In the seventh instalment of the Fuse Stories series, Rohan shares his transition from working in finance into the sports industry. He now plays a key role at Fuse, helping build Ignite and leading data-driven commercial strategy for a range of rights holders worldwide.
8 Mins Read
Can you give our readers a bit of background on yourself, and when you knew you wanted to work in the sports and entertainment industry?
Like many other British Asians of Indian descent, my parents were born in Africa (Dad in Malawi and Mum in Mozambique) before emigrating to the UK in the 70s to further their education and to open a business. I grew up in Northamptonshire, where my Mum and Dad owned a village pharmacy. Despite living a somewhat quiet life in the countryside, it was an invaluable experience, seeing my parents work hard to build a business from scratch and becoming mainstays in the community, all whilst maintaining close ties with family and friends further afield. It definitely shaped who I’ve become today and the relationships I’ve been able to build.
My Dad, a huge cricket fan (he named me after Rohan Kanhai – an ex-West Indian cricket player), opened the batting for the village team for 25 years, and that played a big part in getting me into sport. As well as being into cricket myself, I’m a huge Liverpool F.C. fan and, to the annoyance of my wife, my weekend moods are more often than not dictated by the Reds’ result. That being said, put any sport on TV and I’ll happily watch it. It’s this passion for sport and my commercial background that ultimately drove me towards a career in the sports industry.
What are some key milestones or moments in your career that led to your current role at Fuse?
I started my career in professional services working for Deloitte LLP, where I qualified as a Chartered Accountant. Having also worked in banking and experienced an industry role at Sky, it became apparent that a long-term career in finance was not going to be for me. Yes, it was financially lucrative, but the combination of feeling constantly unfulfilled by the subject matter and a poor work-life balance was not doing wonders for my mental health.
Once it began to affect my life outside of work, I decided that it was best to take some time out and reassess where I wanted to take my career, and I’ll be forever grateful to my wife and family for supporting me through that time away.
Taking a step back, it allowed me to appreciate the skills that I’d obtained from my previous roles, knowing that these could be transferred across different industries. I had gained commercial acumen, an understanding of how businesses work, learnt how companies grow (and seek investment), built a solid network, and worked both in client-facing and internal positions. I backed myself that if I took these skills with me to an industry that I was passionate about, then success would come. And this led me to pursue the world of sports business.
After about six months of research, multiple meetings, applications, interviews, rejections and perseverance(!), I landed a contracting role as a consultant at Nielsen Sports. This in turn led to a job at the Ironman Group, where I led the Business Intelligence department working closely with the sponsorship sales team. After three years, I found myself with the opportunity to join Fuse’s strategy team, working across brand and rights holder sponsorship briefs. I’ve now been fortunate enough to help build out our rights holder division, Ignite, in what I like to think of as a ‘startup’ within the wider agency.
What is Ignite, and what does your current role as a Senior Director, Commercial Strategy entail?
Whereas Fuse exists to service major brands, in terms of strategic planning and activation of their sports and entertainment sponsorships, Ignite exists to service rights holders – by that we mean Teams, Leagues, Federations or Competitions.
Born out of Fuse’s knowledge in knowing exactly what brands are looking for from effective sponsorships, Ignite was set up to consult rights holders on how best to present their sponsorship propositions to the market. With that, we think of ourselves as a progressive, marketing-led sponsorship sales consultancy, and being part of the Omnicom network is advantageous as it allows us to bring premium, first-look sponsorship opportunities to brands within the group.
My role within the team is broad. Predominantly, I’m the lead for Business Intelligence – the use of data and insights to create data-led stories as to why certain brands would benefit from coming together with rights holders. This also includes having a strategic view as to why sponsorship plays an important role in modern marketing and why brands should be playing in the space. I also lead the team in the benchmarking, optimisation and in some cases the creation of sponsorship rights, as well as making sure valuations and pricing are in line with the wider market.
Given we’re a small team, we’re all responsible for fostering relationships in the industry, whether that be commercial leads at sports organisations, marketing executives at brands, as well as media agency leads in-house.
What are some of the most challenging and rewarding aspects of your job?
In terms of challenges, we work in a sales environment, and sales is hard! You’re often met with blockers and scepticism. Sometimes a lack of response can be demoralising after all the effort that is put in, but when it pays off, the rewards are worth it! And I’d say that’s the most rewarding part of the job – the tangible result. Seeing a client reveal a new sponsor is incredibly exciting, and I take a lot of pride in knowing our team helped facilitate that success.
Other rewarding aspects – we’re often ‘in the room’ where it happens; meeting with major sports icons and getting an early look at new sponsorship offerings every day.
Beyond the fast-paced environment, I also love that our team is empowered to be versatile. We aren’t just confined to our specialisms; we learn the end-to-end process, which has really accelerated my growth as an all-around professional.
Do you collaborate with other departments within the company? If so, how?
Absolutely. We view our relationship with Fuse and the wider Omnicom network as a strategic multiplier. We collaborate with Fuse account leads to stay ahead of industry trends, and we partner with their Insights team to back our rights holder strategies with hard data on aspects such as sponsorship effectiveness. What sets us apart is our ability to tap into the broader Omnicom ecosystem (media and creative agencies). This cross-agency collaboration allows us to understand a brand’s wider marketing objectives, ensuring that when we introduce a new sponsorship opportunity, it’s perfectly aligned with their creative and media strategy.
What’s something you know now that you wish you’d known when you were starting out?
Sounds cliché, but don’t be afraid to follow your passions. Do your research and dive headfirst into any opportunities thrown your way. One thing I regret in my own personal journey is that I was resistant to change too early into my career and was just happy to follow the trodden path, knowing that long-term it was not where I wanted to be. So, start early and embrace the unknown!
What is your favourite piece of advice you’ve received that you would give to a young person who is looking to enter the industry?
In terms of not being afraid of change and grasping opportunities, “If it doesn’t scare you a little, it probably won’t change you”.
Other than that, the one piece of advice my Dad always gave my sister and I growing up was to “Stay humble, act with grace, and treat everyone with respect”. That will get you far in work and life in general.
If you could pick the brain of anyone in the industry over coffee, who would it be and why?
I’m going to pick two. First is Vinai Venkatesham, the current CEO of Tottenham Hotspur F.C. I see him as one of the most prominent South Asians in the sports industry, and as someone who also started out at Deloitte, his career path feels both relatable and remarkable. I’d love to hear how he navigated the leap from professional services into leadership roles at some of the biggest football clubs in the country, and how he made the decisions that shaped that journey. Secondly, Jurgen Klopp, because he’s a master of leadership and emotional intelligence, but he also feels refreshingly human. Definitely someone who you’d have a laugh with over a beer!