Of the appointment, he says, “This is a great opportunity. I am humbled to have been chosen for a role within this global company.”

As chief strategic officer of MEC, Qokweni hopes to provide the company’s clients with a consistent product across all brands and to take clients like Vodacom into the future by building on their reputation and love amongst consumers. He also looks forward to learning more about global insights and trends and applying this knowledge locally.

Erica Gunning, MD of South Africa MEC Group says, “Having an integrated thinker like Lwandile in our business will enable us to further our aims of growing our strategic product with local talent who understand the South African market. I believe that he will be crucial to our media and communication strategy which has integration and collaboration at its core.”

Qokweni, who studied Integrated Marketing Communications with specialisation in Media Strategy and Brand Management at the AAA School of Advertising and attained a creative thinking certificate from the Red and Yellow School, shares that he was drawn to the marketing field due to his interests in people and consumer behaviour.

He began his career in 2003 as a Media Implementation Planner at FCB Advertising. With his flair for figures, fascination with the future and enthusiasm for new technologies, he swiftly became recognised as a strategist – initially serving as a brand strategic planner with FCB and then as a senior brand strategic planner at Ogilvy.

In 2009 he joined Carat as Media Department head and was instrumental in sourcing and winning new business to grow the company’s Johannesburg footprint. He was later promoted to head of Strategy and Sub Saharan Africa. After four years of service, Qokweni took up a post as the company’s managing director while continuing to oversee the management of 10 clients in 19 countries.

In addition to his professional endeavours, Qokweni is a founding member of the Progressive Investment Group (PIG) - an investment fund created with the sole purpose of funding small business ideas in South Africa. In addition to sourcing and supplying funding, PIG provides expert support and business planning advice.

He is also an organising committee member and participant of 1965 Ride, an annual cycle tour that aims to raise funds for bursaries to enable deserving learners to receive a quality education.

Additionally, Qokweni is a committee member of Queens Collage Old Alumni Johannesburg, which is dedicated to upholding the school’s quality through raising funds, providing positive PR and offering expertise when required.