PAST SPEAKERS
Elizma Nolte
Elizma Nolte
Elizma Nolte is Regional Marketing Manager for Meta Africa. She is passionate about media, technology and Africa – and finding ways to connect the three for positive change. Before joining the Meta Africa team, she did so as Country Marketing Manager for Google South Africa and as media entrepreneur, journalist and publisher. She holds a B. Computer Science and BA Honours Journalism from Stellenbosch University, M.Sc Online Publishing from City University London and an MBA from INSEAD in France and Singapore. In her free time she is an avid trail runner and maker, whether with pen and ink, brush and paint or Maya and Unity.
Lindile Xoko
Lindile Xoko
Lindile Xoko is Chief Revenue Officer at Primedia Group.
He has an MBA with Merit from the University of Birmingham, UK. With more than 24 years of business experience, Lindile has led numerous businesses in South Africa, UK, Europe, Middle East, and the Africa region in growth, strategy, sales, channel development, project management, transformation and business development.
Lindile has fulfilled roles as General Manager, Small Medium Enterprise at MTN, Acting General Manager: Enterprise Channel Partnerships (MTN) and Executive Sales Director at Netstar. He is now with Primedia Broadcasting as Chief Revenue Officer where his roles include implementing his Growth Playbook and securing revenue growth.
Lindile is exceptionally passionate about business development, particularly youth and female empowerment through entrepreneurship, education and technology. Apart from providing this service to Fortune 500 businesses, Lindile has shared his insights in The Young Entrepreneur’s Playbook of which he is the author.
Nontokozo Madonsela
Nontokozo Madonsela
Nontokozo Madonsela is a recognised and respected expert and leader in marketing who has spear-headed major campaigns with each acting as “the drop of ink that made a million think”.
After two decades in the field, Nontokozo is determined to use insights and human truths to build successful campaigns with meaningful impact.
For Nontokozo, purpose-driven marketing is not a nice-to-have but is an essential ingredient integrated into the campaigns that she has led over the twenty years in her quest to help brands stand apart by letting consumers know that brands are not just in it to make money. It’s about making a difference. For her, a campaign must have purpose right from the start.
In 2018, she won the Avance Media Most Influential Young South African Business Leader award and was listed as PRovoke Media’s top 100 most influential in-house communications and marketing professionals in the world for 2020.
Her leadership style is founded on inclusivity, mutual respect, creativity and double-clicking on assumptions because for Nontokozo average won’t do. Her career path has been defined by an uncompromising commitment to delivering smart, innovative, memorable and meaningful marketing solutions across a wide variety of industries.
She is currently the Group Chief Marketing Officer at JSE-listed financial services group, Momentum Metropolitan Holdings. Since 2018, Nontokozo has been driving the groups client-facing brands (Momentum and Metropolitan) to embrace a new marketing strategy in line with the group’s plans to reset itself for growth into the future.
Her marketing leadership and firebrand reputation have been evident in how Momentum has successfully shifted its messages to connect better with customers, as well as how Metropolitan has embraced its essence of ensuring it stays true to what matters to its customers.
Abey Mokgwatsane
Abey Mokgwatsane
Abey Mokgwatsane joined Investec as Group Chief Marketing Officer in April 2022. Prior to Investec, Abey was the Managing Executive of Brand for Vodacom in Africa. He is a Purpose evangelist who previously chaired Vodacom’s Purpose Steering Committee which helped the company set and implement its Purpose strategy.
He has had numerous leadership roles including CEO of Ogilvy South Africa, the country’s largest communications group and CEO of the VWV Group that produced the FIFA World Cup 2010 Opening and Closing Ceremonies. He is a Board Director of Cashbuild Limited – South Africa’s largest building materials company and also a member of the Vodacom Foundation Board. He was named one of the world’s top 100 most influential in-house communicators by Provoke Media for both 2020 and 2021, is a full Iron Man finisher and a Dad to his 11-year old son Kyan.
Bronwyn Williams
Bronwyn Williams
Bronwyn has over a decade’s experience in marketing management and trend research, working predominantly with brands in the financial and B2B industries.
Since 2011, Bronwyn has collaborated with Flux Trends, on a number of projects, lending her research and writing skills to the Flux trend reports and presentations, including The Fragmented Future of Finance, Virtual Money, So You Want to Hire a Millennial?, Digital Burnout, From Bricks to Clicks and Gen Z: the Real Game Changing Generation; in addition to ghost-writing Dion Chang’s The New Urban Tribes of South Africa book, published by Pan MacMillan.
Prior to working with Flux Trends, Bronwyn worked as the Publisher of the South African office of the Agora Group, one of the world’s largest independent financial publishing houses, headed up by the international New York Times best-selling author Bill Bonner. In this role, Bronwyn managed the largest circulation South African financial newsletters and worked closely with a network of local and international financial thought leaders, giving her access to a wealth of ‘insider’ insights on how the world of money really works.
Today she is pursuing a Masters in Economics through the University of London, with a focus on post-cash markets. You can read her trend Observations on the flux website.
Noah Khan
Noah Khan
Noah heads up digital and innovation across Regional President of Digital & Innovation – CEE, Middle East and Africa, TBWA & DAN. He joined TBWA in 2013 where he led the digital and innovation practice across the Middle East supporting clients such as Nissan, Infiniti, Standard Chartered bank, Emirates Airlines amongst others before taking on regional responsibilities. Noah has been leading the growth of strong digital and innovation capabilities across the region. He has developed strategic partnerships with Facebook Google and VICE furthering our open creative collaboration. He continues to drive key client and new capability growth.
Noah has worked in the digital space for over 21 years, having worked with organizations such Barclays premier league, ITV, BBC, Turner Broadcasting, Trinity Mirror Group, Channel 4, Abu Dhabi Media and Possible Worldwide. Noah holds an MBA and a BSc (hons) in Software Engineering.
Linda Appie
Linda Appie
Linda has about 18 years’ experience in marketing, innovation and business strategy in both South and Central Africa at local FMCG companies, including Tiger Brands, 11 years of which were at Coca-Cola. She joined TymeBank as Head of Marketing in April 2020 and has delivered marketing campaigns that have grown the bank’s visibility and brand equity and contributed to strong growth in customer acquisition and activity. Linda is a mother, and alongside her passions for cooking, reading and writing, she strongly believes in the untapped potential of the African continent and empowering others to realise it.
Sydney Mbhele
Sydney Mbhele
SYDNEY MBHELE IS A CHARTERED MARKETER (SA) WITH A PROVEN TRACK RECORD IN BUILDING BRANDS AND MARKETS. HIS EXPERIENCE STRETCHES FINANCIAL SERVICES (BANKING, INSURANCE AND INVESTMENTS), FAST MOVING CONSUMER GOODS (FMCG), AND TELECOMS. HE HAS WORKED IN MARKETING, COMMUNICATIONS, SALES & CORPORATE AFFAIRS AND LED MAJOR BRANDS FOR ORGANISATIONS THAT INCLUDE THE LIKES UNILEVER (LOCAL IN SOUTH AFRICA & GLOBAL ROLES IN LONDON), SABMILLER, NEDBANK, LIBERTY, AND CELL C.
SYDNEY IS CURRENTLY THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE: BRAND AT SANLAM GROUP (A MEMBER OF GROUP EXCO), AND CHAIRMAN & BOARD MEMBER OF THE MARKETING ASSOCIATION OF SOUTH AFRICA.
SYDNEY IS ALSO THE CO-FOUNDER AND CHAIRMAN OF MENTOR A BOY CHILD (A NON-PROFIT ORGANISATION) FOCUSSING ON HELPING YOUNG BOYS BECOME BETTER MEN FOR SOCIETY.
HE HAS AN MBA FROM GIBS, AMP FROM MIT (BOSTON – MASSACHUSETTS), EXECUTIVE STRATEGIC MARKETING FROM STANFORD UNIVERSITY (SAN FRANCISCO – CALIFORNIA), POSTGRAD IN STRATEGIC MARKETING MNGMT FROM UNISA, AND B.SOC.SCI FROM UCT.
Chris Botha
Chris Botha
Chris Botha is the Group Managing Director of Park Advertising – the owner of two of South Africa’s most prominent media agencies – The MediaShop and Meta Media.
Chris started his media career at Publicis after which he joined The MediaShop. He grew his media knowledge working on brands such as Nando’s, MINI, Virgin Mobile, Absa, Shoprite Checkers and the JD Group.
