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A.M.C. NEWS
‘New direction’ for the integration of African marketing and business
By our African Marketing Confederation News Team | 2026
AMC President discusses the upcoming conference’s ‘full circle’ and the gathering’s role in navigating marketing’s paradigm shift.
For Matongo Matamwandi, who was elected as the new President of the African Marketing Confederation in May this year, the upcoming 2026 AMC Conference in Livingstone, Zambia represents a remarkable full circle.
He was one of a small group of prominent African marketers who met in Livingstone back in 2011 to discuss the to discuss the development of the marketing profession across Africa, as well as the possible formation of a pan-African marketing body to elevate professional standards and promote home-grown marketing approaches suited to the continent’s diverse cultures.
AMC President Matongo Matamwandi
Fifteen years on, that vision has transformed into a thriving reality that is coming home to the place where it all started. With a proud Zambian at its helm.
“I was part of the creation, I was part of the origin, I was part of the idea of creating the AMC,” he recalls. Which makes it extra special to be in a key role at this year’s groundbreaking three-conference gathering on the banks of the Zambesi River, which brings together marketing, supply chain and IT disciplines under the banner of the Africa Commerce Convergence Summit.
Matamwandi is a true son of Zambia, having been CEO of the Zambia Tourism Agency, President of the Zambia Institute of Marketing, Director General of the Zambia Development Agency, Vice Chancellor of the Kenneth Kaunda Metropolitan University, and Chairperson of the Minerals Regulation Commission. The latter role he fills concurrently with his position as President of the African Marketing Confederation.
Conference aims to emphasise ‘new realities’
Among his aims for the upcoming Zambian conference is to emphasise to delegates the new realities of the move from traditional marketing to digital marketing as a dominant force globally, and to examine in detail how African marketing can effectively integrate into this paradigm shift.
He believes it’s valuable that ICT-focused colleagues will be present in Livingstone to help shed further light on how marketing techniques, IT and AI can be integrated to achieve common objectives. Similarly, Matamwandi is excited to see how the presence for the first time of African supply chain professionals at the gathering will add all-round value.
“In essence, I want to see that the outcome of the conference gives a complete new direction to how the entire business world and marketing is going to integrate,” he states.
Find out more about the new African Marketing Confederation President, the upcoming 2026 Conference in Zambia, and his vision for his term of office in Issue 2 2026 of Strategic Marketing for Africa, the thought-leadership magazine of the African Marketing Confederation.
Read the Digital Edition online or download it here. The Print Edition will be available shortly.
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