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Brand Africa announces the inaugural Africa CMO 100

MaraviPost

Women, Financial Services, Telco and Southern African CMOs dominate the list of Africa’s 100 Most Influential Brand Builders

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, 30 march 2026 -/African Media Agency(AMA)/ – Brand Africa, in partnership with African Business magazine, MIPAD (Most Influential People of African Descent) and the African Media Agency, today launched the inaugural Africa CMO 100 (ACMO100) — recognising the 100 most impactful marketing, brand and reputation leaders shaping Africa’s story, identity and prosperity.

The full list and in-depth analysis will be featured in the April 2026 issue of African Business, available first week of April, and across partner platforms at brandafrica.net, africabusiness.com, mipad.org and africanmediaagency.com.

Brand Africa’s independent research over 15 years has consistently found that while 68% of Africans believe in Africa, only 18% of the brands they most admire are African. ACMO100 exists to recognise and connect the leaders best placed to change that.
“CMOs and senior brand leaders are among the most powerful architects of Africa’s future. Through strategy, stewardship and influence, they shape narratives, build trust, and guide the preferences of hundreds of millions of people. ACMO100 exists to recognise, celebrate and connect these leaders.”
— Thebe Ikalafeng — Founder and Chairman, Brand Africa

The inaugural ACMO100 honourees will be celebrated at Brand Africa Week, Addis Ababa, 22–26 May 2026.

ACMO100: AFRICA’S 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL MARKETING LEADERS

One hundred leaders across six African economic regions — including the diaspora — spanning twenty countries and more than 50 distinct role titles. The list is ordered alphabetically by country of origin. All 100 honourees hold equal standing. The list carries no internal ranking.

THREE FINDINGS FROM THE INAUGURAL LIST

01 — A Female-Majority Profession. 62% of honourees are women — a majority across every region. The diaspora cohort is 75% female; East Africa reaches 72%; North Africa, 71%. In Africa, women are not emerging talent waiting for their moment: they are running marketing for the continent’s most consequential brands.

02 — Finance and Telecoms Dominate. Financial services — banking, insurance and fintech — leads with 31 honourees, reflecting the scale of Africa’s financial inclusion wave and the premium brand trust commands in markets where millions are transacting formally for the first time. Telecoms and technology account for a further 20. Together, these two sectors represent more than half the list — and the deepest pools of marketing talent on the continent.

03 — Three Hubs, and a Rising Fourth. Southern Africa leads with 39 honourees, anchored by Johannesburg — the marketing capital of the continent. West Africa contributes 20, with Nigeria’s 17 entries anchoring a market of extraordinary commercial depth. East Africa’s 17 are shaped by Kenya’s Safaricom ecosystem and Nairobi’s competitive consumer market. The most instructive story is North Africa: 14 entries, with Morocco alone accounting for seven — more than Egypt and Algeria combined — signalling Casablanca’s emergence as a new continental marketing hub.

Southern Africa — 39 Honourees
Anchored by South Africa, which accounts for 31% of leaders by country of origin. Cohort: Abey Mokgwatsane, Alison Hastings Badenhorst, Andisa Ntsubane, Andrea Quaye, Beyers Van De Merwe, Bronwyn Pretorius, Bunmi Adeniba, Chantal Sombonos-Van Tonder, Doug Place, Dries Van der Sandt, Dudu Mokholo, Faye Mfikwe, Firoze Bhorat, Francois Viviers, Gugu Mthembu, Happy Ngidi, Ilze Bylos, Ivan Serra (Mozambique), Jessica Motaung, Khensani Nobanda, Levie Nkunika (Malawi), Lorraine De Graaf, Lucia Maseko, Matilda Nyathi (Zimbabwe), Mmaphuti Rankapole, Mosala Phillips, Mphothe Elizabeth Mokwena, Mzamo Masito, Nontokozo Madonsela, Raquel Capitão (Angola), Sithembile Ndaba, Sobhuza Ngwenya (Malawi), Suneeta Motala (Mauritius), Sydney Nhlanhla Mbhele, Thabang Ramogase, Tim Ekandjo (Namibia), Vaughan Croeser, Vilosha Soni and Vuyokazi Henda.

