Yenani Madikwa

I am a 28 year old Creative Director, Brand Strategist and Copywriter.

My creative career started off at AAA School of Advertising where I studied copywriting and digital marketing. As a student, I won the coveted Loerie & Pendoring Awards, cementing myself as a bona fide creative before setting foot in the professional environment. Leading up to my graduation, I was headhunted by one of the biggest advertising agencies in the country as an intern copywriter, growing to a mid-level creative in 3 years. I then decided to move on to a digital agency, a youth marketing agency and then a boutique agency. Each of these experiences groomed me into the youngest creative director in the country at the time (I was 25).

My pivot into the tech industry came at a time where I wanted to explore ways of putting my creative ideas into community-transforming work, where my ideas would not only shape brand storytelling narratives but also put young women of colour at the forefront of solution implementation. I now work as the Creative Strategist for Africa at the fastest growing e-hailing company in Africa and Europe and spend my time between Johannesburg, Nairobi and Tallinn where I lead the creative output for the Africa region.

Highlights of my career include winning a global competition that saw me jetting off to Cannes as a global reporter, creative directing a brand ad in Estonia and leading the pitch and launch of a brand new pharmaceutical product in South Africa. I have been the recipient of numerous awards including receiving Gold for Best Digital Youth Campaign from SAGEA in November 2021, winning the Kantar Best Loved Ad Overall Winner in December 2019, and receiving Campaign Gold for Print from the Pendoring Awards in October 2015 and Campaign Bronze for Print from the Loeries in July 2015.