by Lufuno Makungo (@LMwonder) While I cringe at the title of this article, it’s a fair question. It’s like asking if there’s a viable market for Chinese advertising agencies in China. But the question is relevant here, given our political history and the current economic structure. The most-transformed sector in the county is the public sector, simply because we have the political power. Broad and interlinked, not narrow In talking transformation, we often narrow it down to only one thing — when the issues are broad and interlinked. In advertising, lack of transformation refers to the white-dominated industry but we fail to breakdown...

I was recently asked for an opinion on why black-owned agencies are so often excluded from lucrative requests for Proposals(RFPs). My response was fairly cryptic but the conversation made me realise that there will be some value in capturing some of these issues in an article to help buyers understand the specific issues that black-owned and operated agencies are typically challenged with. I would like to convey some of my own thoughts, as well as that of Lufuno Makungo. However, I do believe that this is a topic that should be explored in more depth, so I will keep on sharing updates as...