INDUSTRY AWARDS

SA’s top marketers and supply chain professionals to be honoured

By our African Marketing Confederation News Team | 2025

IMM Institute’s glamorous gala dinner and excellence awards evening in March promises to be a highlight on the local calendar.

The IMM Institute, one of the founder members of the African Marketing Confederation, will host its Gala Dinner and IMM Excellence Awards in Johannesburg, South Africa on 7 March 2025.

This annual event will not only honour those who have excelled in the fields of marketing and supply chain, but also provide networking opportunities for local industry professionals.

IMM Institute CEO Irene Gregory (right) with Pat Mahlangu at last year’s event. Photo: IMM Institute

Irene Gregory, CEO of the IMM Institute, says there is an increasing need for the integration of marketing with supply chain.

With marketing being a key driver of creating demand for products, it is essential to bring suppliers on board to ensure they can fulfil product orders in a timely manner to meet increasing demand, she emphasises.

“Achieving this involves seamless collaboration between marketing and supply chain teams, eliminating silos, and ensuring that all practices uphold the highest standards in environmental, social, and governance affairs,” Gregory explains.

“Our Gala Awards Dinner promises to be an informative and glamourous evening during which networking opportunities abound. We have an incredible line-up for the event, featuring Govan Whittles from [South African investigative journalism television series] Carte Blanche as our host, with extra oomph provided by the amazing ‘Simply for Entertainment’,” she says.

Gregory adds that the IMM Institute is excited to have award-winning marketing and media entrepreneur Pat Mahlangu deliver the keynote address. Mahlangu, who has more than a decade of experience in the sector, is the founder of Pat on Brands, a digital platform at the forefront of brand insights.

An author and lecturer who has served on various industry bodies, Mahlangu has founded several companies and is committed to youth empowerment, creating the ‘Top 16 Youth-Owned Brands Awards’.

In 2023, he was named one of the ‘Top 200 Young South Africans’ by the Mail & Guardian newspaper and was honoured as the Emerging Marketer of the Year by the IMM Institute.

At the banquet, the IMM Institute will bestow its Excellence Awards in 10 categories. These include Marketer of the Year, Emerging Marketer of the Year, Corporate Marketing Team of the Year, Supply Chain Professional of the Year, and Entrepreneur of the Year.

Of particular importance are the two Lifetime Achievement Awards – one in Marketing and the other in Supply Chain.

You can find out more about the Gala Dinner and IMM Excellence Awards here.

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