West Africa — 20 Honourees
Nigeria’s 17 entries anchor a market of extraordinary commercial depth. Cohort: Adewunmi Desalu, Amaechi Michael Okobi, Anthony Chiejina, Bamise Oyegbami, Bolanle Kehinde-Lawal, Cherry Eromosele, Chinedu Zephaniah, Diran Olojo, Emeka Oparah, Idemudia Dima-Okojie, Ifeoma Agu, Ilyas Kazeem, Julien Zayro (Côte d’Ivoire), Maureen Ifada, Noel Kojo-Ganson (Ghana), Oluyomi Moses, Onyinye Ikenna-Emeka, Sandra Handou Koné (Côte d’Ivoire), Sarah Agha and Tolu Alero Ladipo.

East Africa — 17 Honourees
Anchored by Kenya at nine, shaped by the Safaricom ecosystem and Nairobi’s competitive consumer market. Cohort: Abdulkadir Mamma Hussein (Ethiopia), Anne Joy Michira, Catherine Ndungu, Fatema Dewji (Tanzania), Isabelle Kariuki-Rostom, Kitenda Robert Gobii (Uganda), Lemma Yadecha Gudeta (Ethiopia), Martine Gatabazi (Tanzania), Neemarose Singo (Tanzania), Nelly Wangui Wainaina, Ope Lawal, Rosalind Gichuru, Sylvia ElSheikh (Uganda), Vivian Achieng Oyugi, Wangechi Gitahi, Warau Kahoro and Zizwe Awuor Vundla.

North Africa — 14 Honourees
Morocco alone accounts for seven entries — more than Egypt and Algeria combined — reflecting its position as a francophone-Arabic-European commercial crossroads. Cohort: Anne Ezeh (Egypt), El Hadi Mohamed Hamma (Algeria), Fadwa Bisbis, Ghada Hammouda (Egypt), Isabelle Hajri (Algeria), Mahmoud Taha (Egypt), Mehdi Yaroub, Mounir Jazouli, Nadia Rahim Guérin, Sakina El Fares, Salma Bencherif, Salma Hamdouch, Samia Dziri (Algeria) and Shams Adly (Egypt).

Central Africa — 2 Honourees
Bienvenu Mayamonuswa (Democratic Republic of Congo) and Yves Kom (Cameroon).

Diaspora — 8 Honourees
Based in the USA and UAE, running marketing at Visa, Unilever, Doordash and BET Media Group — underscoring the mobility of African-origin talent at the top of the world’s most competitive brand portfolios. Cohort: Dara Treseder, Esi Eggleston Bracey, Frank Cooper III, Kimberly Evans Paige, Kofi Amoo-Gottfried, Linda Kouam, Najoh Tita-Reid and Tarek Abdalla.

THE BAOBAB | ACMO HALL OF FAME

Brand Africa has also announced the inaugural Baobab | ACMO Hall of Fame — honouring a select number of African and diaspora brand leaders whose benchmark careers have made an enduring contribution to Africa’s brand narrative. Named for Africa’s most iconic and enduring tree, the Baobab honours legacy, not a moment. Inaugural recipients: Bozoma Saint John (former Uber and Netflix CMO); Bernice Samuels (retiring MTN Group Executive for Brand and Marketing); Sylvia Mulinge (CEO, MTN Uganda; former Chief Customer Officer, Safaricom); and Souheil Badaa (former CMO, Novartis Group; founder, Tanakoo) — icons whose work has defined, elevated and expanded the possibilities of African-led brand leadership.

BRAND AFRICA WEEK — ADDIS ABABA, 22–26 MAY 2026

The inaugural ACMO100 honourees will be celebrated at Brand Africa Week in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia — the historical capital of the continent — in the week of Africa Day. Brand Africa Week 2026 will bring together the ACMO100 Celebration, the unveiling of the Brand Africa 100 | Africa’s Best Brands® and the Brand Africa Dialogue — planned to be the most impactful convening of continental CMOs in Africa’s history.

