Techmark Pod

Recorded at the IMC event, themed “The Shift,” this episode of Techmark Pod features Opeyemi Law, Chief Marketing Officer for NBA Africa and the Basketball Africa League, in a conversation about the evolving landscape of sports marketing across the African continent.

Opeyemi shares how the NBA continues to adapt its global brand to local cultures, connecting with African audiences through authentic experiences, from Kenya’s vibrant matatu culture to collaborations with fashion, music and local creators in South Africa.

The conversation explores the power of sports partnerships, her career journey across consumer and B2B marketing, the growth of basketball in Africa, and how AI and emerging technologies are transforming the fan experience.

As the marketing landscape continues to shift, Opeyemi offers valuable insights into building meaningful connections with audiences, embracing cultural relevance and creating opportunities for sport to grow across Africa.

KPRM’s journey from digital marketing agency to MarTech and growth consultancy raises a timely question: how can businesses combine marketing, technology, and strategy to drive growth? In this episode, Kopano Moshoana shares the thinking behind KPRM’s shift, the value of finding a distinct market position, and the role technology can play in helping businesses serve clients more effectively. He also discusses Niatech, KPRM’s marketing CRM, and the opportunity to create tools that better fit the needs of African marketers and agencies. Whether you’re building an agency, running a business, or exploring how MarTech can support growth, this conversation offers ideas on positioning, productizing services, and using technology with purpose.

At the IMC Conference event, Alvin Matewa sat down with Dawn Rowlands, CEO of Dentsu Africa, for a conversation about why AI is not the real disruption. The real threat is moving too slowly while the market rewires itself around you.

Dawn explains why the next era of marketing, creativity, and growth belongs to businesses that think like challengers, build like product companies, and hire for curiosity rather than industry familiarity. If you lead a marketing team, work in tech, or are trying to stay relevant in a volatile market, this conversation is for you.

She shares how Dentsu Africa operates across 14 co-founded countries and affiliate partners in 30 more, and how its roots, born in Japan and raised in Africa, shape its distinctive approach to creativity and impact. She explores why the current shift is bigger than the digital revolution, why “the tide rising” will not look the same this time, and why companies that wait for certainty risk being left behind.

The conversation explores how entrepreneurial ownership can create agility in uncertain times, how democratised creativity and technology are reshaping competition, and why Dentsu is building SaaS products rather than focusing only on services. Dawn also discusses the challenge of earning trust before scaling innovation, and how thoughtful hiring and mentorship can help businesses avoid simply building “more of the same.”

Dawn makes a powerful case for starting with people, not products: understand real problems first, then use technology to address them. Drawing on Dentsu’s launch in Nigeria, she explains how hiring graduate trainees, investing in mentorship, and asking candidates what they are curious about can help identify people who will shape the future of a business.

This episode is a wake-up call for anyone building in marketing, media, or tech. The companies that win will not just adapt to change; they will be built for it. Essential listening for anyone interested in what leadership, creativity, and competitive advantage look like in the age of AI

At the IMC Conference event, Alvin sat with Suhayl, CMO at KFC India, to discuss how local culture shapes global brands. From adapting to consumer tastes across South Africa, Thailand, and India to leading with curiosity in unfamiliar markets, the conversation explores the importance of understanding people, technology’s role in the restaurant experience, and why the future of marketing remains deeply human.

The world is in "shift happens" mode, and if you're leading a team, building a brand, or trying to stay human in the age of AI, this conversation gives you a sharper way through it. Con argues that resilience is not just surviving pressure it's using pressure to create something better. He breaks down why fear, anxiety, and uncertainty are draining companies, why culture can quietly kill a business, and why you can't just tell people to be resilient without giving them a system. Instead, he makes the case for resiliency as a mix of agency, curiosity, experimentation, and purpose - a mindset that helps people and organizations move forward when everything feels unstable. You'll hear why Gen Z is forcing change faster than older generations want to admit, how playful thinking can break the grip of panic, and why fear "hates fun." Con also shares how South Africans - and Africans more broadly are wired for resourcefulness, problem-solving, and adapting under pressure, which may be the exact skill set the world needs next. We break down the difference between resilience and resiliency, how the amygdala hijacks decision-making in moments of stress, and why the best leaders don't freeze when a problem appears - they start building with whatever they have. The conversation also touches on why that uniquely African mindset is underappreciated, even though it's already shaping work and leadership around the world. If you're navigating change, managing people, or trying to build a culture that can survive disruption, this episode is a wake-up call. Essential listening for founders, marketers, leaders, and anyone who suspects the future will belong to the people who can adapt, create, and keep moving.

WhatsApp is becoming a storefront, sales desk, and support channel for businesses. In this episode, Dean shares how Ruka is using AI to help businesses manage those conversations and turn them into practical actions. Dean traces his path from experimenting with software on a second-hand computer to building products for businesses across different industries. He reflects on what he learned from developing tools for video clubs, payroll systems, telecoms, and other real-world needs, and how those experiences shaped his approach to entrepreneurship. He also explains how Ruka grew from a custom solution into a platform that helps businesses use AI for sales, customer support, bookings, and operations through WhatsApp. The conversation explores the company’s shift toward affordable, self-serve tools for small and medium businesses, as well as how partnerships, product positioning, and distribution have supported its growth. Dean shares his perspective on AI as a way to make starting and running a business more accessible. Rather than focusing only on automation, he considers how AI can free up time, help small teams do more, and create new opportunities for entrepreneurs. This episode is for founders, business owners, and anyone curious about how AI can solve everyday business challenges, especially when it meets customers on platforms they already use.

