FIFA Master Alumni - Where are they now? - Creesen Naicker
Creesen Naicker
Current Position: Director of VisionRSM Pty Ltd (South Africa) and VisionRSM AS (Norway), and VP of Strategic Partnerships at Curious Learning (USA)
Year of graduation: 2010 (10th Edition)
Nationality: South African
What does your current role involve?
I returned to South Africa after graduating from the FIFA Master programme to help lead the Danone Nations Cup World Final in 2010, and co-founded VisionRSM soon after. We focused on sports event management and marketing, which burgeoned in the wake of the FIFA World Cup.
I also continued to develop, run and support sport for development initiatives, which led me to explore innovative new ideas using technology in education in order to compliment our sports programmes. This led me to Curious Learning, an international non-profit organisation based in the USA that curates, localizes, optimizes and distributes open-source learning content (smartphone apps) which provides a path to literacy in 60+ languages. This powerful intersection of technology, education and sport is what truly inspires me, and where I see incredible opportunities.
While I still maintain a strategic management role at VisionRSM, I now find myself dedicating most of my time to the Curious Learning project. I head up Strategic Partnerships and am constantly exploring ways to bring our learning content to children who need it most. My entrepreneurial background means that I take a startup attitude to development work and keep innovating in the pursuit of opening up new “markets”.
Which aspects of the FIFA Master course have helped you most in your career?
I have found my space as a highly skilled generalist, who loves to learn new things. The multidisciplinary nature of the FIFA Master, therefore, has proven to be invaluable. In my organisational leadership roles, the Management and Law modules have been particularly useful. Entrepreneurs usually find themselves needing to have a working knowledge of multiple aspects of organizational leadership, from finance to legal to HR to logistics, and beyond.
And, of course, the international nature of the programme is a great basis for having expanded my work globally. Not just the network of contacts, but also the unique insights into different regions of the world.
The FIFA Master is unique in that it can help specialists pursue high level roles in large organizations, while also providing a foundation for entrepreneurs to build agile and dynamic organizations.
I can also safely say that some of the best thought partners and allies in my career journey have been from the FIFA Master.
What advice would you give to future students?
Stay curious, the FIFA Master has a lot to offer those who recognise that there is so much more to learn, and especially from your classmates. You are already in an elite group if you are selected for the programme, so don’t fall into the trap of trying to prove yourself at every opportunity instead of just listening and learning.
FIFA Master - International Master in Management, Law and Humanities of Sport, ranked Europe's No.1 course a record 13 times by SportBusiness.
Organised by CIES in cooperation with De Montfort University (UK), SDA Bocconi School of Management (Italy) and the University of Neuchâtel (Switzerland).
"CIES, 30 years of impacting how sport is managed worldwide" & "FIFA Master, 25 years of Excellence in Sport Business Education"