“MIPAD exists to celebrate and elevate the most influential people of African descent — and ACMO100 does exactly that for the world of marketing and brand leadership. For the first time, the architects of Africa’s most powerful brands are being recognised on their own terms. That is long overdue, and it matters deeply to the diaspora.”
— Kamil Olufowobi, Founder & Chairman, MIPAD (USA/Nigeria)

THE ACMO METHODOLOGY AND REVIEW COMMITTEE

The ACMO100 selection is governed by a rigorous, three-step process designed to reflect the realities of marketing leadership across a continent where function often outpaces title.

Collation draws on three independent sources: nominations by the ACMO Review Committee; review of the marketing leadership behind brands featured in the Brand Africa 100 | Africa’s Best Brands® and comparable rankings over the preceding three years; and research into CMOs behind award-winning and/or impactful work.

Evaluation applies a consistent set of criteria to every nominee: active leadership in Africa or the diaspora; a minimum of five years in senior marketing decision-making; and standing as the highest-ranking functional marketing, brand or communications leader in their organisation.

Verification and vetting ensures that every name on the list has earned its place through demonstrable impact, influence and integrity — not title or visibility alone.

The list carries no internal ranking. All 100 honourees hold equal standing.

The integrity of ACMO100 is anchored in the independence and calibre of its governance. The ACMO Review Committee is an independent, Africa-wide body of distinguished practitioners with a deep understanding of the marketing and brand industry and its most influential individuals — drawn from every major region of the continent and the diaspora. The Committee is intentionally diverse in discipline, geography and background. It brings together former CMOs now in general management and board roles; founders and chief executives of leading African agencies; editors and publishers of the continent’s foremost business media; heads of national marketing associations; academics and researchers from leading African institutions; and respected independent voices from strategy, creative, media and digital.

Committee members are ineligible for inclusion during their tenure; current CMOs do not participate in nomination or adjudication, ensuring complete independence. The panel spans more than 20 countries across all African regions and the diaspora — its diversity in discipline, geography and seniority is central to the credibility of the process.

Southern Africa: Thulani Sibeko, CEO – COID and Social Insurance, Rand Mutual (RMA) (South Africa); Trevor Ncube, Chairman & Director, Alpha Media Holdings (Zimbabwe); Laz Jacobs, Founder & Executive Director, Paragon TBWA (Namibia); Dr Pepe Marais, Group Chief Creative Officer, Joe Public (South Africa); Sechaba Motsieloa, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Kansy Group (South Africa); George Damson, President, Institute of Marketing in Malawi; Dr Tumelo Chaka, Managing Executive, The Strategists (South Africa); Christine Ramela (Mozambique); Mwewa Besa, President, Institute of Marketing in Zambia; Brian Yuyi, CEO, Marketing Association of South Africa; Professor Alistair Mokoena, Executive Dean, Johannesburg Business School (South Africa); Dr Tendai Mhiza, CEO, Integra Africa (Zimbabwe); Gillian Rusike, Founder & CEO, Marketers Association of Zimbabwe; Adv Phelane Phomane, Founder & Managing Director, Tangerine Connect (Lesotho); Dale Hefer, CEO, Integrated Marketing Council (South Africa).

West Africa: Seyi Ademola-Adeoye, Senior Research Fellow, Pierrine (Nigeria); Kwame Senou, Executive Director, THOP (Côte d’Ivoire); Steve Babaeko, CEO & Chief Creative Officer, X3M Ideas (Nigeria); Ade Adefeko, Vice President, Corporate & Government Affairs, Olam International (Nigeria); Sharon Mills, Lead Consultant, SMC Consulting (Ghana); Daniel Kojo Soboh, Executive Director, EMY Africa (Ghana).

