A trailblazing advocate for a brand-led African renaissance
Thebe Ikalafeng is a Hall of Fame global African branding authority and THE leading advocate for a brand-led African renaissance. He is a trailblazing marketer who has been recognized as one of the Most Influential and Reputable Africans. Since being awarded a Marquette University American Marketing Association for marketing excellence upon graduation in 1992 in the United States, he has made a sustained, distinguished and consequential contribution to branding and in reframing the African narrative for over 30 years.
He is the founder of Brand Leadership Group, a multi-disciplinary branding advisory group at the intersection of strategy, creativity and intellectual property law; and Brand Africa, the seminal non-profit pan-African movement for a brand-led African agenda, and pioneer of the ‘Brand Africa 100: Africa’s Best Brands’ initiative, widely referenced as the definitive barometer of brands in Africa.
He has been recognized with Lifetime Achievement awards by Financial Mail AdFocus (2021) and the Public Relations Institute of Southern Africa (2022) for his contributions to marketing, branding and communications, and received a Special Recognition award for ‘extraordinary contributions to branding and Africa at the 7th EMY Africa (2023) in Ghana and was honoured as an “Industry Icon” at the GQ Men of the Year awards in 2023.
He has been conferred with Honorary Doctoral degrees (PhD)(Honoris Causa) by the University of Johannesburg and the University of South Africa for exceptional contributions to the industry, branding and Africa.
He has been to every country in Africa and every continent in the world from Cape to Cairo, and the North Pole in Greenland to the South Pole in Antarctica.
CONVERSATIONS
Ikalafeng has hosted or been hosted on conversations with influential Africans and media across various platforms on diverse industry trends and practices on media, marketing, branding, intellectual property, leadership.
SAARF’s closure and replacement by the Marketing Research Foundation (MRF) marks a significant change in the media and marketing landscape. Gordon Muller and Thebe Ikalafeng discuss this with Jennifer Daniels, Sechaba Motsiela, and Virginia Hollis.
TRAVEL & ADVENTURE
Ikalafeng has been to every official African Union (AU) and disputed country in Africa (60) and every continent (7) in the world from Cape to Cairo, and the North Pole in Greenland to the South Pole in Antarctica; trekked the rare silverback gorillas on the Virunga mountains in Rwanda and Uganda; summitted Mt. Kilimanjaro and the historic Mt. Sinai, and jumped the 216m high Bloukrans Bridge bunjee in South Africa, among his breath-taking travels and adventures across 120 countries globally.
