MBA – Sergio equipped himself with the education and skills to work in a variety of roles in the digital marketing sector early on in his career. Although his entrepreneurial spirit continued to push him to pursue several independent endeavors over the years, he has also worked at the intersection of marketing and technology to create digital products for a range of incredible companies.

One of his dream jobs was with Fandango – a digital platform for all things movies and TV. He was one of the company’s first marketing hires after a significant expansion and he worked with them for over three years, starting as Digital Marketing Lead for LATAM and eventually working his way up to Director of Marketing, Sales, and Partnerships for the region. He was relentless, negotiating deals with every major movie studio to drive their campaigns to the platform and deals with vendors to partner as affiliated networks. Eventually, nearly every major movie search in LATAM was directed to Fandango, and the company’s international operations skyrocketed to reach 50% of the entire LATAM region, with over 10M monthly users and millions of transactions. Sergio helped to launch diverse initiatives, new revenue streams, and various innovative product features. During his time with Fandango, he was recognized as the 2018 “The Most Digitals” and 2019 “Top Digital Leader” by top advertising firm MercadoNegro.

More recently, Sergio was positioned as the Chief Transformation Officer and Head of Growth at Vivela, where he was able to contribute to his home country in a positive way. Vivela is an organization that makes home-ownership accessible to low-income and first-time buyers, with mortgages that average around $25K. It is definitely in alignment with Sergio’s values, as he always strives to approach his work through the lens of human-centered design and engineering – taking inspiration from Tim Brown and Eric Ries.

When he first joined Vivela, the Peruvian company underwent a massive overhaul. Sergio was recruited to lead their digital transformation with impactful product and growth strategies. He conducted the market research and then built the new $1M digital platform MVPs and GTM strategies while helping to staff a brand new product and tech team. He also executed the SEO strategy and guided the SEM campaign implementation while simultaneously directing the social media playbook with a highly successful Brandformance approach. He highlights that, in this role, “[I have] led a team of [more than] 20 internal Dev, UX/UI, BA, and IT support [as well as] PR, Media, and creative vendors.” In truth, there is no part of this business that didn’t benefit from his involvement, and the business is absolutely thriving as a result.

Over the years, Sergio has also run his own consulting company: Beefup. This independent organization allows him to be very intentional in his work, dedicating his spare time to projects that spark his excitement and promise to make a positive contribution to society. He also loves that consulting creates a more accessible option for those who cannot afford to hire someone of his caliber full-time. Two of the startups that he is currently working with are on the 100 Best Startup List of Forbes Peru. The first, SpaceAG, is an agricultural project that has been selected by Silicon Valley Ventures as the most innovative agricultural technology company in the world. The second, Silabuz, is an innovative HR tech company that is part of the current SPUTNIK ATX cohort. He is thrilled to contribute to these young and heart-centered businesses.

In closing

Sergio Tang is a brilliant businessman, but his success is deeply rooted in his unique ability to think of the people first. Whether that is making homes more accessible to Peruvians, launching the first 100% accredited online school in Peru (Pamer) to expand the reach of education, or simply taking the time to thoroughly evaluate the needs of the international target market when a corporation is looking to expand.

He is passionate and driven, which are qualities that have taken him to the top of his field. In fact, he was recently accepted as a member of the prestigious Forbes Technology Council – a true mark of merit – as well as being named the Global Chief Transformation Officer of The Year by the Global Leaders Awards. In his free time, he serves as a judge for the likes of the Globee Awards and the International Business Excellence Awards. It is clear that Sergio will do everything he can to contribute to the success of LATAM industries, and he is well equipped to make a serious impact.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 20, 2023 04:21 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).