East Africa: Malik Shaffy Lizinde, Founder & CEO, 63 INC (Rwanda); William Kalombo, Marketing Africa Magazine (Kenya); Melvin Mwakugu, Independent (Kenya); Jacquie Muhati, Deputy Marketing Director, NCBA (Kenya); Barian Shah, Managing Director, Evolution Events (Tanzania); Aron Simeneh, Creative Director, Kin Creatives (Ethiopia); Joseph Kanyamunyu, Chief Executive Director, Publicis Africa Communications (Uganda); Frakline Kibuacha, Marketing Director, GeoPoll (Kenya).

North Africa: Youssef Cheikhi, CEO, Brendz (Morocco); Youssef Othmani, CEO, Gopinion (Algeria); Siham Malek, Managing Director, Integrate Consulting (Morocco).

Diaspora: Omar Ben Yedder, Publisher, African Business (UK/Tunisia); Denver Phiri (UK/Zimbabwe); Kamil Olufowobi, Founder & Chairman, MIPAD (USA/Nigeria); Moky Makura, Executive Director, Africa No Filter (UK/Nigeria); Terhas Asefaw Berhe, Managing Director, Brand Comms (UK/Eritrea); James Woods, Globiq International (UK/Malawi); Akin Naphtal, Founder & CEO, InstinctiveWave Group (UK/Nigeria); Cyrille Djami, Founder & Manager, Comms of Africa (France/Cameroon), and Ndeye Diagne, Chief Client Officer, Kantar (France/Senegal).

“The ACMO Review Committee brings together some of the sharpest and most experienced minds on the continent. Their role is to ensure that every name on the ACMO100 list has truly earned their place through impact, influence and integrity.”
— Omar Ben Yedder — Publisher, African Business

Distributed by African Media Agency (AMA) on behalf of Brand Africa

ABOUT BRAND AFRICA

Brand Africa is the continent’s leading brand-led platform to inspire an African renaissance founded on the conviction that brands drive the growth, reputation and competitiveness of nations. Since 2011, its flagship initiative, the Brand Africa 100 | Africa’s Best Brands®, has tracked brand performance, consumer perception and brand equity across the continent – providing the most authoritative pan-African brand intelligence. Brand Africa convenes leaders, shapes narratives and advances the case for branding as a driver of Africa’s prosperity. www.brand.africa

ABOUT AFRICAN BUSINESS

African Business is Africa’s foremost pan-continental business magazine, providing authoritative journalism, analysis and intelligence on business, finance, trade and policy across Africa and the global African diaspora. Published by IC Publications, it reaches a senior readership of business, government and civil society leaders across Africa and internationally. www.africabusiness.com

ABOUT MIPAD

MIPAD (Most Influential People of African Descent) is a global civil society organisation that recognises, celebrates and networks the most influential people of African descent across the world. Its annual recognition spans business, politics, culture, science and civil society, with a mission to advance the social, economic and political empowerment of people of African descent globally. www.mipad.org

ABOUT AFRICAN MEDIA AGENCY

African Media Agency (AMA) is the trusted pan-African communications agency helping organisations connect with African audiences. Founded by Eloïne Barry, AMA integrates public relations with digital and creative communications to establish clients as market leaders across the continent. AMA’s services span press release distribution, PR strategy, digital creative and media training through its not-for-profit AMA Academy. A member of IPREX and the PRCA. www.africanmediaagency.com

MEDIA CONTACT
Lebogang Serapelwane | Brand Africa | E: lebogang@brandleadership.com

Eloïne Barry | African Media Agency | E: eloine@africanmediaagency.com

www.brand.africa

The post Brand Africa announces the inaugural Africa CMO 100 appeared first on African Media Agency.

Politics

ADVISERS BETRAYING THE PRESIDENT: MUTHARIKA MUST FIRE SOMEONE

Patience Mandowa

Lyson Sibande

ADVISERS BETRAYING THE PRESIDENT: MUTHARIKA MUST FIRE SOMEONE

In April 2003, the USA invaded Iraq for the second time in about a decade. President George Bush also convinced Prime Minister Tony Blair of the British Government to go to war against President Saddam Hussein with him. Together they ousted Hussein and brought an end to his regime. But the invasion of Iraq by these two great western powers remains one of the gravest mistakes of their countries in the 21st century.