Chris was appointed to The MediaShop management team in 2006, and to the Board of Directors in 2008. In January 2010 he was appointed Joint Managing Director of the Sandton operation, and one year later in January 2011, was made Group MD of the entire MediaShop operation.
Under his guidance The MediaShop has shown massive growth in billing, and initiated various industry first initiatives that has set the agency apart from its competition. In 2018 the group launched a new media agency called Meta Media. The group further launched a large number of new services including Econometric Modelling, to a full digital capability, Outdoor production, as well as an Integrated Marketing services offering.
He considers himself an “alternative thinker” and believes in doing things differently. This was recognised in 2010, when he was chosen as the Media Innovator of the Year. In 2011 he was a judge at the Cannes Festival of Creativity, and in 2012, he was selected to be a judge at the International Festival of Media in Montreux.
In 2013 he was chosen as one of the 200 Young South Africans to look out for by Mail and Guardian, and also as one of the Top 40 under 40 in The Media. He was chosen as the “Media Rising Star” by the media owners of South Africa at the MOST Awards in 2013.
Koo Govender
Koo Govender
Koo Govender’s career started from spending 22 years in the Multichoice Group, her last position held at the group was Corporate Marketing and Communications Director. She then moved to VWV group where she was the first female CEO at the global experiential agency.
Currently CEO of the Dentsu Aegis Network South Africa – a multinational media and digital marketing communications company, Dentsu Aegis Network provides best-in-class expertise and capabilities in brand, media, digital and specialist communications through its original holistic and integrated approach.
Koo has a passion for inspirational leadership, marketing and women empowerment. Her passion for women empowerment, mentorship and community upliftment was fulfilled by developing and launching the Phakama Women’s Academy which is targeted at Marketing university students to equip and empower them for the corporate world. Currently 150 students have graduated through the Phakama Women’s academy thus far. Koo is currently playing an instrumental role in launching Female Foundry South Africa – an initiative to support local female entrepreneurs.
In addition to being a prominent and accomplished public speaker and mentor, Koo has won various business and women empowerment awards. In addition to her personal achievements, Koo has sat on the judging panel for the Cannes Lions Festival 2017, Loeries 2017 and 2019 awards as well as the AdFocus 2017,2018 and 2019 awards.
Koo’s philosophy is “success is one aspect and significance is of utmost importance” through the mentorship of young women, she believes more women should be seated around the boardroom table.
Patrick Hanlon
Patrick Hanlon
Patrick Hanlon is the dynamic, visionary founder of PRIMALBRANDING.CO (a part of THINKTOPIA®). He is considered a global expert in his field and consults to multi-nationals at a strategic level.
He is the unconventional, people-first brand evolutionary, author of “Primal Branding” which is required reading at YouTube, and author of “The Social Code”. He is a global TEDx speaker and operates the global Primal.Live platform. Patrick believes brand is community. Those who thrive create a belief system that attracts others who share their beliefs. That’s community making. Simple, yet complicated: just like people
Recognized as the world’s leading brand evolutionary, his global brand and strategic innovation is practice for Fortune 100 clients including American Express, Levis, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Kraft Foods, Johnson & Johnson, Yum! Foods, Wrigley, PayPal, Gap, the United Nations and many others.
Sadika Fakir
Sadika Fakir
Sadika Fakir, Integrated Media & Digital Director at Tiger Brands is a firm believer of integrated and seamless marketing communications that focus on the customer. “As marketers, we are responsible for standing for more than just sales of products and services. We need to have a part of making the world a better place and help improve the lives of the customers as the brands we represent whether as agency or corporate.” With an ever-evolving customer base and shifting media landscape, she knows we must consistently reinvent our approach to market – taking customer shifts and nuances into consideration.
She is captivated by the power of the media (she met her husband online) and believes it suits her disruptive approach to work. After a seven-year stint in a similar roles within financial services, Nedbank and FNB respectively, she joined the consumer goods category in her role at Tiger Brands in 2020. Prior to the corporate roles, she notched up ten years at numerous agencies building her integrated strategic media experience totalling more than 15 years’ experience within integrated channel strategy and advertising.
Growing up, her dad was the only accountant on the South Coast, with a targeted offering for SME’s. She learnt from her father that entrepreneurship and seeking opportunity is key. It’s the kind of thinking that prompted Sadika to pitch working for no income at the beginning of her career to gain valuable experience at TBWA/Hunt/Lascaris. She began by working on multiple projects within the role of a Research Analyst which started the journey of discovery and passion for media arts, customer passion points and fundamental philosophy of Disruption.
Sadika stresses the importance of personal development and learning. It’s important to remain curious to future proof oneself in these changing and erratic times. She is currently studying towards her Honours in Marketing and is a designated Chartered Marketer through the Marketing Association of South Africa. Sadika is exceptionally passionate about mentorship, education and career development. She is a guest lecturer and assessor for the AMASA Media Management for Brand Building at Vega whilst mentoring students and individuals within the media and advertising industry.
Her personal goals include building on her passion for food, teaching her children the skill of photography (she is a self-taught photographer), creating awareness around the rehabilitation of pit bulls and big cats, and just generally making the most of every minute of the day. Time is the most precious commodity, we need to use it wisely and identify our bigger purpose and use every day to accomplish it step by step.
Sadika is married to Hermanth for the past 10 years and they have two children Siddhartha and Shruti. Sadika is most passionate about food, culinary arts, small businesses within food and photography. She is a feeder and promises a hearty comforting meal if you visit her. Hermanth and her are self-taught photographers. They also share the similar passion for one-day developing a rehabilitation of Pitbulls and shifting perceptions of this amazing breed.
Dauoda Leonard
Daouda Leonard
Daouda Leonard is a philosopher at the forefront of the creator empowerment movement. With a decade of service in the entertainment industry, Daouda has worked as a manager, publisher, producer, A&R and creative director for Grimes, DJ Snake, Skrillex, BloodPop and more. His creative contributions have generated over 14 billion global media impressions and sales to date for cultural leaders including Lady Gaga, Kanye West, Ms. Lauryn Hill, The Weeknd and Justin Bieber.
Before becoming an entrepreneur in the music business, Daouda graduated from Northeastern University School of Business with a degree in Management Information Systems and worked on Wall Street at Tudor Investment as an information technology analyst. Daouda worked full-time while simultaneously attending school and contributing to the culture of internet-fueled file-sharing that preceded the music streaming era.
Born and raised in Brooklyn, Daouda grew up practicing meditation, yoga, and Tae Kwon Do. Now, Daouda leverages the power of intentional breathing to overcome obstacles and manifest surprising advantages for his creative collaborators. Daouda is a steadfast champion of transparency, consent, education, and artist development. He also likes to laugh a lot.
Above all, Daouda believes in a world where artists are seen, heard, and economically empowered. He is currently the founder and CEO of CREATESAFE, a tech platform for artists to build, run, optimize, and expand their business. In his free time, Daouda enjoys learning, writing, hiking, and collaborating with his wife, Nikki.
He has also used “Primal” in his projects and likes to laugh a lot.
Jocelyne Muhutu-Remy
Jocelyne Muhutu-Remy
Jocelyne Muhutu-Remy leads Facebook’s Strategic Media Partnerships across Sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to joining Facebook, Jocelyne served in various roles at Disney, Viacom and Thomson Reuters, bringing entertainment programming, television channels and international news to media platforms around the continent. She started her career as a journalist, mainly at Reuters television. In terms of education, Jocelyne studied International Relations and Journalism in Paris, France. A committed pan-Africanist, Jocelyne is passionate about great storytelling, empowering African media and amplifying Africa’s voice in the world. Originally from Rwanda, she has lived for long periods in Ethiopia, France, Kenya, and South Africa, where she still resides.
Brent Lindeque
Brent Lindeque
Before Good Things Guy, the online Good News site was born, Brent Lindeque did something. What started as a simple idea to try and better one person’s day, turned into a global event carried out by millions of people. The ‘RAK initiative’ was all about giving back & helping those in need.
It all started when Brent Lindeque, a young South African, turned the reckless drinking game Neknominations on its head – by using his nomination to instead perform a random act of kindness. By giving a homeless man a R20 meal, and using the power of social media to “pay-it-forward” his nomination went viral and to date has been featured locally on Carte Blanche, Espresso, 5Fm, eNCA, News24, Radio702 and internationally on Mashable, Huffington Post, CNN, BBC, Sky News, Oprah and even Ellen Degeneres to name a few.
