Board composition changes, but the BCSA mission and core values retain enduring relevance. The board drives the mission set out by BCSA’s Higher Purpose, which is leveraging the power of brands and the brand marketing profession to create distinctive and sustainable social and economic value for organisations, people and the nation.

At the same time, the team ensures strategic commitment to our role as outlined in their founding vision.

The BCSA has set out an ambitious goal to serve as a body that ultimately will unify our broader brand industry by facilitating strategic interactions between all brand stakeholders across the entire marketing value chain.

The 2015 board is well equipped for these tasks. Continuity has been assured by retaining a solid core of existing members while new blood has been introduced to provide additional energy and fresh perspectives.

The board welcomes six newcomers:

  • Leigh-Anne Acquisto: managing director at Liquorice;
  • Brad Dessington: chief executive of Rogue;
  • Paul Kirsten: finance and operations director at HKLM;
  • Sbu Manqele: executive director of Switch;
  • Kagiso Musi: managing director of Brand Union; and
  • Ingrid Veysie: executive director of strategic solutions at Yellowwood Future Architects.

They join seven existing directors:

  • Ivan Moroke (chairperson), chief executive officer at TBWA\ Hunt\ Lascaris;
  • Dr Carla Enslin (vice-chairperson), national academic head at VEGA;
  • Professor Nicola Kleyn, dean of the Gordon Institute of Business Science;
  • Anton Krugel, group creative director at InterbrandSampsonDeVilliers;
  • Nick Schilperoort, client service and strategic director at XFacta
  • Paul Hinch, partner at Grid; and
  • Dr Henk Pretorius, chief executive officer at Columinate.


A key board function is to oversee BCSA recruitment from across the brand marketing spectrum, thereby ensuring broad representation across all brand communication and marketing disciplines, from supply (education and people development at agencies) to demand (from client companies).

Comprehensive representation enables BCSA to achieve a more balanced and aligned way to grow our industry.

The board plans various initiatives to support the four key pillars of BCSA strategy – connect, inspire, education and value.

Dessington comments: "The connect pillar will be largely responsible for growing the diversity and breadth of membership of BCSA. New models for membership are being considered for various membership groups. The pillar will look to create dialogue, idea-sharing and collaboration within the industry and will be introducing multiple channels for industry connections."

Musi points out: "The inspire pillar needs to do just that; inspire. We plan to get involved with conversations and events in and around the creative and branding industry. We will participate in situations where creativity and branding play a constructive role and make positive industry impact. We hope to create headway in this space and not simply replicate the conversations marketers are having."

Enslin notes: "The education pillar creates opportunities for students, educational institutions, young professionals and the industry at large to better understand and find purpose in the strategic and creative industries involved in launching, building and evolving brands."

Acquisto says of the value pillar: "Our intention is to unpack the ROI debate and interrogate it from a number of angles in order to start the discussion about delivering real measurable value to businesses. We do not intend to propose a solution, but rather look to collaborate with the industry as a whole and start working towards that point."

As always, the board faces challenges, but the BCSA purpose, role and strategic pillars provide a robust framework for delivery. The leadership team has made an energetic start. Exciting progress is now in prospect.

For more information on the Brand Council SA, visit their website.