By Samuel Auma
Africa has, for the first time, put names to the people behind its most powerful brands. The inaugural Africa CMO 100, launched in Johannesburg on 27 March 2026 by Brand Africa in partnership with African Business magazine, MIPAD and the African Media Agency, recognises one hundred marketing, brand and reputation leaders shaping the continent’s story, identity and commercial future. And for Malawi, a small landlocked nation that rarely features in continental business rankings, the list carries an outsized significance.
Pan African Visions spoke to James Woods-Nkhutabasa, a Malawian strategic communications and geopolitical expert and former diplomat who served on the ACMO100 Review Committee as part of its diaspora panel, about what the inaugural list represents.
“What the ACMO100 does is hold a mirror to something Africa has always known but rarely documented: that the talent is here, it has always been here, and it is operating at the very highest level,” said Woods-Nkhutabasa. “What this list does for the first time is make that undeniable. It names the people. It records the contribution. And it forces a reckoning with the question of why African brands still lag so far behind the trust Africans place in non-African ones. The answer is not talent. The answer is investment, infrastructure and narrative. ACMO100 begins to change that narrative.”
A Continent-Wide Reckoning
Brand Africa’s fifteen years of independent research have consistently found that while 68 percent of Africans believe in Africa, only 18 percent of the brands they most admire are African. The share of African-origin brands among the continent’s most admired peaked at 34 percent in 2011 and has since fallen to a historic low of 11 percent in 2025. Only five African brands have featured in every edition of the Brand Africa 100 since it began: Dangote, Glo, MTN, Tiger Brands and Tusker.
“CMOs and senior brand leaders are among the most powerful architects of Africa’s future,” said Thebe Ikalafeng, Founder and Chairman of Brand Africa. “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.”
The list spans twenty countries and more than fifty distinct role titles, carrying no internal ranking. All one hundred honourees hold equal standing. Three findings define the inaugural edition: women constitute 62 percent of honourees, a majority across every region; financial services leads all sectors with 31 entries; and Southern Africa leads geographically with 39 honourees, anchored by Johannesburg as the marketing capital of the continent.
The Names Shaping Africa’s Brand Story
The breadth of the list reflects African marketing talent at its most consequential. Anthony Chiejina, Chief Group Brand and Communications Officer at Dangote Group, stewards brand strategy across 36 African countries. Andisa Ntsubane holds a pan-continental mandate at Vodacom as Managing Executive for Brand Marketing and Communications Africa. François Viviers oversees brand at Capitec Bank as Group Executive for Marketing and Communications. Mounir Jazouli serves as Chief Marketing and Institutional Relations Officer at Bank of Africa. Eight diaspora leaders, based in the USA and UAE, running marketing at Visa, Unilever, DoorDash and BET Media Group, underscore the reach of African-origin talent at the top of the world’s most competitive brand portfolios.
North Africa delivers the list’s most instructive regional signal: Morocco alone accounts for seven entries, more than Egypt and Algeria combined, reflecting Casablanca’s emergence as a continental marketing hub.
The Baobab: Honouring Legacy
Alongside the ACMO100, Brand Africa announced the inaugural Baobab | ACMO Hall of Fame, honouring those whose careers have made an enduring contribution to Africa’s brand narrative. Inaugural recipients are Bozoma Saint John, the Ghanaian icon whose career from PepsiCo to Apple Music, Uber and Netflix made her Netflix’s first-ever Black C-level executive and, per Forbes, the world’s most influential CMO; Sylvia Mulinge, first-ever female CEO of MTN Uganda, who delivered 30 percent net profit growth in 2024 after more than fifteen years at Safaricom; Bernice Samuels, retiring from MTN in 2026 after more than three decades building a brand legacy across 23 markets; and Souheil Badaa, former CMO of Novartis Group and founder of Tanakoo, a Moroccan chocolate brand built explicitly for Africa.
Malawi’s Moment
Two Malawians have been named among Africa’s 100 most influential marketing leaders: Sobhuza Ngwenya, Marketing Director at Telekom Networks Malawi (TNM) Plc, and Levie Nkunika, Head of Digital Financial Services at FDH Bank Plc, both companies listed on the Malawi Stock Exchange.
Ngwenya’s career spans FMCG at Unilever, telecoms, experiential marketing and financial services. At TNM, Malawi’s pioneer mobile network and only 5G operator, he has stewarded a brand portfolio that includes the TNM Super League sustained at a K500 million sponsorship, and culturally rooted partnerships including the Umthetho Cultural Festival. He holds an MBA from the Management College of Southern Africa, a BBA from the University of Malawi, and the Chartered Institute of Marketing (UK) Chartered Postgraduate Diploma. He serves as Vice President of the CIM Malawi Chapter.
Nkunika has built his reputation at the intersection of digital financial services and brand leadership, driving FDH Bank’s marketing and growth strategy in one of southern Africa’s most competitive banking environments.
“Being named among the Top 100 Chief Marketing Officers in Africa is both humbling and deeply motivating. This recognition reflects the unwavering support of my executives, peers, and the dedication of my team,” said Nkunika. “I have embraced the role of a growth architect, leveraging data, technology, and customer insight.”
“As one of only two leading brands recognised in Malawi, this honour is testimony that the TNM brand connects and serves its customers with unmatched excellence and dedication,” said Ngwenya.
Both men are serial Marketer of the Year winners under the Institute of Marketing Malawi.
For James Woods-Nkhutabasa, who served on the ACMO Review Committee and knows the Malawian business landscape intimately, their recognition carries significance well beyond the professional.
“Sobhuza and Levie are not beneficiaries of this recognition, they are its architects. Both men have spent years doing the quiet, disciplined work of building brands that Malawians genuinely trust, in an environment that offers none of the structural advantages available to their counterparts in Lagos, Nairobi or Johannesburg. To be recognised at continental level alongside the marketing chiefs of MTN, Dangote, Safaricom and Vodacom, from Malawi, with Malawian teams and Malawian market realities, is not a footnote. That is a profound statement about what this country’s talent is capable of when it is given the space to lead. I am deeply proud of what they have achieved and honoured to have played a part in a process that finally puts their names where they belong, on the continental record.”
Brand Africa Week, Addis Ababa, May 2026
The inaugural ACMO100 honourees will be celebrated at Brand Africa Week in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 22 to 26 May 2026, in the week of Africa Day. The full list is available at www.brand.africa.
#ACMO100 | #BrandAfricaWeek2026
Pan African Visions is a pan-continental platform for African geopolitical, economic and strategic affairs.