Lindeque saw himself becoming a LeadSA Hero, was selected as one of Africa’s most promising Entrepreneurs and also chosen as one of the prestigious Mail & Guardian Top 200 Young South Africans.
More importantly, his small act of kindness spawned hundreds and thousands of similar videos, reaching and physically improving millions of lives and in addition creating 3 dedicated feeding schemes in Canada, the USA and Ireland that are still running to this day.
Shaun Frazao
Shaun Frazao
Shaun Frazao is the Global Strategy Partner at Wavemaker Worldwide
Shaun is a seasoned strategist with over 10 years’ experiencing in developing innovative campaigns in the corporate, public and political sectors. Across various agencies his roles included Head of Digital, Media Director and Chief Strategy Officer for Sub-Saharan Africa before recently joining the Worldwide Wavemaker team in London as Global Strategy Partner.
With a Master’s degree in Political Communication, and finishing up a PhD in digital political campaigning, Shaun possesses specialized knowledge in digital political communication. His academic body of work includes topics such as Personalization of Politics in SA elections, the Diffusion of the Arab Spring, and the use of hyper-targeted populist rhetoric by the Trump campaign.
Shaun also serves on the Board of Directors of the Burke Scholarship, a programme dedicated to advancing democracy by developing extraordinary journalists. In addition to that, he also serves as Chairperson for the IAB Research council and is project lead for the annual IAB and PWC Digital Adspend Survey.
Pearl Sokhulu
Pearl Sokhulu
Pearl is a truly South African Marketeer and General Manager. Her diverse background has positioned her to engage with varied brands, markets and sectors from Banking to FMCG to Media.
Her educational background spans Finance, Accounting and Marketing – in no order of preference as she feels equally comfortable in all of the above disciplines.
Sokhulu is passionate about innovation, creating and building strong brands and building successful and dynamic businesses.
She loves to work in diverse and multi-cultural teams and knows that in a country like South Africa, it is respect for this very diversity that is needed to build winning brands and successful businesses.
Adam Gottlich
Adam Gottlich
Adam Gottlich is a speaker and Behavioural Scientist whose focus centres around customer behaviour, human irrationality, digitisation, and the strategic application of Behavioural Economics and Behavioural Science within the corporate sector.
Adam has a Master’s Degree from Leiden University in the Netherlands in Behavioural Science and is an international award-winning Project Manager. Adam currently heads up Behavioural Science for Standard Bank Wealth where his focus is on solving for staff and customers by practically applying Behavioural Science in a way that actionable, sustainable and contextually relevant across multiple consumer touch points.
Adam is deeply interested in decision science, consumer trends, and neuroscience.
Kenzy Mohapi
Kenzy Mohapi
Her media career has blossomed and she has grown into a dynamic, young media professional who has made a positive impact in the industry. She has worked extensively in media in South Africa, having been employed at Tuks FM (campus radio station for the University of Pretoria), Yebo Radio (Vodacom telecommunications retail radio), MK (Youth Music TV Channel) as well as commercial radio stations OFM, Capricorn FM and currently Jacaranda FM. She is currently the music compiler at Jacaranda FM and host of the award winning radio Weekends with Kenzy show on Jacaranda FM.
David Uribe
David Uribe
David Uribe is the Regional Head of Data, CEE, Africa & Middle East at TBWA
David is a Colombian residing in South Africa with global experience working across four continents for the last 10+ years. He is passionate about data, digital, and the integration of new technologies towards personalization in advertising and commerce. David is an educator and avid public speaker, having spoken at 100+ digital events and summits worldwide. He is currently working a dual role as Regional Head of Data for Africa, Middle East, and some European markets as well as Head of Digital for TBWA in Africa.
Prior to joining TBWA in 2017, David co-founded smartBeemo, a well-known online education marketplace in the United States, where he also taught for 6 years at the Miami Ad School, the world’s most awarded advertising school. He is the author of the book ‘101 tips para mejorar tu presencia en redes sociales’ (101 tips to improve your social media presence) and has over 20 e-books on digital marketing related topics.
David has a bachelor’s degree in Science of Advertising, a master’s degree in Digital Business from the University of Barcelona, two certifications in Big Data and Machine Learning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and one in Digital Business from Harvard Business School.
Tumelo Motingoe
Tumelo Motingoe
Tumelo Motingoe is the current sitting General Manager for AMA Media Agency.
He worked at South African Breweries as media manager where he delivered strategy and execution on the SAB portfolio to the value of over R400mio in his tenure.
At Multichoice he worked at Customer Group where he launched their Netflix Partnership and did strategic recommendations on owned media assets to the value of R1.5bn.
Neo Mashigo
Neo Mashigo
Neo Mashigo is the Chief Creative Officer of M&C Saatchi Group South Africa and Co-founder of I See A Different You a Soweto-born Creative Collective who set out to change the world’s view of Africa. Throughout his career, Neo has been passionate about the creativity in Africa and producing work that better represents the continent.
He is the Chairman of the Creative Circle who’s purpose is to inspire the transformation of product, people and perception through the power of creativity. Neo is also the former Chairman of the Loeries and current Board Member – Africa and the Middle East’s premier advertising award show.
Before joining M&C Saatchi Group, Neo was Executive Creative Director at two of South Africa’s largest advertising agencies, Ogilvy & Mather JHB and FCB JHB. While there, he led both these agencies to the top spot in creative ranking tables.
Neo has won several local and international awards including a Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity and The Loerie Awards. In 2019 Financial Mail Ad Focus Awards named him Industry Leader of the Year and M&C Saatchi walked away with Partnership of the Year with Nandos and Large Agency of the Year.
Ryan McFadyen
Ryan McFadyen
Ryan McFadyen is the Co-founder and Strategic Head at HaveYouHeard
- Ryan has been at the forefront of global influence marketing for over 18 years.
- His local and international experience across influence, traditional marketing and advertising leads his strategic approach to blending traditional marketing theory, influence and behaviour science to yield maximum brand effectiveness. This and his passion for brands drives his formidable creativity in boardrooms.
- He launched HaveYouHeard, one of the world’s leading influence agencies in 2008, and has extended their footprint globally.
- Ryan was identified as the entrepreneur under 30 to watch in 2012 by Destiny Magazine and as one of the 30 most creative business leaders in South Africa by Fast Company Magazine in 2016.
- Haveyouheard was identified as one of the 10 most innovative businesses in South Africa and amongst the top 100 in the world in 2015.
- Ryan is a regular columnist in BizCommunity on culture and trends, and their impact on brands’ fortunes. He also contributes, on an ad hoc basis, to other magazines and websites.
Asbo Ofori-Amanfo
Asbo Ofori-Amanfo
Asbo Ofori-Amanfo is a Senior Account Manager at RAPT Creative Agency
Over the past 5 years she has worked across numerous award-winning brands and campaigns in the advertising industry. Grounded in her dedicated work ethic and driven by her pursuit of excellence, her portfolio of work has seen her collaborate with advertising veterans and mavericks alike to deliver work for heavy-weight clients which has ultimately earned her the coveted title of #2 Account Manager in South Africa at the 2020 & 2021 Loeries Awards.
Melody Maker
Melody Maker
Melody Maker is a Partner for Digital at M&C Saatchi Abel
With over 13yrs experience specifically in digital marketing, Melody is responsible for driving digital transformation and strategy for all our clients. Having worked as the head of content strategy at the first social media agency in South Africa in 2007, Melody has long been passionate about all things digital helping many of South Africa’s blue chip brands navigate their foray into the then scary world of digital.
Since then her skill-set has continued to be honed on brands the likes of; Samsung, Toyota, Takealot group, Vitaminwater, Heineken Group, Netflix, Yardley London and many more. Additional experience includes founding & running her own successful magazine & data driven digital agency. Melody brings with her a wealth of knowledge and experience in the marketing arena, and if all else fails can always regale you with stories of her formative years as an Emirates hostess.
Refilwe Maluleke
Refilwe Maluleke
Refilwe joined the Yellowwood team as Strategy Director in January 2016. She is an experienced marketer with over 10 years in the FMCG sector working across multiple brands and geographies.
Refilwe began her career at Unilever in 2006. There she joined the Asia, Africa, Middle East and Turkey (AAMET) team where she worked on the spreads and dressings portfolio across sub-Saharan Africa. The mix of brands allowed her to build her ability to make global brands locally relevant, as well as build strategies for local brands.
