#BehindtheIMC | Cassava Technologies' Ifeoma Jibunoh: AI shifting African businesses
"I am not there to talk at the room, I am there to think with it. To share what has worked, what has not, and what the next chapter of marketing leadership looks like for those of us building in emerging markets," says Ifeoma Jibunoh, Cassava Technologies' corporate VP: chief marketing officer.
She will take on the topic of AI at African Scale. Building the Infrastructure That Shifts Business at the Nedbank IMC Conference 2026 that takes place on 17 September at the Mosaiek Teatro in Fairland, Randburg.
How would you describe yourself in one word?
Transformer. I have spent my career moving into organisations and markets where something needs to change, and making it happen.
What excites you the most about your industry?
The fact that marketing has never mattered more, and never been more complex. For too long, it sat on the periphery, the communications function, the events team, the brand custodians.
Now it is expected to be a commercial growth engine, a cultural architect and a technology leader simultaneously. That shift demands more from us, more rigour, more courage, more curiosity.
What excites me is that we are living through the most significant evolution of the marketing discipline in a generation. AI is reshaping how we understand customers, how we create content, how we personalise at scale and how we measure impact.
The data available to marketers today would have been unimaginable a decade ago. But the fundamentals have not changed: understanding your customer, communicating your value, and building trust over time.
The best marketers are those who can hold both, embrace the new tools without losing sight of the human truth at the centre of every great brand. And then there is the geographic dimension that I find particularly compelling.
The markets I operate in across Africa, the Middle East and beyond are not following the same playbook as mature Western markets. They are leapfrogging, innovating differently, and demanding that marketers think from first principles rather than reach for a template.
That is where the real excitement is for me. Not replicating what has been done before, but figuring out what works here, now, for these customers.
The risk is not AI replacing marketers. The risk is that marketers who do not evolve will be replaced by those who do
What upcoming trend is important for the industry and why?
AI-powered marketing competency, not just the tools, but the people. Over half of B2B marketers already recognise a significant AI skills gap in their teams, and the pace of change is only accelerating.
The marketers and organisations that will win are not necessarily those with the best tools or the biggest budgets. They are the ones where leaders are personally, visibly and continuously learning.
The risk is not AI replacing marketers. The risk is that marketers who do not evolve will be replaced by those who do.
What gives you the most satisfaction in your work?
Seeing marketing deliver results that change the trajectory of a business, and in markets where it genuinely matters.
At Cassava, we are not marketing in a market where the answers are already known. We are building digital infrastructure and services that connect businesses and communities across Africa and beyond.
When a campaign drives real commercial outcomes, when a partnership opens up a new market, when a brand story lands with an enterprise customer in Nairobi or Lagos or Riyadh, that is deeply satisfying.
But if I am honest, the thing that gives me the most satisfaction is the team. Building a marketing function from the ground up across 30+ markets, watching people grow into their roles and step into their potential, that is where the real reward is.
Marketing has the power to transform organisations. But it is the people inside those organisations who do the transforming.
What is the most important lesson you have learned in your career?
That tomorrow's challenges are where growth lives. Early in my career, I saw obstacles as things to be managed. Now I see them as the signal that something interesting is happening.
Every significant shift in my career, from consumer goods to payments to pan-African tech, came from leaning into uncertainty rather than away from it.
The question I now ask myself is not how I manage this challenge, but what is making it possible.
Given the above, what advice do you have for a young person looking to enter the industry?
Do not wait for permission to think strategically. The landscape is evolving faster than any training programme can keep up with, and the marketers who will thrive are not the ones with the most credentials but the ones with the most agility.
Learn the fundamentals deeply, they are transferable across any industry or market.
Whether you are selling beer or broadband, the principles are the same: understand your customer, communicate your value, and measure what matters.
And stay curious. Always.
Shift happens. Are you ready?
About the IMC 2026
Get to know the speakers before the event through this exclusive Bizcommunity series of profiles on the Nedbank IMC – the Integrated Marketing Conference speakers in the run-up to the event.
The 2026 Nedbank IMC takes place on Thursday, 17 September at Mosaiek Teatro, Johannesburg, with a virtual attendance option. The theme is Shift Happens.
In-person phase two tickets are R3,500 excluding VAT. Virtual tickets are R950 excluding VAT.
The Nedbank IMC is presented in association with the Marketing Association of South Africa (MASA) and in active support of leading industry bodies, including the ACA, PRISA, DMASA, ARB, The Creative Circle, The Loeries and The Effies.
No other marketing conference on the continent convenes this breadth of industry representation in a single day.
The Nedbank IMC is owned and produced by IMC Academy (Pty) Ltd. The conference is Africa’s biggest marketing conference. Founded by Dale Hefer and launched in 2019 with Nedbank as naming sponsor, the conference is held annually in Johannesburg and attended by marketers, brand leaders, agency executives and business leaders from across Africa and beyond.
