Sylvester Chauke makes 100 Most Influential Young Africans list. Mathe Okaba new ceo of ACA. Fintech scholarships awarded. AYO boosted by its acquisition of 55% majority stake in Sizwe Africa IT group. RIverbed’s evolution inspires agency rebrand. AccorHotels launches MyChicAfrica, a new lifestyle & travel media platform. Nedbank Private Wealth delivers brand consistency with BrandQuantum. Mediamark – 21 years young. APO Group launches enhanced press release monitoring service for Africa and the Middle East. African Fintech Unconference 2018 at Spier
This week’s BIG move: Sylvester Chauke makes 100 Most Influential Young Africans list
South Africa’s award-winning entrepreneur, founder and chief of DNA Brand Architects, Sylvester Chauke, has made the 2018 list of 100 Most Influential Young Africans. The founder of this fast-growing marketing and brand consultancy made the list in the business category which consists of only 10 entrepreneurs and leaders from different countries on the African continent, two of which are South Africans. These are Chauke and MMI Holdings’ CMO, Nontokozo Madonsela.
“Too often, we hear about the doom and gloom of the African continent and its youth, so it is wonderful that there is a movement that highlights entrepreneurs and leaders on the continent, moving us forward into a narrative of excellence and innovation” said Chauke. “Being part of only two South Africans in the business category of influential young people in Africa is humbling. I do however wish that the business category had an even stronger representation, understanding the dire need and challenges, particularly in my country where youth unemployment is at a staggering 47%!”
Now in its third year, the annual prestigious list features young politicians, activists, entrepreneurs, entertainers, digital influencers, philanthropists & athletes across 10 distinct categories who are blazing various trails and promoting the positive image of Africa across the globe. The list was compiled in partnership with Avance Media, mynaijanaira.com & Made Marketing Group presents an opportunity for young Africans to stay committed to their individual causes and continue to blaze trails across their various fields.
People moves
Mathe Okaba new CEO of ACA
The Association for Communication and Advertising, the official industry body for the advertising profession in South Africa is pleased to announce that Mathe Okaba has been appointed to the position of CEO of the organisation.
Her appointment follows a rigorous and robust selection process and comes in the wake of the resignation of Odette van der Haar who held the position of CEO for 11 years. Van der Haar has been widely credited with building the ACA into the highly respected organisation it is today.
Okaba, a seasoned business professional and entrepreneur, will leverage over 23 years’ experience spanning the advertising, media, sponsorship and events industries in her new role. With a passion for strategy, planning and project management, she has built a solid reputation as a successful leader and team player. Currently studying toward her MBA at the University of Roehampton in the UK, she also holds a qualification in Advertising from the AAA School of Advertising, a Certificate in Management Advancement Programme from WITS and a Certificate in Leadership Development Programme from GIBS.
Curro Holdings appoints Independent Non-Executive Director to Board
Curro Holdings has announced the appointment of independent non-executive director, Nangamso Mankai, to its board of directors. Mankai is currently an investment professional for a local infrastructure development business, and has accumulated nearly five years board experience. Her role at the biggest JSE-listed independent school operator in South Africa will be to assist with the growth of the business’ balance sheet through acquisitions.
She brings with her extensive knowledge in the investment space, as well as prior board experience, enabling her to make a positive contribution to Curro Holdings’ growth strategy and to all its stakeholders. Her role at Curro Holdings will be to ensure that a sound governance environment is maintained, and that a positive strategy remains aligned with the company’s values.
Fintech scholarships awarded
Ahead of the African Fintech Unconfereces, Nomanini has announced its two Scholarship awardees for 2018: Antony Mayodi, executive director at Rafode; and Paul Damalie, CEO of Inclusive.
The African Fintech Unconference offers a number of scholarships to early-stage fintechs. This enables younger players in the industry to learn from and connect with leading financial services and fintech experts in Africa and participate in driving and shaping the ecosystem.
Rafode is a growing non-deposit taking microfinance firm headquartered in Kisumu, Kenya. It leverages Information Communication Technology (ICT) to manage its operation efficiently – and to scale in rural areas.
“We are thrilled to be part of the AFU scholarship programme, which will be a powerful catalyst towards driving Rafode’s growth and fulfilling our vision of greater African financial inclusion,” says Mayodi.
The second recipient, Inclusive, strives to connect the ordinary African to the global economy – hence improving their economic opportunities. The company is doing this through their flagship product, Inclusive ID, which is a pan-African financial data API that powers financial services to onboard, verify and monitor identities remotely.
“The fintech events that we have experienced across Africa are always a top-down affair, with corporates always discussing hype topics – instead of the real work that fintechs are doing to impact lives,” notes Damalie of Inclusive. “I like the fact that AFU is an event created by fintechs, discussing the real issues and fostering solutions together. This is what Africa needs.”
Business moves
AYO boosted by its acquisition of 55% majority stake in Sizwe Africa IT group
AYO Technology Solutions Limited (AYO) has announced it is acquiring a 55-percent equity stake in Sizwe Africa IT Group (Pty) Limited in line with its ‘Go to Market’ strategy. The transaction value for AYO is estimated to be R165 million for the 55 percent equity in Sizwe.
It is anticipated that AYO’s investment into Sizwe will have a ‘payback’ period of 3 to 5 years on moderate forecasts, the group said in a statement. The ‘payback’ excludes the anticipated exponential capital appreciation from this investment.