In 2010 she moved SABMiller where she worked on Hansa Pilsener, the third largest beer brand in South Africa, for five years. Her time there included work on strategy, sponsorship and communication development.
Refilwe has Business Science degree with Honours in Marketing from the University of Cape Town, and recently completed her MBA at Cass Business School in London.
She was appointed as Managing Director on the 1st of January 2018.
Isla Prentis
Isla Prentis
Isla entered the media industry after completing her Honour’s Degree in Marketing Communication at the University of Johannesburg, before gaining valuable experience on the Unilever, GSK, Samsung and Tiger Brands.
She believes that life is not about finding the answers but rather it’s about discovering what questions we should be asking, and applies this to any work that she is involved in. She is passionate about both personal and industry growth and believes that life, and work, is boring without a new challenge. She enjoys applying her curiosity and problem solving nature to every new challenge, and doesn’t rest until it is conquered.
With this mind-set, Isla is excited for her latest challenge of shaping Tirisano, the Human Intelligence Consultancy at The MediaShop. With a focus on rocking the status quo of the industry in order to bring about real change.
Isla loves living her best life with her husband Dylan, and daughter Cyra, one new experience at a time. Her dream life would be travelling the world experiencing new cultures and sports events. Until this becomes a daily reality, she is content living this philosophy in our beautiful South Africa with those around her.
Lyndon Barends
Lyndon Barends
Lyndon is a results-driven change leader and former CEO with extensive brand management, business restructuring, strategic planning, and management experience acquired in Media, IT, banking, education, and sporting industries. He is a multifaceted professional skilled in providing leadership and overseeing key change management, organizational design, and human capital development functions to drive the continued achievement of company objectives. His extensive network was garnered during his stints in Standard Bank (Portfolio Head Group Transformation, Director in Marketing & Sponsorships Division), Primedia (CEO of Primedia Sport), the South African Olympic Committee (CEO), and during his time spent as an entrepreneur in the IT industry (CEO) where he made various inroads into the sector by forming a formidable BEE competitor. Before joining Arena he did a stint as the CEO of Horseracing and then as CEO of The Strategy Imagineers. He is passionate about community and charitable work and often runs marathon to raise money for charity.
He holds the following qualifications:
BA, BA (Hons), Dip in Personnel Management, MBA (International General Management – London), Certificates in Strategic Thinking and Leading Organizational Change (Emeritus Institute of Management, MIT)
Arye Kellman
Arye Kellman
Having spent his twenties “ahead of the curve” pioneering in the space of podcasting as creative director of CliffCentral.com and later in influencer marketing as CoFounder of influencer marketing and branded content agency TILT, Arye Kellman speaks to the forthcoming decade of media in which yesterday’s “niche” is today’s “mainstream” paving the way for a new future of media that’s a reflection of everything we’ve learned along the way.
Claire Denham-Dyson
Claire Denham-Dyson
Claire is head of anthropology in the Strategic Communications division at Demographica. She has been working in B2B strategy and communication for the past 5 years, alongside her colleague and fellow anthropologist, Chiedza Gonyora. Together, they use ethnographic tools to understand how B2B decision-makers buy using theory from business anthropology. Claire has her Honours in Anthopology from UCT and her Masters in Organisational and Business Psychology from the University of Liverpool.
Siya Sangweni
Siya Sangweni
Siya Sangweni is charismatic and vibrant broadcaster, most popularly known for his work on CliffCentral
With media personality Gareth Cliff’s move to “unradio” from 5fm and the lauch of CliffCentrol in May 2014, the 24 year-old has worked up to not only being the brand manager of the online radio station but also as an on air contributor on “The Gareth Cliff Show”.
As 2013’s “Best Speaker in KZN”, Siya has also take to the stage as MC for the likes of Standard Banks Rising Star Awards, Vodacom Connected Youth Road Show, to the Sunday Times Gen Next Conference as a public speaker for youth Focused social initiatives.
His budding profile has also garnered him opportunities to work with many brands on influencer campaigns. Some of them include: Nissan, Volkswagen, Newscafe, Johnnie Walker, Proudly South Africa, JOOX and Sanlam.
Lorraine Landon
Lorraine Landon
Lorraine Landon is the Specialist Lead for SSA at Google, leading a team of experts in different digital domains to create solutions for Google’s biggest clients on the continent. It is her job to make sure that clients in Africa are excited about partnering with Google to explore the best business and creative solutions for their clients.
Before joining Google 6 and a half years ago, she worked as a Digital Media strategic consultant to agencies, after 6 years within the media agency space. She is a committed digital advocate, playing an active role in digital education across the industry, as well as getting involved in programs where people are introduced to job opportunities within the digital space. Finding solutions is her passion and luckily, at Google she is given the opportunity to indulge this on a daily basis.
Clare Trafankowska
Clare Trafankowska
Curious by Nature ~ Passionate about Humans ~ Fascinated by all things advertising ~ Philosopher of Life, Tech addict, Caffeine & Wine enthused ~Always Smiling!
With over a decade of experience within the advertising and media industry, as MD of iProspect South Africa and #IamRemarkable facilitator, Clare continues developing the next generation of iProspect’s vision and elevating digital capabilities within the network and broader industry context.
Nwabisa Makunga
Nwabisa Makunga
Born in Uitenhage, Makunga studied journalism at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and holds a post-graduate qualification in media management from Wits University. She first joined The Herald as an intern in 2004 and was later appointed to the company’s Garden Route bureau in Knysna. Following a stint at the bureau, she relocated to Johannesburg as part of the then Pearson/Johncom postgraduate journalism programme. She quickly worked her way through the ranks as news editor of The Herald and later news editor at Business Day in Johannesburg.
In 2011, Makunga was appointed as politics and business editor at The Herald, a position she held for about six years before she was promoted to deputy editor.
She is currently the editor of Sowetan.
Nicola Cooper
Nicola Cooper
As a keen academic and analyst, self-confessed “information junkie”, teacher, speaker and brand consultant, Nicola Cooper is a formidable presence on Africa’s fashion and lifestyle landscapes. She is at once on the cutting-edge and anachronistic – her observations acutely tuned to the present moment, while she is also inextricably linked to past eras and movements, and her gaze is ever-set on a shifting future.
As a Trend Researcher, Analyst and Cultural Strategist, she melds her observations of time and patterns with her expertise, and ever expanding research, to chart trends and behaviour on the hyperlocal and international scale.
Nicola continues her work in the fashion, lifestyle and pop culture space as a preferred supplier to Flux Trends, trendwatching.com, YUM and MARE, and she offers additional services through her personal brand,Nicola Cooper & Associates.
Her expertise offer unique insights into the African market, particularly in the act of ‘Glocalisation’, a form of analysis that includes interpreting international trends for a local market, local-for-local and local-for international markets. She offers an innovative take on trend analysis and a knowledgeable and cuttingedge perspective on a multitude of trends, product, complexities, and creative conceptual problem solving for your business.
Happy MaKhumalo Ngidi
Happy MaKhumalo Ngidi
Happy MaKhumalo Ngidi is a businesswoman, social entrepreneur, author, motivational speaker and PR and Marketing Executive. She joined Proudly South African in 2015 to head up the organisation’s Marketing and Communications department.
A marketing, communications and PR professional, she brings passion, vision and purpose plus over ten years of corporate experience to Proudly SA.
Mrs. Ngidi was previously the Founder and Managing Director of a Public Relations boutique firm that assisted clients to form strong relationships with media giants. The former Head of PR and Communications for SABC radio station, Metro FM, also has extensive experience in driving strategy development as well as brand and product launches for a number of international and local brands in the hospitality, beverage, FMCG and broadcasting services sectors.
Mrs. Ngidi’s experience spans a number of companies including Seagram SA, SABC, Chivas Brothers, The Forum Company and Primi Group as a franchisee. Through her sheer force of personality, she continuously strives to be the best in her craft and to make a formidable difference in everything she undertakes.
Enrico Ferigolli
Enrico Ferigolli
Co-Founder and Co-Chief Executive Officer, BOTTLES
It was 2016 when Vincent Viviers and Enrico Ferigolli forever altered South Africa’s alcohol retail landscape by launching the first on-demand alcohol delivery app and service.
Viviers, who graduated from the University of Cape Town with a Business Science Honours Degree in Marketing, combined his retail and tech experience gained during stints at Unilever and Google to forge his own entrepreneurial path with his digital tech startup.
