My Journey

Striving to master growth driven Business Development through Strategy, Sales & Marketing.
 Progress thus far: 

Leading Business Growth

Growing up in a business family, I got my start in the world of business early through Carisma, a multinational SPA company:

• 12 Years Old: I began giving out sales leaflets to bring customers from the beach into the Hotels & cleaning the SPA every morning. Discovered audio books to cure my boredom whilst cleaning, got wiser!

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• 14 Years Old: I educated myself in digital marketing which allowed me to get more responsibility within the company. I began doing basic social media work and developing an understanding of what business really is.
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• 17 Years Old: I got promoted to lead their business development and became the youngest head of any department. I grew Carisma's online business 35% YoY, implemented business strategies that led to record sales, and increased customers' average life time value by 6 months.
  
  

Find out "How I grew Carisma SPA's online business by 35% year on year for 3 consecutive years"

Pursuing  Higher Education

In pursuit of the greater business opportunities in the US, I decided to continue my higher education at UCLA in Los Angeles

• UCLA: Received offers from top ranked colleges in the UK and USA. Chose UCLA for its finance driven Business Economics degree and location

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• MIT: Earned a certificate in digital marketing and entrepreneurship through MIT's 3 month long online specialization course
  
  
• HubSpot Academy: Received 2 certificates in Growth Driven Design & Inbound marketing through their online academy
  
  
• Google Analytics Academy: Got certified in Google analytics tools​

Starting a Company

When I landed @UCLA, I was set on proving my business acumen and successfully launching my own company. I had no connections, was living in a foreign country with no coding experience and $800 in my bank account ​

• Start-up Accelerator: I attended a business seminar everyday, met with top executives from Snap & Lootcrate and got 3 investment offers.

• Market Research: I surveyed 1000+ partygoers, sourced and pitched to 23 business owners, interviewed 15+ bartenders & mystery shopped 12 business models.
   
• Funding: Got a 9-5 Night job to raise capital & invested the money to outsource development. Created a scalable financial infrastructure with an almost $0 burn rate.
  
  
• Execution: Taught myself graphic design, UI and UX. I wire-framed and designed the interface, created pitch decks and got my first clients before having a single team mate or line of code written. 
  
  
• Launch: Upon signing the biggest night club in Malta, built a team of 6, began development and brought Flow to life

Find out "How I started a company in 6 months, balancing a 9-5 job, a full time schedule at UCLA and $800 in my bank account"

Management Consulting

Following the launch of Flow, I began to pursue my interest in consulting. 

• Freelance Consulting: I got 6 freelance consulting projects where I worked with clients from England, Australia and Malta to digitally enable and grow their digital businesses.​

• Joined Consulting Clubs: Got accepted to UConsulting & The Bruin Group and worked on coming up with growth, pricing and market entry strategies for clients.
   
• Interned at KickAss Enterprises: Interned at an executive coaching and consulting company and worked to create a scalable solution to a traditional consulting business model.
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• Deloitte Consulting: Joined Deloitte as a Summer Analyst in Malta. In this internship program I was tasked with internal market intelligence initiatives, market research for an english school client, as well as a 5 week engagement for Airbnb to be presented end of the project's completion.

About Me

Passion Project

I want to learn as much as possible so that I can deliver these insights to people around the world through public speaking engagements

Love People

I have an extroverted and outgoing personality. I love meeting new people 

Personality Type

My personality type is ESTJ ​​
Features: Organizer, Dedicated, ​Loyal, Reliable, ​Direct and Honest, ​Strong-willed​

Growth Philosophy

In permanent beta, constantly iterating and improving.

Growth Lab: Experiments 

Growth is finding areas to optimize in my life and challenging the ordinary, through novel ideas 

Growth Library

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Tools for Growth 

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Analytics

​10

Case/Business Competitions

13

Websites I have designed

28 

Books I have Read

35

Countries I've visited

7300

Days Experienced

Performance

Letting the work speak for itself isn’t a cliché. It’s a testament to the passion and motivation behind my work.

​"Despite his young age, Mert's performance and vision in Marketing, and Business Development are impressive and extraordinarily professional, spot-on and cost-efficient.
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​Working with him as a team was a relief as he is not one to just take instructions and implement them, but is very pro-active, coming up with very valid ideas and delivers beyond his brief, always remaining humble to ask when in doubt and receptive to other ideas." - Read More

Ingrid Zerafa

PR & Communications Consultant
Times Of Malta

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"When I joined Carisma SPA & Wellness International, Mert, despite his young age was already successfully managing the multinational flagship of Carisma Spa’s, while being also completely responsible for all the Carisma SPAs Business Development.

Mert is a hardworking and committed person who is always willing to learn new things and help out where needed. He is a professional who is always in control of any situation he finds himself in." - Read More

Lorna Mic Jankovic 

Head of Global Operations
Carisma SPA & Wellness International

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"I worked with Mert past few months and it was a pleasurable time. He is an exceptional listener with a developed investor outlook and a profound business vision.

During our marketing meetings he generates great ideas, filters their priorities and implements them effectively. He is very literate at utilising the fast developing technology and social media in the right way which has brought great successes to our company. He pushes himself to grow and is not afraid to take on new challenges." - Read More

Nilanthi Fernando

Marketing & HR Manager
Carisma SPA & Wellness International

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