Nahana Communications Group Promotes Award-Winning Thabang Skwambane to CEO

Brett (center), Thabang (right), and Joey (left)

Nahana Communications Group today announced the promotion of Thabang Skwambane to chief executive officer. Elevated from group managing director of Nahana agencies, FCB Joburg and Hellocomputer, Thabang will now oversee the entire collective of leading specialist agencies that provide creative solutions across the marketing ecosystem, including FCB Joburg, Hellocomputer Joburg, HelloFCB+, McCann1886, Fuelcontent, Meta Media, The Media Shop, Craft, Lucid and Weber Shandwick. 

Thabang’s promotion reflects his success since 2015 in bringing FCB Joburg and Hellocomputer to record business growth and agency accolades for creative work, including Coca-Cola’s “Phonetic Cans” and “Beatnation” and Toyota’s “Honest Politician” and “Boundary Crossing,” while his leadership earned recognition both locally and globally. In 2020, Thabang was named a top Global Agency Leader on the coveted Adweek 50 list for his contributions to his teams, clients, industry and beyond.

“I’m incredibly excited to be handing over the reins to Thabang; he has been a huge support to me and our group and has stewarded FCB and Hellocomputer in Johannesburg to some of the biggest milestones in agency history,” said Nahana Communications group executive creative chair Brett Morris. 

Thabang will replace Morris, whose new role will support Nahana’s Creative Leadership Team as the group continues investing in creativity that serves as an economic multiplier for clients. Morris, who was voted Johannesburg’s most admired agency leader five years in a row, led Nahana to numerous global creative honours – including South Africa’s first ever Cannes Grand Prix and One Show Best of Show.

“I can only thank Brett for bringing me into the Nahana family and giving me this opportunity. I fully intend to build on the incredible business he has led for almost a decade and partner my executive team to keep growing our business, our people and ourselves,” said Thabang.

Under Thabang, FCB Joburg and Hellocomputer have grown as leading agencies in South Africa while maintaining positions as the most awarded agency in Kantar history, earning AdFocus’s Agency of the Year and Large Agency of the Year honours, Marklives.com’s ‘The Agency Getting Integration Right’ and ‘The Agency Doing The Most for Diversity & Transformation’ honours and more. 

“Thabang is a very unique leader with a rare and enviable skillset, a fact recognised by Adweek in 2020 when they included him on their Creative 100 Honour Roll which celebrated gifted professionals who inspire current and future generations not only with their work, but with their passion for creativity and social impact,” said Brett.

Together in 2021, FCB Joburg and Nahana started the Small Business Rescue Fund to help South African businesses affected by the widespread riots that have ravaged communities last year. Outside of Nahana, Thabang founded the Aluwani Foundation to aid orphaned and vulnerable children in South Africa and co-founded Kaelo Healthcare, a leading wellness and healthcare provider bringing affordable quality healthcare and addressing critical illnesses such as HIV and AIDS. He also serves as Vice-Chair of the Association for Communication and Advertising South Africa.