Partner case studyCardiff University
“I want to keep Alumnify a secret.”
Luis Ananguren · Regional Manager, Cardiff University
He was joking. The serious version is underneath: six markets across two continents in twelve months, with graduates already living in every one of them.
Six markets, two continents, twelve months
From August 2025
Brazil first
Exhibition representation and an explore session in Curitiba and São Paulo, then a webinar, school talks and a nurture campaign as the market proved itself.
From October 2025
Vietnam and Taiwan, together
Not sequenced behind Brazil but run alongside it. Exhibitions in Hanoi and Taipei within weeks of each other, followed by school talks and nurture campaigns in both.
Through 2026
Mexico, South Korea, Colombia
A webinar in Mexico City, exhibition representation in Seoul, and pre-departure support in Bogotá. A Bangkok graduate is onboarding now.
What that looks like for one regional manager
Take the Americas on its own. Three markets, ten thousand miles apart, entered one at a time on the evidence of the last. Under the old model that is a travel calendar, a budget request and a case for another appointment. Cardiff runs it through the regional manager who was already in post.
Recruitment, vetting, training, supervision, reporting and payment are ours. We build presence and also reduce management time, that is the difference between adding a third market and being told there is no capacity for a second.
Americas region
Across all six markets Cardiff has used exhibitions, school talks, nurture campaigns, webinars, an explore session, pre-departure support in Bogotá and an alumni video series filmed in Brazil. Cardiff also is using graduates for content for presence, which is worth knowing if your marketing team is short of authentic footage from market.
Very little. Once everything was up and running, it required minimal input from our team, which has been a real advantage.
Luis Ananguren, asked how much of his team’s time it took
Who is actually doing the work
Twelve Cardiff graduates are on the books, eight of them currently active across the six markets, with two more onboarding in Seoul and Bangkok. Every one of them completed a Cardiff degree and lives in the country where they represent it. Three are below.
Jonas Manabu Okawara
São Paulo · BrazilData Science
Loc Duong
Hanoi · VietnamInternational Relations and Affairs, MScEcon
Francisco José Díaz Pinelo
Mexico City · MexicoDigital Media and Society
Cardiff has two graduates in Colombia and two in Brazil, in different cities, because a single representative in a capital city is not national coverage in countries this size.
In his own words
Luis is responsible for the Americas. We asked him four questions and left the answers as he gave them.
What made you decide to work with us rather than the more familiar options?
“Alumnify was offering something that, at the time, no one else in the market was offering, combined with a level of care and attention that was genuinely impressive. It felt innovative, but also very personal and well thought through.”
How much of your team’s time did it actually take once it was running?
“Very little. The whole operation is extremely well thought out and organised, and the training provided is excellent. Once everything was up and running, it required minimal input from our team, which has been a real advantage.”
What did you make of the alumni themselves, and how they came across to students?
“They surpassed my expectations. I have been particularly impressed by the quality of the training, the Alumnifiers’ enthusiasm and their willingness to engage and cooperate with us. They come across as genuine and relatable, which is exactly what you want when prospective students are speaking to alumni.”
If a colleague at another university asked you about it, what would you say?
“I would say nothing. I want to keep Alumnify a secret. Joking aside, I would absolutely recommend them. The experience has been very positive, the model works extremely well, and the level of support and engagement from the team and the alumni has been excellent.”
“They surpassed my expectations.”
Six markets, two continents, twenty-seven activities, and minimal input from the university’s own team.
Tell us your two hardest markets.
We will come back with the alumni we can already reach there, what activity would look like, and how many credits it would take. No obligation either way.