Dr Zama Phakathi: Turning a Marketing Agency into a Platform for Entrepreneurs

From a corporate marketing career to the leadership of Splendid Group, Dr Zama Phakathi has built an entrepreneurial journey around a principle that challenges how many people define success: commercial achievement is incomplete without responsibility to others.

Her work spans marketing and communications, information technology, energy and skills development, alongside a long record of philanthropy. Yet the most revealing part of her story is not simply the range of businesses she leads. It is her conviction that business should create more entrepreneurs, not only more profit. “Everything I do is centred around creating more entrepreneurs,” she says.

Phakathi completed her BCom degree in 2001 and began her corporate career at organisations including Transnet and the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Her last corporate role was Marketing and Communications Manager at the Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry, a position she held from the age of 26. In 2009, she started her own business from humble beginnings: Splendid Marketing.

Today, Splendid Marketing is one of the leading Black-owned digital marketing, communications, branding, PR and event management companies in South Africa, based mainly between Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal. As CEO of Splendid Marketing and Communications, Phakathi also leads a group of sister entities under the Splendid Group, each specialising in complementary services.

The agency is an award-winning media and communications company that provides branding, marketing, publicity and media management services. Its offering includes content development, digital and social media marketing, advertising, media buying and planning, press release development, crisis communication, reputation management and governance and compliance communication. Its vision is to become Africa’s leading media management, branding, marketing and communications agency, delivering world-class, personalised services through efficient and effective business processes.

Over the years, she has diversified into other sectors. Splendid IT, founded by Phakathi alongside a team of experienced African professionals, is a 100% Black-owned and BEE-compliant ICT company focused on artificial intelligence, intelligent automation, cloud transformation, data analytics, IoT and cybersecurity. As Managing Director of Beyond Boundaries, she also leads a diversified enterprise operating at the intersection of infrastructure development, energy solutions and public-private sector collaboration.

With more than 17 years of entrepreneurial and leadership experience, she has served on numerous boards and holds a seat as a Global Board Member of the Circle of Global Businesswomen. Among her recent achievements is an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Kennedy in the USA, a Doctor of Philosophy in Leadership and Entrepreneurship.

Her leadership has earned national and international recognition. In 2026, she received the Honoree Award at the 100 Most Notable Africans Leadership and Business Summit, the Community Builder Award at the 5th National Annual Gender Based Violence Awards and South Africa’s Women Leaders Award at the 14th World Women Leadership event. Earlier honours include the Brand Leadership Excellence Award at the 2025 Achievement Alley Awards, the SMME Category win at the same awards in 2024, Top Young Executive of the Year at the 2018 Top Co National Business Awards and the Fast Growth Women-Owned SMME Award at the 2014 Standard Bank Top Women Achiever Awards.

Her ambitions extend beyond commercial growth. In 2015, she established the Zama Phakathi Foundation, a self-funded initiative supporting vulnerable communities. The foundation distributes food parcels annually to families in KwaZulu-Natal, provides school uniforms and bursaries, and supports an orphanage in Gauteng that cares for more than 45 children. It also focuses on enterprise development, career guidance, CSI initiatives and HIV/AIDS awareness programmes, and partners with schools in her hometown, Hammarsdale.

The initiative reflects her belief that success must carry responsibility. “Of course I believe in working hard and achieving business success,” she says, “but true success comes with responsibility.” Mentorship sits at the centre of that mission. She has personally mentored several young business owners who are now building successful ventures, and the foundation runs seminars and development programmes that connect business leaders with young entrepreneurs. “Knowledge creates a far deeper and longer-lasting impact,” she explains.

She is also candid about the challenge of unemployment in South Africa. “We cannot rely solely on the government to solve unemployment. Each of us must contribute from where we are,” she says.

Her view of the continent is equally ambitious. She believes Africa is entering one of its most defining economic eras, pointing out that the continent holds nearly 60% of the world’s uncultivated arable land yet still imports over $100 billion worth of food annually. She sees major opportunities in agri-food value chains, renewable energy, critical minerals, healthcare, education, logistics and the digital economy, with the greatest value in refining, battery production and manufacturing locally rather than exporting raw commodities.

Her advice to the next generation is both practical and personal. “Never despise humble beginnings. Nothing great starts big,” she says. “Success is built one step, one brick, one day at a time.” She stresses surrounding yourself with the right people, adding that “you cannot build wealth alone”, and her faith guides her journey, with Proverbs 16:3 as a reference point.

Taken together, her experiences point to a wider lesson for leaders across Africa. Building for the continent means investing in people as much as in sectors: creating entrepreneurs, expanding skills and making sure that growth is shared with the communities in which businesses operate.

Phakathi’s experience suggests that a founder’s lasting contribution may be not only the companies she builds, but the people she lifts along the way. “I want to leave behind a legacy of hope,” she says, a legacy that shows young people, especially women, that “with faith in God, discipline, and focus, nothing is impossible.”

What can the next generation of entrepreneurs learn from a founder who started with a single marketing business and built a group of companies? And how can mentorship, purpose and local value creation help more African businesses grow sustainably?

In this exclusive conversation with Africa Talks Business, Phakathi reflects on Africa’s opportunities, purpose-driven leadership, the role of mentorship and the legacy she hopes to leave.

The full conversation with Dr Zama Phakathi features in this edition of Africa Talks Business. Subscribe to explore more interviews with the people shaping business across the continent.