MARKETING APPOINTMENTS

Insurance giant appoints new CMO to help drive pan-African ambitions

By our News Team | 2023

Experienced marketer Hazel Chimhandamba joins the Hollard Group as it seeks new growth markets on the continent.

Hollard, the South African-based insurance giant with growing pan-African ambitions, has appointed corporate marketing expert Hazel Chimhandamba as the Group’s new Chief Marketing Officer.

Chimhandamba joins Hollard from telecommunications company Cell C, where she has been the Executive Head of Marketing since 2019. During her tenure, the brand was ranked as one of Kantar’s BrandZ’s Top 30 Most Valuable South African Brands for four consecutive years, despite tough market conditions.

Hazel Chimhandamba. Photo credit: Hollard Group

In 2022, Chimhandamba clinched gold, silver and leader marketing awards for Cell C at the Direct Marketing Association of South Africa Assegai Awards. This was for a shared value campaign that also received recognition at the London Festival of Media Global Awards in the same year.

Prior to Cell C, Chimhandamba served on the Outsurance executive committee. When she was at the Standard Bank Group, before her time at Outsurance, she served various other African markets – among them Ghana, Kenya, Zambia, Botswana, Mozambique and Mauritius.

Benefit from her expertise in pan-African brand marketing

“We are thrilled to have Hazel join us. She has extensive experience in leading marketing roles in the insurance, telecommunications and banking sectors, and we are especially keen to benefit from her expertise in pan-African brand marketing,” says Hollard CEO Willie Lategan.

Adds Chimhandamba: “I am truly excited to take on this new challenge and look forward to becoming a ‘Hollardite’. The group is on a transformative journey as it expands on the African continent, and I am honoured to be part of a team that is driving this pan-African strategy while offering localised solutions in each operating country,”

She holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from the University of Pretoria’s Gordon Institute of Business Science; a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Marketing from the University of South Africa; a certificate in digital marketing from the University of Cape Town; and a certificate in sales and marketing from the Institute of Marketing Management.

Chimhandamba has also attended executive leadership programmes at London Business School and Wits Business School.

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