Ferigolli converted the six ‘extremely formative and fun’ years at Unilever in Italy and South Africa, and the digital and business acumen he gained at Gorilla Creative Media to build and scale his platform-based business.
A fortuitous pitch to business reality TV show, Shark Tank, enabled the co-founders to realise their BOTTLES ambitions and shake up a legacy industry where technology was virtually absent.
In mid 2018, BOTTLES partnered with Pick ‘n Pay Liquor to scale their beverage delivery business and cement their place as the leading on-demand alcohol delivery servicer in the country. It sourced from over 60 Pick n Pay Liquor stores nationwide.
Then came coronavirus. Things had to change and quickly. Pre-empting the lockdown and Government’s ban on alcohol, BOTTLES leveraged its existing relationship with Pick n Pay. The team pivoted its business to an on-demand grocery essentials app, offering same-day delivery, and business quickly boomed.
BOTTLES have more than doubled their reach and trebled their volume of orders in two weeks. They are consistently ranked as the number one app in the Food and Drink category and are rated within the top 50 apps overall, in South Africa.
Brandon V. Hixon
Brandon V. Hixon
Brandon V. Hixon is an award winning music executive and entrepreneur who has previously worked at Sony Music and Symphonic Distribution while running his own management company, We Make Music, as well as launching a music education platform. His resume includes working with Beyonce, Nas, 50 Cent and currently managing Sho Madjozi, De La Soul and Awkwafina.
Riaan Wolmarans
Riaan Wolmarans
Riaan Wolmarans is Head of Digital: Media at Arena Holdings, the publisher of some of SA’s foremost digital news platforms including TimesLIVE, BusinessLIVE and SowetanLIVE. He has previously worked for the Mail & Guardian, Business Day and ad agency MetropolitanRepublic in South Africa, and in London for the Financial Times.
Jaun Pienaar
Jaun Pienaar
Jaun co-founded ApexMedia in 2010 after receiving a Diploma of Music in Contemporary Music and Sound Engineering from The Campus of Performing Arts in association with The Academy of Contemporary Music in London where he was awarded student of the year for two consecutive years.
His focus is on developing local and African markets for the organization’s growth areas, including Design, Development, Video and Audio capacities to deliver full-service creative offering to local agencies, exclusive clients and partners across Africa.
Having grown the business steadily for five years he merged the business with Omnicom PR giant, FleishmanHillard SA in November 2014, joining the team as Creative Lead to help with the founding of ContentWorks and the associated production facility in Johannesburg.
After 14 months he withdrew from the merger where he continued to grow and strengthen ApexMedia with new business Partner Damon Boyd, a media veteran and expert story-teller.
Together they founded ApexEngage, a group of digital companies and products. Today the group consists of five companies and two products with an aggressive pan-African expansion strategy over the next six years.
He has worked alongside some of the continent’s most renowned companies, developing several award-winning strategies and campaigns across a multitude of sectors for the likes of Microsoft, Bidvest, Philips, Intel, Monsanto, Nike, Barclays Africa/Absa, POWER FM, Healthbridge and Sureswipe among others.
Jaun started TomorrowEntrepreneur in 2013 with the hopes of transforming grass roots entrepreneurship by educating and connecting aspiring or forced entrepreneurs with mentors from some of Africa’s largest businesses and NPOs.
He was elected to be a World Economic Forum Global Shaper in October 2017 to serve civil society through global and local WEF initiatives.
Jaun launched ApexMedia in 2010 after receiving a Diploma of Music in Contemporary Music and Sound Engineering from The Campus of Performing Arts in association with The Academy of Contemporary Music in London where he was awarded student of the year for two consecutive years.
His focus is on developing local and African markets for the organization’s growth areas, including Design, Development, Video and Audio capacities to deliver full-service creative offering to local agencies, exclusive clients and partners across Africa.
Having grown the business steadily for five years he merged the business with Omnicom PR giant, FleishmanHillard SA in November 2014, joining the team as Creative Lead to help with the founding of ContentWorks and the associated production facility in Johannesburg.
After 14 months he withdrew from the merger where he continued to grow and strengthen ApexMedia with new business Partner Damon Boyd, a media veteran and expert story-teller.
Together they founded ApexEngage, a group of digital companies and products. Today the group consists of five companies and two products with an aggressive pan-African expansion strategy over the next six years.
He has worked alongside some of the continent’s most renowned companies, developing several award-winning strategies and campaigns across a multitude of sectors for the likes of Microsoft, Bidvest, Philips, Intel, Monsanto, Nike, Barclays Africa/Absa, POWER FM, Healthbridge and Sureswipe among others.
Jaun started TomorrowEntrepreneur in 2013 with the hopes of transforming grass roots entrepreneurship by educating and connecting aspiring or forced entrepreneurs with mentors from some of Africa’s largest businesses and NPOs.
He was elected to be a World Economic Forum Global Shaper in October 2017 to serve civil society through global and local WEF initiatives.
Pule Molebeledi
Pule Molebeledi
Pule Molebeledi is Managing Director (News & Media) for Arena Holdings. He is responsible for the Sunday Times, Sowetan, Business Day, Financial Mail, Arena Magazines, Digital Products & Editorial, Events, Marketing and Subscriptions. He has over 20 year-experience in the media and private equity landscape. Pule has also worked for CNBCAfrica and alternative newspaper The New Nation.
Joseph Perello
Joseph Perello
Joseph Perello is founder and CEO of social content company PROPS. Joe was the first chief marketing officer for The City of New York. He was also marketing head at sports team The New York Yankees. He also helped develop and launch a healthy snack food venture with Mars and Muhammad Ali. Joe has been a long-time advocate, user and partner with Primal Branding.
Denvor Daniels
Denvor Daniels
An exceptional experienced digital leader with a demonstrated history of more than 17 years in the South African and International digital marketing industry, of which 4 years have been in the telecommunications industry building the Digital Advertising capabilities at Vodacom. He is highly skilled in programmatic technology and strategy, digital strategy, media buying, business development, business leadership, with strong commercial acumen, and negotiation skills.
Michelle Randal
Michelle Randal
Currently the Sales Director of Christopher Africa. Christopher is a South African owned, artificial intelligence software that enables brands to engage in relevant consumer conversations in real-time, on social media, to drive relevant reach, resonance engagements and awareness. This is achieved through sophisticated data-profiling and hyper-personalized responses to organic conversations taking place on social media
I have worked in the media and advertising industry for 10 years. My career began at United Stations where I was responsible for strategically aligning brands across multiples radio stations in South Africa, including generic advertising, on air sponsorships and creative executions. In my final year, I was involved in the launch of a new radio entrant as the Brand Manager of Vuma FM.
My career spans multiple media platforms including Radio (Senior Account Manager & Brand Manager); strategic alignment of Brands and Music (as the Business Development manager at Universal Music and Brands), and Digital (Mixit and most recently, Adcolony).
I have been actively involved in Industry Bodies & Committees throughout my career. My passion, responsibility and dedication throughout my involvement on AMASA ( Advertising & Media Association of South Africa) & ABF (Advertising Benevolent Fund) was focused on the development of the Media Industry through education. I was responsible for managing the AAA School of Advertising Media Management course, as well as managing the Annual Media Planning Workshop (on behalf of AMASA)
JD Engelbrecht
JD Engelbrecht
JanDirk (JD) Engelbrecht is a commercial technologist who is passionate about finding creative solutions to problems. His experience in digital product development and commercialisation has allowed him to work with various South African market leaders in media, ecommerce, advertising, data science, and agriculture.
His track record has been supported by competencies in advanced data analytics and data science, digital marketing technology ecosystems, and strategic distribution via business development and alliances; expertise that’s gained traction thanks to his solid grasp of business fundamentals spanning all organisational functions.
When it comes to people, JD applies servant leadership principles that vitalise the teams around him, helping them execute challenging plans. He’s ambitious and challenges existing models, which he backs with expertise, competence, and energy.
Michael Perman
Michael Perman
Michael was Senior Director, Global Marketing at Levi Strauss & Company (Levi’s) and Senior Director of Global Innovation at GAP. Today he is Innovation Futurist and CEO at his firm C’est What? Based in Portland, Oregon, Michael was a pioneering advocate for Primal Branding methodology and today leads major corporations to perceive alternative realities and the courage to move toward them.
Tshepo Sefotlhelo
Tshepo Sefotlhelo
Tshepo Sefotlhelo is the current CEO of Vuma Reputation Management (Vuma), having joined the organisation in 2008 as an account manager.