Sizwe Africa IT Group is one of South Africa’s leading integrated ICT solution providers, and employs approximately 800 people nationally. Since its inception in 2001, Sizwe has offered various ICT services to its customers, including a focused spectrum of physical infrastructure, metro and long distance optic fibre, facility management, continuous energy supply, networking and security to hosting, storage server processing, mobility, data centre, end-user computing and associated consumables.
Nedbank Private Wealth delivers brand consistency with BrandQuantum
In South Africa’s competitive banking industry, gaining client loyalty is critical to success. To help deliver consistent client experiences and build brand trust Nedbank Private Wealth (NPW) and Nedbank Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB) partnered with BrandQuantum, the creator of BrandOffice and BrandMail. With BrandQuantum, employees have easy access to the right documents containing the right corporate identity and content to deliver on brand experiences in every client interaction.
Nedbank Private Wealth needed to share letterheads and other branded documentation to all of its staff to ensure that it was able to deliver a consistent brand experience to its clients so the bank partnered with BrandQuantum and implemented its BrandOffice solution.
APO Group launches enhanced press release monitoring service for Africa and the Middle East
APO Group has unveiled a new version of their media monitoring service for press releases. The new version goes far beyond what is available in the press release distribution industry today. Reports now offer deeper insights to Africa Wire® and MENA Wire® customers, helping them better understand the media impact of their press releases and offering even greater visibility on the R.O.I. of their campaigns.
Africa Wire® and MENA Wire® are the leading wire services in the region. They enable instant widescale press release distribution in English, French, Portuguese and Arabic to all African and Middle Eastern media outlets – providing public and private organisations privileged access to over 350 000 journalists working across all print, broadcast and digital media.
Making moves
Riverbed’s evolution inspires agency rebrand
Riverbed, a black, female owned company that has throughout its ten plus years, navigated and adapted to industry changes to remain relevant and competitive. And now in this month of new beginnings, Riverbed has rebranded, revealing a modern look that’s more closely aligned to its renewed vision.
Earlier this year, the agency’s founder and CEO Monalisa Sibongile Zwambila refocused the agency to place ‘brand experience’ at the heart of its creative thinking. “In the age of CX, Riverbed is fervent about developing creativity that people want to spend time with and so we’re always thinking about how we can build emotional attachments between the brands we represent and their consumers. Even through our brand assets such as our website refresh, we’re aspiring to build a brand and an agency that our customers will want to spend time with too,” said Zwambila.
Riverbed’s new identity is bold, contemporary, striking and simple. The imagery used with the icon is ever-changing, boasting a versatility that never tires. The creative team behind the redesign added that the predominant black and white colour palette is timeless, but through the application of colour, can be expressed differently to suit specific needs, again keeping it current.
Mediamark – 21 years young
Mediamark is 21 this year and it is a time of reflection for the company as they look back at how far they have come and forward to where they are going.
Born as Radmark in 1997 the organisation became known as the experts in radio and has honed this craft over time.
“In line with the evolving media landscape and a demand for a multi-channel solution as opposed to silo offerings, we are embracing a new approach, said MD Werner Linderman. “It is no longer about selling media platforms, but more about addressing the marketing objective of our clients and matching it to our media platforms to deliver consumers that these advertisers desire.” says Lindemann.
Cindy Diamond a founder member of Mediamark and group sales director, said partnerships were key to the strategic success of Mediamark both past and future. “We rely on exceptional partnerships not only with the brands we represent but also with the agencies and advertisers who entrust us with their ad spend. Over the years we have always aimed to provide advertisers with excellent customer service and media offerings that drive and amplify advertiser campaigns – it’s no different 21 years on, except that we can now offer a more integrated and sophisticated solution for our clients.”
AccorHotels launches MyChicAfrica, a new lifestyle & travel media platform
Fashion, art, travel, food, design, adventure, architecture, hi-tech/hi-touch and creativity, Africa is positively brimming with new and undiscovered experiences. AccorHotels invite guests, travelling nomads and the curious-at-heart to rediscover the continent through a completely new lens – MyChicAfrica (MyChicAfrica.accorhotels.com) – featuring inspiration insights, newfound narratives, and visually arresting content.
Following the immensely successful #MyChicAfrica social media campaign, which paired prominent African influencers together to provide an ‘off the beaten track’ look at their locales, AccorHotels in Africa is now ready to venture even further. The launch of its lifestyle media platform – MyChicAfrica.AccorHotels.com – a depository of material named after this culturally curated campaign, features a dedicated editorial team providing fresh insights and new travel itineraries for the culturally curious.
Diary
African Fintech Unconference 2018 at Spier
Cape Town (September 12, 2018) – For fintech entrepreneurs and innovators around Africa, this is a critical time to foster collaborative efforts and to promote dialogue. To this end, the second annual African Fintech Unconference (AFU18) will be held on 25 & 26 September 2018 at Spier Wine Farm in Stellenbosch, South Africa.
This key industry event will be co-convened by African fintech pioneers Nomanini, MFS Africa and Tugende. As with the inaugural AFU held in March 2017, this year’s Unconference agenda will be guided by African fintech innovators, thought leaders and entrepreneurs. Importantly, AFU creates a space for open, dynamic dialogue and valuable interactions.
To learn more and register for AFU18, please visit www.africanfintechunconference.com.
To apply for a scholarship, fill out this form. Application deadline is Friday, 14 September 2018.
Follow the conversation on Twitter via the event hasthtag #AFU18 and #Finnovation and #Finclusion.
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