Avatar Agency, South Africa’s largest 100% black owned Agency founded by entrepreneurs Zibusiso Mkhwanazi and Veli Ngubane, is marking its 10-year anniversary this week.
With its roots firmly on the ground, Avatar has it eyes set on the next 10 years. The agency group hopes to cement its approach and continue to inspire, integrate and innovate ideas that move people.
In its new chapter, Avatar names Mzamo Xala – who has been leading dual roles as Chief Strategy Officer and Managing Director of their B2B company, Resilience – as Group Chief Executive Officer as from 1 March 2022. Veli Ngubane, Avatar’s co-founding partner, will continue to enrich the groups creative pedigree as Chief Creative Officer, working closely alongside Xala.
“What began from my small bedroom in the township with R2000 as seed capital has risen up to winning against the biggest multinational groups to become a lead global agency. Our work touching billions of people around the world, impacting global brands in understanding diversity in an African and global context; us being at the center of communication with the presidency in combating the biggest crisis of our time being COVID-19 and creating employment opportunities for over 400 people over the 10 years since our inception of which some are still with us,” explains Mkhwanazi. “The roots myself and Veli planted 10 years ago continues to grow and I have complete confidence that Mzamo will take this group to even greater heights.”
Under Xala’s leadership, Avatar hopes to drive sustainable impact on people and brands. “We will continue to showcase and demonstrate how our world-class people, working with world-class Clients, come together to create world-class work.
The encouragement, challenges and feedback our clients’ give us inspire us to do better, every day. We will continue to challenge ourselves to deliver work that is relevant, original and impactful,” adds Xala.
Avatar’s success story remains solid. It’s impactful work, both in South Africa and abroad, have become integral to its Clients’ brand stories. “In the next 10 years, we will keep raising the bar. We can’t thank our teams, partners and Clients enough for all their contributions to the growth of Avatar.
We will be celebrating this milestone throughout 2022 and we look forward to having them alongside us as we shape the future of marketing, media and advertising together in the next decade,” ends Mkhwanazi.
