Lindiwe Gumede, opens up on being a first time CMO, having built and shaped major brands under many multinational businesses. Before being the Chief Marketing Officer for Metropolitan, Lindiwe led brands at PepsiCo, Coca Cola, Tiger Brands and Distell (now known as Heineken beverages).She holds a Master of Philosophy in Marketing (M.Phil.) from IMM, has completed a Senior Management Development Programme at the University of Stellenbosch, and is an alumna of the LEAP Leadership Harvard Programme. Passionate about building impactful brands, Lindiwe is dedicated to finding innovative solutions to complex problems. She is a fervent advocate for people's development, believing deeply in empowering others to excel and bring their best selves to work.As a mentor, Lindiwe finds great fulfilment working with young professionals. Passionately supporting their growth and success. She firmly believes that every young person deserves the opportunity to thrive and is committed to helping them build a brighter future. This dedication aligns closely with her values of life-long learning and curiosity.Outside of work, Lindiwe values quality time with her family and enjoys outdoor activities such as hiking and adventure sports. A music enthusiast, she jokes that if it weren't for her career in marketing, she might have pursued a path as the next Brenda Fassie.

CMO Corner – Episode 4: Building a Brave Strategy for the FutureJoin us as we dive into what it really takes to craft a brave brand strategy in today’s fast-evolving marketplace. Our guest, Musa Kalenga—CEO of Brave Group, former Facebook Client Partner for Africa, and author of The Brave Code—shares his visionary approach to marketing, innovation, and transformation.In this episode, Musa challenges conventional thinking by looking at the role of marketing in the South African Economy and takes a closer look at the South African youth voices on how the new perspective can drive bold strategies. He challenges CMO's at the forefront of change and how they can leverage FORGE & Other Case Studies in transforming traditional marketing approaches. Furthermore the episode looks at the following: Why innovation is no longer optional—it’s fundamental. “We don’t innovate to be different, we innovate to remain necessary.” How true innovation disrupts systems, questions assumptions, and moves beyond surface-level change.What it means to build a strategy rooted in cultural intelligence, technological fluency, and purpose-driven creativity—so brands stay relevant in African markets and beyond. The power of Black ownership and inclusive leadership, and why Brave Group’s transformation to 100% Black-owned marks a pivotal moment—for business and societal progress. How the agency’s AI-powered platform Forge is reinventing the creative process—slashing campaign time by 80% while enhancing personalization and ROI.FREE Forge trial link for The CMO Corner Community: https://forgebybrave.ai/sign-in?cmo=true

In Episode 3 of The Brave Future CMO Code, Musa Kalenga and I look into the anatomy of pitching and we unlock some key elements of it that could set you up for success in winning that pitch! We looked at the potential of an AI-Powered Pitch Development: From Concept to Presentation, which we got to experience with the TECC (The Empty Cup Crew) team. We discussed what really is the make up of the Magic Dust as defined by Musa, which is balancing AI tools with authentic storytelling and we closed off on an unpopular opinion around the future-forward pitching: how young marketers are revolutionizing client acquisition and how a bad workmen always blames their tools. So the question then is are you using these new AI tools correctly and to your benefit? #FutureForged #TheCMOCorner #TheBraveCMOCodeHere is one tool we have negotiated that you can use for FREE as a CMO Corner subscriber for the next 3 months:Forge (End to End Marketing tool): https://forgebybrave.ai/sign-in?cmo=true

In Episode 2 of THE BRAVE FUTURE CMO CODE, we discuss the crafting of clear briefs, what components make a great brief and how to actually score your brief. They say garbage in, garbage out and no marketer wants to get bad output, so in this episode we also take a look at a new AI powered tool called Forge. This is an end-to-end marketing tool set to revolutionize the way in which we do marketing.Courtesy of the CMO Corner, if you use the link provided below, you could use Forge at a discounted rate, courtesy of The CMO Corner and Forge partnership. Link to Forge: https://forgebybrave.ai/sign-in?cmo=true

The CMO Corner and FORGE have partnered to bring you 4 episodes that aim to lift the floor on Marketing and help marketers at all levels to not only adapt, but to also lead the new era of marketing. EPISODE 1: THE FUTURE CMO looks at the host Thabani Khumalo and the guest, Founder of FORGE - Musa Kalenga set the tone for the series and discuss three key main themes: AI domains and looking at why Marketing is one of the first industries to be disrupted by AI and why? How marketing has evolved, looking at the demand and supply side (Client and Agency side) building on the biggest aspects influencing AI disruptions? and lastly close off with the AI mindset of a marketing leader, looking at the AI toolbox, the tools that are currently existing that could be beneficial for marketers today.In the discussion Musa listed a couple of tools that you can use and how each of them have different benefits: Claude: (Good with numerical logic and text based logic): https://claude.ai/Elevenlabs: (PDF to voice, text to speech) https://elevenlabs.io/Gemini: (Good for Deep research): https://gemini.google.com/appPerplexity (Academic references): https://www.perplexity.ai/Chat GPT: (The AI OG): https://openai.com/index/chatgpt/Grok: (Public opinion): https://x.ai/Forge (End to End Marketing tool): https://forgebybrave.ai/sign-in?cmo=trueResearch References discussed in our conversation: Here is the Science Direct journal reference: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science....Here is the MIT research MIT Sloan Management Review - How AI Can Help You Become More Creative: https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-t...

