Antoinette Prophy or Anto as I am fondly known to anyone close to me studied towards a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Communication Science at the University of South Africa. In 2001, I joined McKinsey and Company where I managed the branding and reputation building strategies at various South African universities through their recruitment programme.
In 2003, I resigned from McKinsey & Company and started Afrofusion Communications (AFC) in my mom’s lounge. The agency has grown from a one-woman show with a strong focus on strategic communications to a full service agency. AFC have implemented innovative communications strategies for both the public and private sector, since our inception in 2004. I ensure that we consistently challenge the norm and seek innovative ways to address various target audiences. We won a Vuka award for our TV ad for our environmental campaign in 2008.
In 2010, I was honoured as a Golden Key member at Wits University in Johannesburg. Other recipients of this Honour are Trevor Manual and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, making it truly prestigious. I have been featured on SAFM, CNBC Africa, The Little Red Book, Randburg Sun and the New Vision Newspaper in Uganda. My dynamic leadership has seen the agency return from the brink of liquidation in 2008 after a failed acquisition strategy and I continued until late 2011 to meander into uncharted territory taking the agency to new heights.
In 2011, Ashish Thakkar, MD of the Mara Group approached me to enter into a partnership. This new venture saw Afrofusion rebranded to Mara Communications and expanding our footprint into 18 African countries, India and Dubai. It was the Mara Group’s first deal with a South African black women owned business positioning it well to spearhead the growth of a truly Pan-African communications agency. This decision taught me a few valuable lesson, I'll continue to share.
I play golf for relaxation when I'm not working on a client’s brief. I do yoga and pilates to keep in shape and my favourite past time is reading South Africa literature and Paulo Coelho. I squeeze in adventure like paragliding and water rafting when I have downtime.