Tshepo’s cut his teeth in sales & marketing working for organisations such as Multichoice, OUTsurance, and Cell C to mention a few.
While at Vuma he has managed to build and maintain the reputations of Kuruman Manganese Mine, overseeing the re-launch of the then Teba Bank, into what is known today as uBank, a retail bank for miners. Over the years Sefotlhelo has worked with several well-known brands including ACSA, Rebosis, Barloworld Equipment, Spanish multinational SENER, BHP Billiton, the City of Johannesburg and Canadian Bombardier.
One of the most notable campaigns Sefotlhelo worked on was The Unlimited’s (a financial services company in Durban) “Winston the Pigeon (an initiative created to highlight the weakness of SA’s pedestrian internet connectivity, by racing a pigeon versus Telkom’s ADSAL line in transporting 100GB of data)” project in 2009. The project received incredible global recognition, and 47.4 million people reading about the story or seeing it on TV around the world. A total of 1200 stories and 651 brand mentions of The Unlimited, ultimately led to an ROI of 204:1 for the client.
In 2014 he worked on the African National Congress’s 2014 national election campaign as the PR and social media lead. The same year he served on the National Task Team for the then newly re-configured Department of Communication. This was during time at Ogilvy PR as a Business Director,
In 2016 Sefotlhelo was responsible for signing MOUs with several affiliates in Nairobi, Accra, Lusaka, Addis Ababa and Lagos providing Vuma with a reach beyond South African boarders.
His expertise lies in media, stakeholder and government relations, including crisis communication. Having worked in various roles for a number of organisations that operate in different sectors of the economy he appreciates the significance of customer service, the critical need to deliver quality work that will impact the bottom line and the importance of partnerships with clients.
In his role as joint-CEO outside if driving company strategy, he is responsible for business development and overseeing the crisis management and training academy business units. He is also responsible for the recruitment of senior roles within the business and leading the company’s stakeholder relations agenda.
He is also the co-founder and a director of ReaderLympics, a non-profit company that promotes culture of reading among families and communities.
“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together”
-African Idiom
Cathy Nolan
Cathy Nolan
Currently heading up comms at King Price: Insurance with a purpose and an #UnapologeticallySouthAfrican sense of humour.
Previously consulted across the spectrum. Blue-sky to blue collar to greenfields. Underground to air-bound. Corporate to casual, and professional services to property.
The future? Storytelling. Tailored content. Data-driven campaigns. And, as COVID impacts media, a return to radio.
Mbulelo Pahlana
Mbulelo Pahlana
Head of Media & Digital for Reckitt, Hygiene Africa. Strong passion for media, brands and communications, with eight years of agency and corporate experience within various industries, including FMCG, Alcohol and Premium Spirits as well as Health and Lifestyle brands
Livia Brown
Livia Brown
Livia Brown has been crafting her OOH expertise at Posterscope since April 2013 and has shown incredible growth over the past 6 years. Livia first started as a Junior OOH Campaign Planner and from there grew into becoming a lead Account Director in the business. Livia proved herself in her knowledge and skill in location data intelligence, heading up this division in 2017.
In 2018 Livia was promoted to the Regional Manager of the Western Cape and has most recently been promoted to Posterscope’s General Manager.
“I am very proud to be taking over the reins at Posterscope as General Manager. The South African OOH Landscape is in the midst of a spectacular evolution and I couldn’t ask for a more exciting time or industry to be a part of.”
Prior to her time at Posterscope, Livia gained work experience in the Retail and Sales Industries and has worked at companies such as Peninsula Beverages and Ferrero Rocher.
Livia graduated from The University of South Africa in 2008 and has a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Communication Science. Originally from Joburg, Livia thoroughly enjoys exploring Cape Town and all it has to offer with her husband, where they enjoy fine wines and good food.
William Bird
William Bird
William studied at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg where he obtained his BA and Honours degree in Drama and Film. He worked in television after completing his studies. Unable to resist the lure of media monitoring, William started with some part time monitoring for the Media Monitoring Project, now Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) in 1995 and after leaving television joined the MMA as a researcher. At MMA William has overseen or been directly involved in over 100 media monitoring projects on subjects ranging from gender based violence, HIV, and racism to children and the media. William has also completed overseeing the data analysis of the biggest civil society media monitoring exercise in the world – the Global Media Monitoring Project. For this project over 100 countries monitored gender around the world. William has also overseen the name change of the MMP to Media Monitoring Africa in 2008. William was appointed an Ashoka fellow in 2009 and also a Linc Fellow in 2010 for his work focused on children’s participation in the media. He is regularly accessed in the media on a range of media focused issues. In his twelve years as director of MMA William has helped MMA grow from a small 3 people driven organisation to a committed team of 16 people, with a clear vision and dedicated programme areas. William’s knowledge of media monitoring and commitment to deepening democracy in South Africa and the continent has ensured his expertise is internationally recognised In his spare time William likes to monitor the media when not otherwise distracted by his young sons.
Aaron LeMay
Aaron LeMay
A 20+ year veteran of the gaming industry, Aaron LeMay directed the visual design, creative and game production at Volition, Bungie, and more where he made major contributions to multi-million dollar franchises including Red Faction, The Punisher, Saints Row, TERA, and Microsoft’s billion-dollar franchise Halo.
As the creator of The Gamer’s Way, LeMay helps thought leaders, industry influencers, and pros of all disciplines master their gameplay to help them level up in life. Facebook, Nickelodeon, Gensler, Bungie, and others have used LeMay’s focus to provide a structure for innovation, creative problem solving, and foster fluid communication to take individuals, as well as teams, to a new level of perspective and productivity with The Gamer’s Way.
Sarah Utermark
Sarah Utermark
Sarah is the Country Director South Africa at Mobile Marketing Association
A leader who sees marketers gaining in confidence in the industry and addresses issues that impact brand safety, which is beginning to see greater transparency across the value chain, tighter rules and systems around data protection along with the reduction of fraudulent traffic.
Kerstin Trikalitis
Kerstin Trikalitis
Kerstin is the Co-Founder and CEO of Out There Media, one of the leading mobile technology and data companies, and as such is responsible for the company’s global growth, working closely with Fortune 500 brands as well as with tier 1 mobile operators.
Kerstin is a notable industry speaker having spoken at the United Nations Media Summit, the World Economic Forum and a number of tech and marketing events, such as Mobile World Congress.
Kerstin holds an MBA from ESADE and an M.A. Business Administration and Economics from the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration. Kerstin is a Harvard Business School Alumni (OPM), an Endeavor High Impact Entrepreneur, and has been on the Jury at Cannes Lions. Kerstin has also been named among the “Top 50 Female Executives in Mobile”, the “10 Women Who Rock the Marketing Industry Today”, and the global “Lovely Mobile Leaders” for the past three years. She is half Danish and half Greek and speaks six languages.
Jorja Wilkins
Jorja Wilkins
Jorja Wilkins is the Divisional Executive for Marketing and Marketing Services at Primedia Outdoor.
With an extensive background in media, almost a decade in the out of home space and well on her way to a Masters in Business Strategy, Jorja leads a team of dynamic specialists in Marketing; Marketing Services; Marketing Intelligence and Design. Her role within the division is providing analytically sound; systematic and strategic opportunities to stakeholders whilst spearheading innovation across the spectrum of OOH media for Primedia Outdoor. The recent introduction of programmatic buying of digital media has put the company at the forefront of this technology in SA, entrenching Primedia Outdoor as a leader in the out of home environment.
Sindy Snow
Sindy Snow
With over 15 years’ experience in the Marketing and Adverting Industry Sindy Snow demonstrates a history of working creatively and with passion. She is skilled in negotiating, product management, project management and marketing strategies in the small business arena and at enterprise level. In her career she started her own branding company in 2010 as the Marketing Director and helped many brands take products and services to market. With her unique skill set and entrepreneurial spirit she has been working in the telecommunications industry with Vodacom in the Digital Advertising department for the last 4 years, where she, works with her team to take mobile marketing media and technologies to market. She has a strong believe in creative problem solving and team work.
Annie Scranton
Annie Scranton
Founder and President
Expertise: Business Development, Management, Strong Broadcast Television Contacts, Strategy + Execution
Since Annie started Pace PR as a solopreneur in 2010 the company has grown out of her studio apartment with one employee (herself!) into a multi-million dollar business with more than 40 clients spanning the globe and ten employees in multiple office locations. She’s loved the journey and enjoys working with all of her colleagues and clients, even if it’s remotely for right now.
