Andile Khumalo is the new chairman of the House of Brave

House of Brave is proud to announce that Andile Khumalo is the group’s new Non-Executive Chairman with immediate effect.

This follows House of Brave announcing a Black Economic Empowerment transaction in February 2018 that saw Karabo Songo and Musa Kalenga acquire an initial 25.1% of the Group through their investment company Fastgro. Karabo Songo currently serves as Group CEO while Musa Kalenga serves as Chief Future Officer.

A Chartered Accountant by profession, Andile is the Chief Investment Officer of MSG Afrika, a black-owned media and communications group with interests in Radio, TV Production, as well as PR & Communications. He is also a former member of the Takeover Regulations Panel of South Africa, and also served as a Non-Executive Director of South African Airways, President of ABASA & Treasurer of the Black Business Council.

HOB CEO Karabo Songo says; “Andile is a one of the pioneers and entrepreneurs of building major successful communications groups in South Africa and the continent and as a board, we are glad to have him help lead and share our journey, as we seek to build a diversified credible and solutions-driven communications group”.

With the journey of transforming House of Brave Group into a diverse black-owned entity, this announcement is also a major step towards enhancing the partnership between the shareholders: Vanessa Pearson, Rob Van Rooyen, Andrew Shuttleworth, Musa Kalenga and Karabo Songo.

Khumalo comments; “My experience in the industry saw us build a credible agency group that attracted the interest of the largest advertising group in the world namely WPP which acquired half of our agencies in 2009. That also led to the creation of a new agency that I helped lead into key markets in the rest of Africa, which was rather exciting. When Karabo and Musa asked me to share some of that experience with them in their new acquisition, I was initially uncertain due to the changes I was observing in the global and local agency landscape. After rigorous conversation with both of them and when  I met Andrew, Rob, Vanessa and the rest of the Brave team, it felt right to be a part of this journey – one that promises to truly change the game!”.

He adds; “While I believe the fundamentals of great communication haven’t changed, it is impossible to ignore the constant shifts in consumer habits, profiles and tastes. The needs of clients have also evolved and the combination of these factors means the marketing context has changed. The reality, however, is that within this context very little has altered in the business model.

“Overall, these changes are driving clients to demand much more of their advertising agencies – demands that are often unmet mainly due to the legacy of the agency business model. For some reason we have forgotten the real reason clients come to us. We’ve forgotten that we are in fact, a creative industry. Through this business, our single minded goal is to build a creative business, powered by service models and enabled by technology” concludes Khumalo.