It was later discovered, for example, through the Chilcot Report that Bush and Blair went to war based on false intelligence and wrong information which had claimed that President Hussein had Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). Due to such wrong intelligence and information, not only were trillions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of lives of soldiers and citizens lost, but the whole world was plunged into a fierce era of the terror of ISIS Caliphate which emerged following the power vacuum created by the ousting of Hussein. The whole geopolitical landscape changed and until today the world continues to suffer terrorism, migrant crises, and similar challenges just because of two leaders that were fed with wrong information.

Presidents anywhere in the world advance domestic and foreign policies and make political decisions based on pieces and volumes of information and intelligence which they receive. The intelligence and information come from various formal and informal sources within government and outside government. When the President receives these pieces of information and intelligence, he seeks advice from his political advisors who sometimes are the same people who bring the information to him. Some advisors are official like Cabinet Ministers and those that are put on government’s payroll as advisors to the President. Others are unofficial advisors who might include foreign institutions, foreign leaders, the president’s own friends and relatives or even the first lady.

The point I am trying to make is that an adviser to the president can be anyone who has links of some sort to the president and advises him whether in official or non-official capacity. As a result, the President behaves, speaks, and acts according to the advice that his advisers feed him with on the information that is received on the President’s desk.

These advisers are an integral part of the administration because they can make or break the president and his administration. The issues of interest that advisers advise the President on may be strategic or tactical in nature whether bordering on policy or politics or otherwise. Strategic issues involve those matters that are very central to the administration and they are constituent to long term objectives of the administration. For instance, the Iraq war or in our local context, the overall approach on how the President should deal with the opposing MCP and UTM is a strategic issue and has a lot do with whether DPP will survive beyond 2019 or not. On the other hand, Tactical issues involve issues that emerge on daily basis like what the President should say in his speech at a public rally or how he should respond to questions in an interview. For example, what the President should say or not say in a “Talk to the President” interview is a tactical issue.

I hope you can appreciate that the President, or rather the administration, relies a lot on advisers on both strategic and tactical matters. Therefore, it is very important that all advisers must have sound political judgment. An advisor with good political judgment knows exactly what can work and what cannot work depending on the political context and challenges faced. Being a good advisor is not about education, age or experience, but rather the person’s strength of political instinct and level of thinking. I mean an adviser needs to have the innate gift to sniff political danger and see what an ordinary eye cannot see. He or she must also have the ability to at least use common sense.

Advisers must never take their jobs or advice lightly. They must ensure that their advice to the President is reliable and based on the most up-to-date facts, accurate information and sound analysis. Before advising the President the adviser must ask himself or herself if he or she truly understands the situation and the stakes involved. As a result, it is highly imperative for advisers to also consult other members of the party or any stakeholders to have their ideas examined and tested so that their advice is revised and refined before it is given to the President.

When I look at the DPP administration, especially how it has behaved in recent times, I am very sure that President Mutharika is surrounded by incompetent advisers who are feeding the administration and party with poor advice which have resulted in very embarrassing actions and decisions by the party and the administration. For example, some statements that the President made during the “Talk to the President” interview on Thursday evening about signatories and Inde Bank, or the decision to return the MK145 million, or the decision to give some youths subsidized beer or hold parallel rallies against UTM in Mzuzu and several other incidences show that DPP is lacking competent advisers who can make and not break the President and DPP administration.

When advisers give the President wrong advice, it is called betrayal because the President acts on the advice out of trust in the advisers. Therefore, when mistakes are made like what we have noticed recently in the DPP administration, the President must remedy betrayal by firing some of his advisers that work in official capacity or distance himself from some people that give him advice in unofficial capacity. He must then choose a new team of advisers and friends to surround him especially at this crucial moment when the 2019 Tripartite Elections were already unofficially launched. Maybe, the President should look back at 2014 Elections and figure out who he can trust to give him correct intelligence and information to advise him well.