Billion-dollar banking, HIV innovation, and award-winning creative leadership at the intersection of marketing, technology, and social impact... Read more
Thabang Skwambane is a purpose-driven executive, social entrepreneur, and creative industry leader whose career connects high finance, community development, and global brand building. He is the CEO of Nahana Communications Group, one of Africa’s leading marketing and communications collectives, and a strong advocate for building brands that build Africa.
Nahana operates on an open-architecture model that brings together data, strategy, creativity, media, and technology to deliver measurable impact for clients. Under Thabang’s leadership, the group is evolving into a platform for African growth, grounded in Creativity with Purpose, inclusive development, and meaningful transformation. The group is 55% Black-owned, over 40% Black female-owned, and maintains Level 1 B-BBEE status, reflecting a strong commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.
Thabang began his career in cryptography in the mid-1990s, working for Mark Shuttleworth at Thawte Consulting. After a failed e-commerce start-up in 1998, he moved into financial services at Standard Bank, where he progressed quickly through the Corporate and Investment Banking ranks. In 2001 and 2002, he became the youngest banker in Africa to close a multi-billion-dollar transaction, gaining recognition across the merchant and investment banking sector.
That early success became the launchpad for a shift from personal advancement to public purpose. In 2005, he co-founded Kaelo Healthcare, a wellness and HIV & AIDS management company that served hundreds of thousands of employees and community members. Over six years, Kaelo helped change how businesses and communities responded to HIV & AIDS and Chronic Diseases of Lifestyle (CDLs), conducting more than two million tests and supporting over 50,000 HIV-positive patients on Anti-Retroviral Treatment (ART).
In 2007, long before viral fundraising campaigns were common, Thabang undertook the Lonely Road Challenge—a 6,000-kilometre solo, unsupported bicycle ride from Johannesburg to Tanzania, followed by a summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. The journey raised funds and awareness for orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs) in rural South Africa and led to the founding of the Aluwani Foundation (formerly the Lonely Road Foundation), which today supports over 4,000 children and has reached more than 20,000 children over the last 17 years through community-owned and managed care networks.
After completing his Master’s in Public Administration at the Harvard Kennedy School in 2013, where he was an Edward S. Mason Fellow in Public Policy and Administration, Thabang transitioned into the creative and communications industry. After consulting to global NGOs in New York City, he joined FCB Joburg, becoming Managing Director in 2015 and later Group Managing Director of FCB and Hellocomputer in 2019.
During this period, he led FCB to revenue growth of more than 285% over four years. Under his leadership, the agency earned a series of major awards for creativity and effectiveness, including Financial Mail AdFocus Large Agency of the Year, Agency of the Year and Sunday Times Top Brand Agency (multiple times), and WARC African Agency of the Year.
Thabang’s work has been recognised both globally and locally. He is an AdWeek Global Creative 100 Honoree (2020) and a recipient of the Albert and Mary Lasker Global Leadership in Society Award (2019). He is also an Archbishop Tutu Leadership Fellow and serves on several boards and technical panels across the private, philanthropy, and development sectors—often acting as a bridge between donors, NGOs, and brands seeking scalable, sustainable impact.