Elizabeth Mokwena is the first guest who is in charge of the marketing function of a FMCG/CPG business that is the scale of a major multinational like Unliver to be featured on The CMO Corner. Elizabeth Mokwena is the Executive Marketing Director at Unilever for the Home Care division in Southern Africa. She is also the Chairperson for the IAB Bookmark awards - the foremost leading digital marketing awards. She described her work as ‘giving global brands an African passport, while giving African brands global exposure’ and has a passion for nurturing the next generation of African brand builders.‘I believe in the power of creativity to change the world,’ said Mokwena. ‘Digital innovation compounds the possibilities of doing this faster, more cost-effectively and with scale. I think 2025 is a redemptive year for our industry and I am honoured to assist the IAB South Africa and the Bookmarks in identifying and celebrating digital work that has had a measurable impact. I am confident we will raise the bar for South Africa’s digital work. Excellence is the standard.’ said Mokwena.

Sylvester Chauke, is what I define as a maverick in the brand, marketing and communications world globally. Chauke has led one of the biggest agencies that has come out of the African Continent. As the founder of DNA Brand Architects, the agency has created a much-needed voice in the PR landscape in Africa. DNA boasts an impressive haul of accolades, including ICCO World’s Best, PRISM Large PR Agency of the Year (2021, 2022, and 2023), IABC Best of the Best, and a spot on Adweek’s Top 100 Fastest GrowingAgencies in the World in 2023. Sylvester’s vision continues to challenge the industry with bold, culturally resonant storytelling. With a trophy shelf that’s anything but bland, Sylvester has been named CNBC All Africa Young Business Leader of the Year and serves on several influential boards,including the World Economic Forum Global Shapers Advisory Council, theUniversity of Johannesburg Advisory Council, and the SA State Theatre. He’s a TEDspeaker and authored the unapologetically inspiring Stand Against Bland.Driven by a fiery passion for creativity and transformation, Sylvester championsAfrican excellence—not as a distant dream but as a dynamic, living reality. For him,creativity is more than an art; it’s a force that shapes how we see the world and howAfrica tells its story to the world.I hope the interview is helpful and something you can enjoy!

In 2024, The Odd Number won the prestigious Loeries Independent Agency of the year award. Founded by Sbu Sitole and his partner and childhood friend Xola Nouse this agency has worked and shaped some of the leading brands in just a space of 10 years. Sbu and I reflect on his journey, the journey of The Odd Number, and the work they have managed to execute in the industry. Sbu Sitole is the Co-Founder and Chief Creative Director of The Odd Number, South Africa’s Agency of the year 2017 and 2019 respectively. Since it’s founding in 2015, The Odd Number has consistently won awards in all South Africa’s major award shows including The Creative Circle, the Loeries Awards, as well as the Pendorings Awards - most recently ranked 2nd most awarded agency to feature in the show. In 2018, Sbu was voted most admired Executive Creative Director in Johannesburg, and second most admired Executive Creative Director in South Africa 2019, in a local poll amongst South African Creative leaders. Most recently The Odd Number won its first 4 One Show Merits, becoming the first 100% Black Owned Agency to ever garner this accolade. The Odd Number, is currently at second place in the Creative Circle Rankings. Sbu has recently been appointed as Chairman of the Loeries Africa Middle East, as well as judged major international award shows including The Cannes Lions, The Dubai Lynx as Jury President and The One Show Awards.

X3M Ideas is the first West African agency to win a Cannes Lion. We talk about what it took to do that, how the new media of today will be the old media of tomorrow or the next 6 months and how meeting the consumer where they are will win your the intangible award of being their most loved brand in their hearts.

I brought the legend of the Marketing business, what urban culture refers to as the OG. For those that don't know (no judgement) OG, short for “original gangster” or “original gangsta,” is a slang term for someone who's incredibly exceptional, authentic, or “old-school". Frank and I spoke about how we got here, how we got to the place of how we stopped being considered. But we do two critical things as well, we define humanized growth and what we can do to get ourselves back to the main table, the main room, the boardroom. Frank talks about what we can do, how we do it and why we need to drive it and most important, who needs to drive this!