Global Product Manager
2015 - 2019UNICEF- Acted as product manager, business analyst, and partnerships manager.
- Defined the product vision and guided the direction of the Internet of Good Things (IoGT) globally (product, brand, content coordination) and on a country level.
- Scaled IoGT from three countries in Eastern and Southern Africa to 66 countries and territories globally and grew the reach of the mobile product from a few thousand in 2015 to more than 32 million users in 2019.
- Led product development, including prioritizing features, building the product roadmap and managing relationships with engineering and software development teams, strategic partners and more than 50 UNICEF regional and country offices.
- Prepared commercial launch and zero-rating of Internet of Good Things in 60+ countries with external private companies and partners.
- Defined reach and engagement success metrics, managed the integration of analytics solution and led Monitoring and Evaluation work, including user research.
CEO and Co-Founder
2012 - 2017Amplibook- Acted as CEO, product manager, and business developer.
- Coordinated team efforts and crafted strategy, product vision and action plans (included leading the product and business model research).
- Recruited, trained and managed team members (developers + designers + comms).
- Built and managed the product roadmap: listed and prioritized features with Pivotal Tracker for the MVP, V1 and V2 of cross-platform (iOS + Android) tablet and smartphone applications.
- Designed, planned, and implemented plans for product building following agile methodology (from mockups to prototype building to product development and market launch).
- Evangelized the product and raised funds. Funds raised from business incubator BUSI for prototype developing + winner of Innovation prize.
- Attended leading industry fairs and built relationships with media, other startups, and companies, government bodies and societies in the Industry (TISP, Digital Europe, Groupement pour le Livre Numérique (GLN), Numa, Labo de l’Edition, Le Transfo).
- Led B2B business development. Amplibook customers included major French publishers (Editions de La Martinière, Editions Plon and publishing arm of Franco-German TV broadcaster (ARTE).
Digital Strategist
2014 - 2015UNICEF- Acted as product manager, knowledge manager, and UX analyst.
- Gathered and edited content as needed to support country offices while growing in-country capacity to maintain/update mobile websites.
- Created online collaborative tools to localize the content of websites distributed through Internet.org.
- Built local capacity and provided training to 14 UNICEF country offices.
- Designed screens and mockup of Version 2 of UNICEF mobile websites improving user experience.
Market Research Executive
2010 - 2011Xerox Global Services- Acted as a market research executive, market analyst and strategist.
- Supported go-to-market strategy by providing insights and assisting in developing industry-aligned market entry plans for Europe, North America, and emerging countries.
- Analyzed synergies and supported marketing to integrate newly acquired ACS ($6.5 billion) offering in the Xerox portfolio.
- Delivered in-depth marketing research on emerging trends in targeted industries and main customers' KPIs, to develop value propositions and build customer-facing material.
- Mapped customer journey and developed recommendations on how to articulate marketing messages to specific industry B2B audiences (telecoms and high tech, financial services, manufacturing, and oil and gas).
- Presented key findings to the board of Xerox Europe and industry vice presidents and general managers of financial services, manufacturing, and telecommunications.
- Managed relationships with consulting companies and held regular meetings with analysts and Xerox global account managers.
Strategic Marketing Analyst/Project manager
2007 - 2009France Telecom R&D/Orange Labs UK- Acted as a market analyst, product marketing manager, and project manager.
- Reported on and gave an in-depth analysis of new product launch strategies, business model, market entry strategy, positioning matrix, market potential evaluation, and benchmarks.
- Produced competitive analysis on "disruptive" trends i.e. evaluating the threat to the business, assessing Orange positioning, and making recommendations.
- Project-managed the delivery of marketing studies for a large R&D project. Planned, reviewed, and oriented the work of a team of 9 analysts and designers based across international locations in Europe and Asia.
- Managed innovation scouting and idea generation process, steering monthly committees and transferred new concepts and services into the group. Key research areas included: gaming, TV (mobile, connected), digital health, and SMS services for development.
Guillaume Michels
Product Manager in Lisbon, Portugal
Member since October 30, 2019
Guillaume is a product manager, market analyst, and mobile strategy expert with 10+ years of experience he's acquired in three multi-billion dollar companies and as the founder of an award-winning startup. He's led cross-functional teams spread around the world, launching digital products in 60+ countries and territories, including for the UN. He's also provided marketing and strategy guidance to large European and US-based telecom and IT companies.
Guillaume is now available for hire
Project Highlights
- Led the overall coordination of the Internet of Good Things (IoGT) initiative for UNICEF.
- Coordinated team efforts and crafted strategy, product vision, and action plans.
Expertise
- Business Analysis
- Company Strategy
- Go-to-market Plans
- Product Management
- Product Marketing
- Product Roadmaps
- Product Strategy
- User Research
Education
- Southern Cross University
- Rennes School of Business
- Rennes School of Business
Select Certifications
- UN Department of Safety and Security
Employment
Project History
- UNICEF Sponsored Educational Mobile Websites in 13 Languages and 66 Countries and TerritoriesLed the overall coordination of the Internet of Good Things (IoGT) initiative for UNICEF.
Internet of Good Things (IoGT) is transforming lives and providing opportunity, by making knowledge universally accessible.
IoGT hosts mobile-packaged content designed to make life-saving and life-improving information available for free, even on low-end devices. IoGT is helping communities and frontline workers access educational and lifesaving information at the point of care.
Including multimedia elements and 2-way communication features, the IoGT platform can also be used to capture feedback and local best practices from communities through polls and survey functionalities.
To date, more than 30 million users have accessed IoGT since launch in 2015 - 60% between the ages of 13 and 24 - and hundreds of thousands more every month benefit from the IoGT and get free, life-saving and life-impacting information through their mobile phones.
Local IoGT mobile sites are made accessible free of data charges. IoGT hosts content modules in up to 13 languages. There are currently a total of 88 IoGT mobile sites and 91 mobile operators supporting a free of data charges access to IoGT. - Cross-Platform (Android + iOS), Tablet, and Smartphone Apps for PublishersCoordinated team efforts and crafted strategy, product vision, and action plans.
Amplibook cross-platform application "Retour en Absurdie" reached the Top 5 (book category) on the Apple App store in France and Switzerland and the Top 100 in France, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Canada, Tunisia, and Senegal. In France, the app reached number 2 in the profitable apps. Amplibook multiplies opportunities to make books discovered in crowded book and app stores using viral strategies and the power of social media.
Amplibook was the first integrated system to transform publishers and authors' Ebooks into viral Book apps for Smartphones and tablets. Targeted at publishers and self-published authors, Amplibook's solution migrated publications onto fastest-selling devices, increase their visibility exponentially by getting readers to share books and help generate more revenue from sales of both digital and paper books.
Education
- Master's Degree in Business Administration2006 - 2007Southern Cross University - Tweed Heads, NSW, Australia
- Master's Degree in Project Management, Marketing, Strategy2002 - 2007Rennes School of Business - Rennes, France
- Bachelor of Arts Degree in International Business, Communication2002 - 2004Rennes School of Business - Rennes, France
Certifications
- Climate Services for Adaptation using Climate Data from Copernicus Climate Data Store (CDS)OCTOBER 2020 - PRESENTWageningen University and Research Center
- Advanced Security In The FieldAPRIL 2015 - APRIL 2018UN Department of Safety and Security
