Bulela Mkandawire - Founder & Principal, Zala media - a boutique integrated marketing communication consultancy

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Network Power<100 people

Roles

💸50%

Marketing

✨50%

Business Owner

👍50%

Sales & BizDev

Geos

Work Background

FreelanceFreelance Consultant - Brand & Sponsorship, Strategic Communications and Global Marketing Management

Apr. 2023Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa · Hybrid

EngenCorporate Brand & Sponsorship Manager

Jun. 2018 - Apr. 2023Cape Town Area, South Africa · HybridRole Synopsis: I managed a team of marketing and sponsorship professionals and six marketing and advertising agencies dedicated to the Engen business. As a Corporate Brand & Sponsorship Manager, I managed the group brand and sponsorship programs, negotiating sponsorship deals and maximising sponsorship revenue. I collaborate with various stakeholders across the business, from the Social and Ethics Board sub-committee to forecourt operators, to ensure consistent brand experience in line with the strategy. I am a trusted subject matter expert, able to lead and follow eloquently.

ChevronCommunity Affairs: Policy Government & Public Affairs

Sep. 2015 - Dec. 2015Cape Town Area, South AfricaRole Synopsis: As the Community Affairs Manager, I stepped in to mitigate risks of the business not achieving the full points for Sociology-economic development. Providing excellent service in a collaborative setting. I managed the company’s relationship with public/community constituencies and created positive relationships with community groups, stakeholders and other organisations. I significantly impacted the trust and relationships between Chevron and the local communities, salvaging any risk of not maintaining the BBBEE requirements.

ChevronChange Management Lead

Jun. 2014 - Aug. 2015Cape Town Area, South AfricaI was seconded into a Change Management Lead role. Ensuring that organisational projects and initiatives met objectives on time and within budget by increasing employee adoption and usage. My part focused on the people side of change, which involved preparing, supporting, and equipping people to adopt and transition to new business processes, systems and technology, job roles, organisation structures, My primary responsibility as the change Lead was to develop and implement change management strategies and plans that maximised employee adoption and usage of required changes. These responsibilities also included programs and efforts to anticipate and minimise resistant behaviours from employees and stakeholders impacted by the changes. My goal in the position was to convert the hearts and minds to ensure buy-in, adoption, utilisation of changes, and proficiency with the changes that impacted employees. These improvements increase benefits realisation, value creation, ROI, and achieving results and outcomes. As the Change Management Lead, I had supervisory responsibility and had to work with and through many other departments in the organisation to succeed. My role’s most significant part was supporting and coaching people, managers, and supervisors as they helped their teams through their transitions. As a coach for senior leaders and executives, I assisted them in fulfilling the critical role of change management sponsor. Similarly, I supported Project managers and teams in integrating change management activities with their project plans.

ChevronSenior Brand Specialist (EMEA)

Oct. 2012 - May. 2018Cape Town Area, South AfricaRole Synopsis: As a Senior Brand Specialist, my role advocated for brand visibility and consistency, establishing a solid connection between the brand and stakeholders. I Led Brand Strategic direction, annual planning, and managing brand budgets while managing three agencies and internal teams. My role was to develop the brand activation strategy, with inter and cross-departmental collaboration with internal and external teams, building upon the current reputation to heighten and monitor public awareness of Chevron in line with the overall marketing strategies. My role was to assist in developing, delivering, and assessing the brand to ensure consistency and presence of brand standards within the market and against its competitors. A significant part of my job was to drive idea generation and execute effective brand strategies that further ensured brand awareness internally and externally in line with the centralised department for brand affairs. Working with external agencies/stakeholders, as the Specialist, l would partake in workshops/events and review brand applications across various mediums, from outdoor signage to stationary to products to advertising and across our sponsorship events. The role also included a high competency in project Management, as it was critical to ensure brand guidelines were met while managing project timelines.