Prior to forming PPR, Annie worked for nearly a decade as a seasoned television producer, booking for major networks such as CNN, Fox News, CNBC, MSNBC & ABC. TV is definitely a speciality of Annie’s, combining her unique understanding of behind-the-scenes television producing, alongside her unparalleled list of contacts. Pace PR has multiple clients on national + local TV every single day, including CNBC, Fox News, HLN, MSNBC, Fox Business Network, Bloomberg TV, and many others.
Highlights of client work include working with travel company darling Away in its first two years of business, assisting with media relations efforts and landing numerous Tier 1 placements for the brand and its founders. One of her most interesting clients was Jeff Ashton, the prosecutor in the highly-publicized Casey Anthony trial. Annie secured him multiple, sought-after interviews upon the end of the trial and Ashton’s retirement, which ultimately resulted in a New York Times bestselling book, Imperfect Justice, which Annie coordinated with her good friend Lisa Sharkey at HarperCollins. They were all thrilled when Lifetime called to make it into a made-for-TV movie starring Rob Lowe.
Annie also spends time speaking on the topics of PR, women in business and the importance of personal branding. Recent conferences and events she has spoken at include Hopperx1 New York City 2019, DIG South Tech Summit 2019 and Startup Grind Global Conference 2020. She will also be speaking at INBOUND 2020 later this year.
In 2019, she also spoke at the Women Impact Tech Conference, where she honored and humbled to introduce keynote Arianna Huffington, who couldn’t have been lovelier and has left an indelible mark on Annie!
Annie has also had experience writing for various outlets, including the Asbury Park Press, Huffington Post, Law360, PR News and many others. She’s also recently been enjoying talking on different podcasts about her entrepreneurial journey.
Annie is a graduate of Smith College where she served as the Editor-in-Chief of the weekly newspaper, The Sophian. She also received her Masters in Public Relations from New York University in 2018 and taught Introduction to Media Relations for one year at Hofstra University. She has given numerous guest lectures at various universities in and around NYC. Annie also recently served on the Board of Directors for the New York Smith College Club and the Executive Committee for the Catholic Big Sisters & Big Brothers. She is also a member of the New York Women in Communications, The Step Up Network and Ladies who Launch.
Annie and her husband Michael live in Manhattan and are raising their adorable young daughter Rose. In her free time (which isn’t much) Annie enjoys puzzles, audio books and riding her Peloton.
Zunaid Parker
Zunaid Parker
Cross functional digital, technology and media specialist with broad spectrum industry experience. ROI advocate. Enjoys tinkering…
Eric Solomon, PhD
Eric Solomon, PhD
Eric has been working at the intersection of technology, human psychology and brands at YouTube, Spotify, Google, and Instagram. Eric entered the business world via his Ph.D. in psychology prior to running brand and creative strategy at award-winning advertising agencies. Eric is a speaker, writer, teacher, mentor that helps design human narratives that make people fall in love with brands.
Kendal Zoghby
Kendal Zoghby
With experience as strategy director on some of South Africa’s leading telco and banking businesses, and experience working across Africa, Asia and Europe, Kendal is a dynamic & innovative strategist who believes in the power of harnessing human insights for breakthrough business & creative excellence.
Kendals strengths lie in creative thinking and digital & data-driven planning, a balance she honed over her time as previous Head of Digital & Innovation at DDB South Africa.
Before joining the Yellowwood team in 2021, Kendal consulted for some of South Africa’s leading creative ad agencies as well as Apple Music’s content division – all of which has armed her with a wide range of skills in adapting across categories and cultures.
Charis Coleman
Charis Coleman
In her role as Kagiso Media Radio Market Engagement Manager, Charis Coleman is responsible for developing insights about audiences and what content they’re consuming to make recommendations to a variety of departments including programming, marketing and commercial, using a variety of data points. Charis Coleman has 17 years of digital and print publishing experience under her belt. Her experience includes many years as content head for two of South Africa’s largest radio digital publishers, a role as a sub-editor across a number of print publications, digital marketing workshop facilitation, and co-author of three self-help books. She has worked with small and large local organisations as well as large multinational organisations, and has experience working closely with international clients while managing specialist content teams. Content strategy, planning, execution, editor training, and market engagement are part of her skill set.
Natalie Katz
Natalie Katz
With a decade of experience, Natalie Katz is an award-winning brand and digital strategist who builds businesses by asking powerful questions, then following wherever they lead.
By combining creativity, technology and human insight, she’s helped move the proverbial needle for brands like Nando’s, Converse, Momentum, Metropolitan, MTN Supersonic, L’Oréal, Nestlé, and loads more.
She spends her time working alongside inspiring people. She owns a business, runs a recipe blog, has 2 cats, travels lots, eats well and always does things wholeheartedly.
Justine Cullinan
Justine Cullinan
Justine Cullinan joined Nando’s three weeks before South Africa locked down in an effort to combat the spread of COVID-19. As General Manager of Brand and Strategy she is responsible for the overall direction of the Nando’s brand for South Africa, the development and implementation of its marketing strategy, the communications, media, advertising and public relations execution of the brand and the establishment and promotion of its new products, menu mix and pricing models. She is proud to act as a 2IC to Nando’s renowned CMO, Doug Place.
Cullinan graduated from Rhodes University Cum Laude with an Honours degree in Journalism and Media Studies in 2005. She cut her teeth working in PR and talent management under comedian John Vlismas and then at a small PR and Brand Management Agency called Red Cube, now part of the Hunt Lascaris group.
In 2008, she made her big career leap landing the coveted spot as Marketing Manager of 5FM. Her love for radio, dynamic personality, can-do attitude, meticulously planned strategies and all-in-all hard graft together with the 5FM team saw the listenership increase from 1.65 million to over 2.3 million in four years. The station also won Coolest Radio Station at the Sunday Times Generation Next Awards every year for the duration of her tenure. By the time Justine began looking for a new challenge, she was accepting the MTN Radio Award for Station of the Year along with the 5FM team.
Having achieved goals in all three pillars of commercial radio (revenue, audiences and brand), and always one to leave on a high note, Justine followed her next biggest love – fashion. In 2012 she donned her most colourful sneakers, lacing up to take on the role of Marketing Manager at Skye Distribution managing 10 fashion brands including Nike’s cult-cool, Converse, and urban American favourite, Dickies.
During her time at Skye she brought notable acclaim to the South African music industry through the conceptualization and implementation of the Converse Get Out of the Garage campaign that introduced the world to musicians Matthew Mole and Jordi van Dyk. The campaign was internationally acclaimed and adopted by numerous other Converse markets across the world. Through Converse Get out of the Garage, Justine ensured that local musicians received the springboard they so needed to get their music radio-ready and label-worthy. Her campaign design provided them with opportunities to record music at the Converse Rubber Tracks studio in Brooklyn New York and perform on international stages at Café Charbon in Paris and The 100 Club in London. In her final year at Skye, Justine’s team won the Converse award for Global Licensee Market of the Year.
In 2014 her SABC family would call on her to “return to her roots” where she was invited to take on the position of Station Manager at 5FM. As Station Manager of 5FM, Justine set the standard for broadcast management with a vision that ultimately took responsibility for the creation of the most memorable experiences that South Africans will make in their youthful years.
She appointed and mentored the station’s first black, female afternoon drive presenter, Thando Thabethe, launched 5FM’s first digital and integrated radio platform rate card, established 5FM TV and resourced it with a dedicated video content team and produced a 12-part mini documentary called Making the Weekender5 in response to the most asked question that youthful South Africans have for 5FM; “How do you become a 5FM DJ?”
In 2017 Justine took a four-month sabbatical to complete the exchange portion of her MBA in Milan at Université Bocconi. Upon her return she accepted the Veuve Clicquot Elle Boss of the Year Award and graduated with a Masters in Management: Strategic Marketing with distinction from the University of the Witwatersrand, Wits Business School. Her thesis, Corporate brand building and brand portfolio management in a South African state-owned enterprise, resulted in a co-authored academic article that was published in the Journal of Product & Brand Management in 2020. She further published a case study on 5FM’s digital evolution in the Emerald Emerging Markets Case Studies academic journal.
