INFLUENCE

Elizma Nolte

Keynote - Regional Marketing Manager, Facebook Africa

Elizma Nolte is Regional Marketing Manager for Facebook Africa. She is passionate about media, technology and Africa – and finding ways to connect the three for positive change.

Before joining the Facebook 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.

Stacey Grant

SPEAKER - Consumer & Market Insights Director Africa, Unilever

Deeply passionate about people, Stacey Grant leads the Africa Insights Team and is a member of both the Unilever South Africa leadership team, as well as the Unilever Africa Leadership Team. In this role, she is ultimately responsible for showing the business where and how to win – through converting data into insights that inform solutions to the unmet needs of consumers across the continent. A strong believer in African creativity and solutions, Stacey has led her team to a number of major Global Unilever honors, including awards for Innovation and Communications excellence. Her biggest passion is centered on building sustainable businesses and Stacey believes that this is one of the key elements in unlocking the potential of the African continent. 

In over 13 years of Unilever experience, Stacey has continuously leveraged her ability to empathise and advocate for the needs of the consumer, and combined it with her technical expertise to lead for innovation. This has included provocative research into gender narratives, as well as understanding the evolution of female identity in Africa. Insights from this work have directly fed into the powerful creative executions and purposeful brand messages which have seen Unilever rise as an industry thought leader and society shaper in areas like gender stereotyping and racial equality. 

As a working parent with a busy household, 2 energetic sons, a couple of pooches, and a demanding job, Stacey is fiercely passionate about helping people advance in both their careers & personal lives.  

Taweni Gondwe Xaba

Chief Marketing Officer, Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry

Stéphane Rogovsky

Founder & CEO - R-Squared Digital South Africa

Stephane is a 40 year old Belgian citizen. He grew up in Brussels, lived in Switzerland and moved to South Africa in 2014.

Authentic conversations with real people inspire Stephane, an entrepreneur with more than 15 years’ leadership experience, utilizing strategic foresight, analytical abilities, and trend spotting in diverse areas. He worked for 13 years in finance and reached Senior Management level in a Swiss Private Bank, before making a career move to marketing. He is now the CEO of R-Squared Digital, a leading Influencer Marketing Agency in South Africa, operating locally and internationally.

Experience defines joy. Cigars, food, travel and his pets are his life.

Nneka Keshi

Client Partner - Facebook Africa

Nneka is a Client Partner at Facebook Africa managing some of the organisations biggest clients.

A global digital strategist and marketer, Nneka has over 11 years of highly successful digital marketing expertise, leadership, seasoned business development and client account management acumen to her credit. Her strength lies in focusing on the ROI and her engines rev best when she is in the digital realm, building an army of ambassadors to promote a company, clients, products, people or services. Nneka has extensive global digital marketing expertise meaning she can provide immediate value navigating the US, European, African and Middle Eastern markets.

Amanda Onamandla Mathe

Founder and Director - Ndlovukazi Media Online

Nicked named the digital matriarch and known to agencies as the Olivia Pope of social media. Amanda prides herself in building recognisable brands and providing support in the love of building a better community. She is a professional journalist, with years of experience in the news media, corporate social media management, and online development space

Andrea Opoku

Director and Africa Ambassador - Women in Marketing (WiM) CIC

Andrea has been a founding member of the Women in Marketing (WiM) network since its creation in 2004 when it was part of the Chartered Institute of Marketing. In December 2017 she was brought on as a Director to support the activities of the organisation which had recently been formed as a Community Interest Company (CIC). Andrea has led onWiM’s global expansion strategy, specifically on the African continent, hence the launch of WiM Africa.

Andrea runs astrategic marketing and branding consultancy and was formerly Executive Director at BSP Media International, a UK-based market and industry intelligence provider – producing and delivering conferences and industry events on Technology, Media and Telecoms across Africa.

Andrea’s career began at a multimedia software publishing company in Paris and over a 10-year period moved into campaign management and communications roles in property, education, food retail, men’s fashion, office design and build, and outdoor adventure sports.

Andrea trains and lectures on marketing planning, social media and digital marketing strategy; she also blogs and writes about marketing, business and Africa.

WiM Africa Launch Presentation