Woolworths (Pty) LtdBrand Manager: Woolworths Foods

Aug. 2011 - Oct. 2012Cape Town Area, South AfricaRole Synopsis: As a Brand Manager looking after the Foods Division, I translated the broader marketing plan for relevance in supporting the foods division. To deliver that, I watched marketing trends locally and abroad and closely monitored market competition. Working under the head of Foods Marketing, I was responsible for developing, implementing, and executing marketing initiatives and activities to support the food business to drive sales and repeat purchases while driving Woolworth’s brand pillars and positioning. These initiatives and activities included print, web, social media, tv, events and roadshow campaigns, and internal brand engagement for the Woolworths MasterChef SA sponsorships. My role was to protect the food brands and to do so. I had to contact other departments, such as finance, marketing communications, sales, and product development, to ensure a strategic overview of the business and future market opportunities were followed and aligned with our targets. This would allow me to focus on the Consumer, draw on consumer research, and monitor market trends. Therefore, having a grasp of the target market and potential target markets and partly determining the reactions to the marketing campaigns and how customers are talking about the brand. As the Brand Manager, I played a pivotal role within senior management teams when providing feedback and analysis on crucial brand activity. For example, what return on investment has been seen from campaigns? What has worked well for specific products of the brand, and what lessons were learned from others? Furthermore, I helped to provide input into future activity and feed in to help support corporate strategy and direction, making me a vital business contributor within the value chain.

Woolworths (Pty) LtdBBBEE Generalist (Secondment)

Jan. 2011 - Jul. 2011Cape Town Area, South AfricaIn this secondment as the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Generalist, my role was to act as the custodian for my colleague on maternity leave within her department due to my capability within stakeholder management communications and the ability to ensure this continuity. I Developed a transformation Communications plan and proactively positioned Woolworths internally to showcase our efforts in B-BBEE and transformation.

Woolworths (Pty) LtdFood Group Communication Manager

Feb. 2006 - Jul. 2011Cape Town Area, South AfricaRole Synopsis: I started my journey with Woolworths as the Food Group Communications Manager, responsible for ensuring that the strategic plans at the head office were understood and seamlessly executed at the store level. As the Communications Manager, my duties included supervising a team of Communication specialists, approving communication elements, advertising media, and messaging, and coordinating with product developers, sales and trade planning, forecast planning and store personnel at various levels to ensure that the brand was consistently experienced My expertise in understanding marketing-related concepts, such as advertising, marketing analytics, and consumer behaviour, assisted me greatly in this role. As the Communications Manager, my role primarily promoted the Food Groups mission; I worked closely with management teams and execs to shape the department’s image, values, and proper communication methods to various stakeholders – internally and externally. My key responsibilities here were to identify press opportunities and develop content to be disseminated via websites, newsletters, national product roadshows and any other distribution channels. Most importantly, ensure messaging aligns with key business strategies.

VMC Unique Group Ltd, United Kingdom (Became AVMI and is now Kinly)Client Advisor

Jun. 2003 - Jul. 2005London Area, United Kingdom · On-siteRole Synopsis: In 2003 I took a work sabbatical to the United Kingdom and worked as the Client Advisor at VMC Unique Group Ltd, United Kingdom. My role was to offer business support to help clients stay connected with their global operations. My part was to train, support and facilitate online video engagements, assess risk, and suggest strategies to minimise or mitigate losses during an unplanned adverse event. I better understood the client’s business to provide knowledgeable assistance, particularly around our visual collaboration services. My job was to prepare product presentations, training proposals and other materials for MANCO and clients, and I also was accountable for meeting helpdesk support quotas which affected revenue goals. Within this role, I understood the impact of visual collaboration services, particularly across various cultures and markets and driving a brand across global platforms using online tools.

Spar Group LtdAdvertising Specialist

Sep. 2001 - Apr. 2003Western Cape, South Africa · On-siteRole Synopsis: Within my role at SPAR (PTY) Ltd, I was an Advertising Specialist responsible for executing advertising campaigns for SPAR in the Western Cape. I collaborated with other marketing professionals to develop creative concepts, write copy, and design graphics to ensure we reached our target audience. Within this role, I was tasked with developing strategies that fit into branding and advertising. As the Advertising Specialist, I worked closely with an advertising and production agency creating and developing advertising campaigns and coordinating with their creatives to ensure we delivered on all our briefs within the marketing department. This role got me to work on managing different projects, collaborating ideas with creative teams, and working on multiple regional Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives for the Group, which awoke my specialisation in branding. I specialised in several advertising channels with television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and digital platforms. In addition, part of my tasks was to deliver custom-fit presentations to MANCO team members to gain business buy-in and drive revenue. I got to work on several integrated marketing communication assets such as (Spar Lady’s tennis sponsorship; Spar Ladies’ 10km; Spar Ladies Bowls Sponsorship, point of sale material, promotional leaflets, and event branding; I pioneered the internal newsletter for Spar Western Cape, drove the CSI programme, dealt with store product and price queries).

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