In 2018 Justine joined Coca-Cola Africa as Head of Integrated Marketing Communication for South Africa, a top 10 market for The Coca-Cola Company worldwide. In one short year she launched a bespoke teen-centric fashion range called Coke Threds in partnership with four South African designers, including Soweto-based design house, SGOD, who accepted a fashion accolade at the South African Hip Hop Awards for their interpretation of the Coke brand, and designer Rich Mnisi, who was invited to showcase his Coke Threds collection at China Fashion Week.
Justine also spearheaded the Share a Coke campaign at the end of 2018 that helped South Africans find their names and phonetic pronunciations on Coca-Cola cans and bottles, encouraging a much-needed conversation and engagement around the simple respect and dignity involved in correctly pronouncing a fellow citizen’s name. Cullinan has been behind the launch of other Coca-Cola brands including Glaceau Smartwater, Hollandia Mageu and Cappy Juice. In 2019 Cappy Juice, with the help of over 500 South Africans, broke a Guinness World Record for the most people eating breakfast in bed at The Sheds in central Johannesburg.
Justine enjoys cooking and baking, gardening and hiking, and is a keen yoga and ballet barre enthusiast. In 2020 she completed writing the first South African academic textbook on Radio in partnership with her former 5FM colleague and good friend, Grant Nash. This text, published by local academic publishers Edge Learning, is the primary curriculum for Radio 1, 2 and 3 students at Boston Media House and has established itself as the handbook for South African radio industry professionals.
Her next ambitions range from being able to hold a free-standing forearm balance for more than five seconds to being present at a hearing at Constitution Hill’s Constitutional Court presided over by Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng.
Moky Makura
Moky Makura
Natalie Botha
Natalie Botha
Natalie leads Kantar’s Creative Development solutions which include ad evaluation and optimisation solutions like Link™, and our agile ad testing platform Marketplace. She focuses on creative best practice and consults with clients on how to develop the most efficient and effective ad campaigns that increase sales and drive brand growth.
She is a frequent keynote speaker at industry conferences and has appeared on local shows to share learnings about what makes great creative TV advertising in the South African market and is an ambassador for Kantar’s Best Liked Ads that celebrate and acknowledge SA’s favourite TV commercials.
Natalie won a coveted SAMRA award for a paper that she co-authored, “Untold Emotions”, which focuses on TV creative learnings using neuroscience, particularly amongst LSM B South African consumers.
Natalie began her career with Millward Brown in 2002, working on advertising and brand health research across the continent. She has worked extensively across categories with clients like Unilever, TIH, Tiger Brands, Nestlé, Distell, DStv, L’Oréal and Dulux.
Danny Druion
Danny Druion
Danny Druion is a Creative Director at Wunderman Thompson South Africa, leading brands like Coca-Cola, MINI and many others. With more than a decade of experience in adland, he’s known as a digital-first thinker with a passion for collaboration, progress and creativity in its many forms.
Donald Mokgale
Donald Mokgale
Donald has been in the advertising and media industry for over 13 years and has held senior management positions for the past 6 years managing P&Ls of media agencies in Ghana, Kenya and South Africa.
He is the former Managing Director for Carat SA and Posterscope SSA, used to sit on the Advertising Media Forum (AMF) board and has served as a judge for the media innovation category at the Loerie awards, Marketing Achievement Awards and the full media of the AMASA awards. He is a frequent speaker at digital marketing conferences and was featured among the inspiring Men of Media by Digital Fanta.
Jeanine Rainier
Jeanine Rainier
After living and working abroad for four years, Jeanine Rainier returned to South Africa firm in the belief that there is no place like home. She is now General Manager at TILT, one of South Africa’s leading influencer marketing and built-for-social content agencies. Before joining TILT in 2017, she was a Portfolio Manager at HDI Youth Marketeers where she specialised in – amongst other things – youth marketing. Jeanine holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Management Sciences (Marketing & Logistics) from the University of Stellenbosch.
Hennie Myburgh
Hennie Myburgh
Hennie is a media professional who is passionate about talent, innovation and collaboration. Hennie is currently the Head of Programming at Jacaranda FM, responsible for the strategic creation and delivery of products to the Jacaranda FM audience. His team is responsible for all things content on-air and online. Part of Jacaranda FM’s core offering is Good Morning Angels, through which the station has raised millions and assisted countless families and communities on a weekly basis. Jacaranda FM has collaborated with some of the biggest brands in the country to drive change and create a sustainable difference in people’s lives.
Paula Hulley
Paula Hulley
Paula joined the IAB SA, as CEO on 1 July 2018 with 20 years of experience in building brands and consumer engaging experiences; including brand marketing at Speedo, experiential marketing at Brand ID in London and Touchline Media.
Wandisile Nkabinde
Wandisile Nkabinde
Wandisile is Senior Manager: Media and Digital Marketing at Multichoice SA.
He currently heads up all above the line, digital marketing and on-air promo planning for the SA business. He has worked in various agencies & direct clients across different industries like banking, health, telecoms, retail, fast foods, automotive, etc. He has a big passion for media; which has allowed him to win over 17 paid media awards in the past 4 years across social media, search, branded content, tactical executions and integrated marketing campaigns. He holds a BA Honours Degree in Marketing Communications and has completed various media, marketing and advertising orientated courses such as a Diploma in Digital Marketing from Brand School, MLAP Diploma from Duke University, among others.
Haydn Townsend
Haydn Townsend
Haydn is a cross-functional marketing and advertising professional with over 25 years’ experience that reaches across marketing management, sales, advertising, activations, sponsorship and digital marketing.
Thom Nobel
Thom Nobel
As a pioneer in the emerging neuromarketing field, he is credited with co-launching the world’s first dedicated neuro-brand consultancy almost 20 years ago. Since then, through a series of pace-setting neuro-ventures, he has pivoted from lab-based (NeuroCo, NeuroFocus, NielsenNeuro) into online, globally-scalable neuro-led businesses. Collaborating with top neuroscientists, technologists, researchers & marketers around the globe, he has centred on developing new best-practice methods of evaluating & optimizing marketing strategy & creativity.
Now with CloudArmy, he is focused on the next evolution of consumer neuroscience application — transforming it from an ad hoc intervention, into an embedded, everyday, test-n-learn capability for brand owners, researchers and creative agencies
Benjamin Fahmueller
Benjamin Fahmueller
Benjamin has 10+ years of international digital marketing experience. He manages Google’s publisher relationships in SSA with a strong focus on monetization strategies.
Mary Harper
Mary Harper
Vincent Peyrègne
Vincent Peyrègne
Chief Executive Officer of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), Vincent Peyrègne (52) spent his career in positions at the intersection of journalism, business and technology. Peyrègne worked for private news organisations, public bodies, and governmental institutions in France, Switzerland, Germany, and Spain. He took up duties as Chief Executive Officer of WAN-IFRA in 2012. Prior to joining WAN-IFRA, he was Head of Development at Edipresse in Switzerland, now TAMEDIA, with responsibility for consumer insights and editorial marketing research and product development, before joining the office of the French Ministry of Culture and Communication as senior adviser to the Minister. In 1997, he established Ifra South West Europe, the Ifra regional subsidiary with responsibility for the French and spanish-speaking regions, which he headed for seven years. He started his career in the news at La Tribune, a French Business daily newspaper, Libération in Paris and Sud-Ouest in Bordeaux.
Marie Mbullu
Marie Mbullu
Jackie Dhaeyere
Jackie Dhaeyere
Last corporate position was Consumer Insights Manager at Yum, KFC SA. There, Jackie was integrally involved in pioneering research projects providing first-hand experience of research techniques such as IAT, Eye-tracking, Biometrics, EEG and ZMET. She has been independent since 2015 (and most recently works in association with CloudArmy).
Mark Drummond
Mark Drummond
Styli Charalambous
Styli Charalambous
Styli Charalambous co-founded the Daily Maverick in 2009 with editor-in-chief, Branko Brkic. A Chartered Accountant by qualification, Styli is now reformed and passionate about the media business.
Along with co-founding Daily Maverick, Styli has written reports and columns for the publication and helped forge “The Gathering” into the South Africa’s premier media and politics conference. His official role at Daily Maverick is that of publisher and CEO which translates into “he who constantly fights fires – sometimes successfully but always only after morning coffee.”
He is passionate about solving the disruption of media industry and focuses most efforts on new revenue models, product, technology and membership. He is currently enrolled in the Executive Media Innovation and Leadership programme at City University of New York and has written extensively on the sustainability of media.