Marketing is broken when briefs are messy, slow, and full of gaps. Matt Mathabatha, Product Marketing Director at Brave Group, shows how Forge is using AI to turn chaotic campaign requests into execution-ready briefs in minutes and why that could cut timelines from months to days. Alvin Matewa sits down with Matt for a conversation that goes far beyond a product demo. They unpack the real job of a product marketing director, why marketing is missing from so many startup conversations, and how Forge was built from Brave Group’s own frustration with incomplete briefs, endless clarification meetings, and wasted creative time. You'll discover:

• How Forge standardizes the brief stage across a six-step campaign workflow
• Why a quality score helps teams know when a brief is ready to send
• How AI fills in missing context without forcing you to start from scratch
• Why the product is built for SMEs, marketing managers, and agency teams handling briefs every day
• How Matt’s career moved from SEO and forum link building to corporate email marketing, growth experiments, and product marketing

Matt also shares the origin story behind his marketing career, from watching Generations and dreaming about advertising to learning growth in startup environments and eventually finding his place at Brave Group. He explains why the best systems should create more time for creativity and less time for admin, back-and-forth, and unnecessary meetings. If you work in marketing, agency operations, brand management, or any team where a brief can make or break a campaign, this episode offers a practical look at how AI can remove friction and make execution faster, cleaner, and smarter. Matt also introduces Forge’s free AI playbook, designed to help marketers use these tools with more confidence. Perfect for anyone trying to move from idea to live campaign without getting stuck in the usual workflow chaos. 

What does it really take to go from dropping out of law to building, selling, and rebuilding startups that actually get acquired? Alvin Matewa sits down with Sihle Majola, co-founder and COO of Beqy.ai, for a brutally honest conversation about the founder journey most people never see. From an on-demand hairdresser marketplace to an art platform, Sihle breaks down the real work behind startup survival: finding product-market fit, building distribution, selling into industries you are not naturally part of, and learning when to pivot, persist, or prepare for acquisition. In this episode, you’ll discover:

• Why understanding the problem matters more than simply having a startup idea
• How customer relationships and distribution can determine whether a startup grows
• The systems every founder needs, from sales templates to financial visibility
• How to make a startup attractive to potential buyers
• Why luck often looks like opportunity meeting preparation
• The importance of building the right team and finding persistent people
• How founders can manage funding, financial records, and business growth
• How AI can help small businesses manage transactions, budgeting, forecasting, and reporting
• Why startups need to control AI costs with the right systems and safeguards

The conversation also explores the shift from traditional startup building to using AI to solve real financial challenges faced by entrepreneurs. Sihle explains how AI can help businesses organize financial data, categorize transactions, generate reports, create forecasts, and interact with their business finances. If you are a founder, aspiring entrepreneur, or builder trying to turn an idea into a scalable business, this episode is packed with hard-earned lessons on customer discovery, persistence, systems, funding, acquisition, and practical AI adoption. Perfect for entrepreneurs, startup operators, and anyone wondering what it really takes to build something that lasts.

The old agency playbook is dead - and Darren Morris built Lucky Hustle by betting on speed, culture, and AI before the rest of the market caught up. If you care about marketing, agency growth, or how to win when budgets are tight, this conversation is packed with the kind of ideas that actually move business. Alvin Matewa sits down with Darren Morris, CEO and founder of Lucky Hustle, to unpack how a five-year-old agency grew into a 35-person team, won Small Agency of the Year at the New Gen Awards, and kept winning by doing the opposite of “traditional.” Darren shares how a rebellious brand philosophy turned into a real business advantage - from tattooing his hands and neck as a commitment to going all in, to building an office culture designed around fun, trust, and hiring good humans over polished résumés. You’ll discover:

• Why Lucky Hustle was built to move at the speed of culture, not bureaucracy
• How Darren turned a Gen Z campaign for Xiaomi into an award-winning stunt on the summit of a mountain
• Why the team told a client not to do a launch event - and how that decision helped the campaign outperform bigger competitors
• How AI is changing agency work, not replacing the need for experienced judgment
• Why honesty, speed, and knowing what not to do are becoming the real competitive edge

Darren also breaks down the thinking behind Lucky Hustle’s approach to performance marketing, how the agency uses technology to save clients time and money, and why smaller teams can often outmaneuver much larger ones when they stay sharp, flexible, and brutally honest. This episode is especially valuable if you’re a marketer, founder, creative, or agency leader trying to stay relevant in a market that changes by the day. Darren’s take on AI is refreshing and practical: don’t fear it, learn it, or risk getting left behind. And if you’ve ever felt like you don’t fit the corporate mold, this one hits even harder. Darren and Alvin also get real about being “mavericks” - people who build careers on their own terms, without waiting for permission. Perfect for anyone who wants an inside look at how modern marketing really wins: not by doing more of the same, but by thinking faster, creating smarter, and backing bold ideas with data.