Infas Iqbal — A Digital Marketer in a league of his own

Infas Iqbal is an expert in digital marketing with over 6 years experience in the field, working with local and global companies. He is currently based in U.A.E and is the Head of Online Marketing for Swedish based company Saltside Technologies. Saltside is the parent company of ikman.lk and also operates similar leading classifieds websites in emerging markets such as Bangladesh, Ghana & Nigeria.

Prior to Saltside he worked for Neo@Ogilvy, one of the leading digital agencies in Sri Lanka, as Team Lead Digital Marketing, managing digital advertising and social media marketing for leading brands in Sri Lanka such as Etisalat, Coca-Cola, GSK.

While at Neo@Ogilvy, Infas participated at Young Spikes Media Competition at Spikes Asia Festival of Creativity held in Singapore.

The Sri Lankan flag was waving proudly as Infas and his team mate brought glory to Sri Lanka’s advertising industry by winning the Silver Award at the event. He was also the only Sri Lankan to have won the Young Spikes local competition twice, representing Sri Lanka two consecutive years in Spikes Asia, Singapore for media & digital categories respectively.

The president of the Student Activity Club 2009/2010, Infas Iqbal, shared his APIIT story with us. Reading his story takes us down memory lane and brings back fond memories of the enthusiasm that our student body has.

I can’t believe it’s been almost 10 years since I decided to join APIIT. Looking back, it’s truly been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. The journey at APIIT has certainly had a big impact in shaping my career.

A friend asked me recently; how did you end up in this field of work that is “digital marketing”, a very uncommon route at-least at that time? I took a moment to think and I realized that it was during my 3 year adventure at APIIT that I truly found my passion and was able to connect the dots among varied interests that I had, to chose online marketing as my focus.

The business degree at APIIT was structured well, covering all the aspects of management. It gave me a solid platform to build on. While I find most of the modules that were covered at APIIT still relevant, my personal favorite modules have always been around marketing and entrepreneurship. The combination of assessments, exams and presentations was a challenging experience but was very interesting at the same time as it always pushed me to go beyond my limits and bring out the best.

APIIT was not just about lectures and assignments. We had amazing opportunities for recreation and fun. Since my days in school I have always been involved in clubs and societies, and I was super excited when I learned about the various extra curricular activities that were available at APIIT.

During my first year I got involved in student activities, starting with organizing APIIT Sixes cricket tournament and there on, to organize the largest inter university talent show “Tantalize” together with my amazing batch mates. By the 3rd year I was elected as President of Student Activity Club for 2009/10.

This was both a great experience and opportunity as I was able to work with the students, representing them and also had the pleasure of working with the APIIT management, who continuously supported us. During my tenure the SAC team came up with two new initiatives- Annual Colors night and Inter University Sports Fiesta. Both events were supported and encouraged by the management and it is an amazing feeling to see them continued to this date. Almost like we’ve left a legacy at APIIT, our second home after school.

One of the most important parts of my journey at APIIT has been the amazing bunch of people that I was fortunate to meet, especially my batchmates who have become very close friends in my life.

As I stepped out from APIIT, I stepped into the business world as a confident & focused person equipped with knowledge and skills that backed my amazing journey into this ever changing digital media sphere, to become who I am today…

Infas Iqbal has always been a step ahead in marketing. We’ve seen his creative marketing campaigns for events while at APIIT, and followed his career once he joined the industry. Seeing him get to where he is today is no surprise! It’s truly been a pleasure watching him grow, as he’s constantly pushed himself to go that one step further.

Get in touch with Infas on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/infasiqbal/

or on Twitter: https://twitter.com/infas_iq