media update’s Aisling McCarthy chatted to Zwambila about Riverbed’s 10th birthday and the need for transformation in the PR industry.

In the last 10 years, what do you feel has been your biggest achievement, as an agency as well as on a personal level?

Building a leading black female-owned agency in what is still a white-dominated environment – and, even more so, dominated by multinationals.

My personal aspirations have always been aligned to what I have delivered through Riverbed. I am, however, particularly proud of what has been achieved through the ‘Greater Good’ initiatives that Riverbed supports.

Tell us about your philosophy, “Do great things for good”?

Our ‘Greater Good’ philosophy is built on three pillars:
  • Greater good for our customers means delivering great work;
  • Greater good for our employees means identifying and growing talent and rewarding great work; and
  • Greater Good in the communities in which we serve. To this end, we have done pro bono work for black start-ups, Autism SA, and, more recently, Save the Children. We are also currently putting two deserving black students through school.
You mentioned that you would like to expand Riverbed into Africa to create a “United Nations of Africa”. Please tell us a bit more about this idea?

The rise of local content across all platforms, such as TV, social media and so forth, highlights what happens when we’re given an opportunity to tell our own stories.

This is what brands need to do – and, as such, I have a bigger vision to build an agency with an extended footprint on the continent that can tell local stories well.

Our approach is to grow with our clients through immediate opportunities that exist with clients through some of our work with multinational corporations and clients that have an Africa expansion strategy.

What else would you like Riverbed to achieve in the coming years?

We are far from the realisation of our goals.

I always remind my team of Michelangelo’s quote, “The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short, but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.”

So, as you can imagine, we fail often! Our vision is to be the greatest, to make a difference in the way we build brands, and to impact consumers.

Riverbed is described as a “black, female-owned and managed” agency. Do you think this gives you an edge over your competition when it comes to telling South African stories? Why?

Unfortunately, it doesn’t give us the edge over our competitors. It does, however, sometimes get us a seat at the table.

It is interesting that women make most purchase decisions and, yet, very few women create the ads that target them. This has to change.

I believe that, in SA with a compelling BBBEE mandate, there is room for transformation that enables more black people to create campaigns for a largely black audience.

Why do you think it is important to have black females represented in positions of power within the public relations industry?

Advancements in gender parity continue to be slow. The BWA Women in Leadership Census highlighted that only 8.7% of JSE-listed companies have 25% or more female directors. I’m not sure what the stats are for our industry, but we don’t see enough black women in power.

South Africa is one of the few countries that has an annual public holiday dedicated to women. Women make up a large portion of our population, our workforce, and our purchase decisions, more so in the fast-moving consumer goods space.

It is, therefore, important to harness the benefits that come with having women in power against this backdrop. Several studies have been done around the impact women make to profitability – and this is largely due to the diversity, intuitive nature, and collaborative approach that women bring.

Even more so, in South Africa, women really are the foundation of our society and these insights are pivotal to any brand and customer.

In order to see the PR industry as more representative of the population, what do you think can be done to increase the number of black women in the industry?

We need to begin to lobby businesses to drive transformation.

For as long as the demand side (business) doesn’t see the value in working with black agencies, black creatives, etc., we will continue to end up getting meager opportunities that won’t drive change.

I’m advocating that corporates begin to allocate a portion of their spend to black agencies, especially when the brands they work on are consumed by black people.

For more information, visit www.theriverbedagency.co.za

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Interested in other black females making their mark? Read more in our article, Meet Joe Public’s new deputy MD: Khuthala Gala-Holten