Flow Communications

We love South Africa, and we know you do, too.

Forget the memes and moans about potholes and Eskom, we love it because here we can – and do – make a positive difference. 

Being a communications agency means that we have to deal with a lot of things that aren’t always pretty. But that’s why, when the pretty things do come along, we hold onto them tighter than a Daily Maverick journalist chasing after a crooked politician.

Flow’s mantra – the reason we get up in the morning – is to do work we love with people we love.

Here’s a snapshot of some of the amazing organisations we work with. They share our values, and we share their passion for making this crazy but amazing country – and world – a better place to live in.

The Nelson Mandela Foundation

Mia Mottley Audience
The 2022 Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture was delivered by Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, who had, days before, at the United Nations climate change talks, ruffled feathers with her call to developed nations to make good on their promises to help developing nations tackle climate change. Her topic allowed her to extend her message: Social Bonding and Decolonisation in the Context of the Climate Crisis: Perspectives from the Global South.

When Verne Harris from the Nelson Mandela Foundation (NMF) challenged us to create a website for the foundation in six weeks, saying “it can never be done – good luck!”, we took on the challenge. And did it!

More than 15 years later, the NMF remains one of our most loyal and valuable partners. The foundation is a home for Nelson Mandela’s legacy, but is far more than that. The NMF runs Mandela Day, is involved in early childhood development, addresses poverty and promotes ethical leadership. Sello Hatang, the CEO, travels around the country to deliver food parcels to vulnerable communities. 

For being a moral force for good and working towards a more just society, we say viva NMF, viva!

Constitution Hill

Image at Constitution Hill
Constitution Hill has been a client of Flow's for many years.

Originally built by the government of Paul Kruger as a prison in 1892, Constitution Hill was, for a long time, a place of darkness and despair. Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi were just two of its famous inmates.

Fast forward to today and Constitution Hill is a beacon of hope. Here are just some of the things happening there:

  • The new Flame Recording Studio, sponsored by Nando’s, is open and recording amazing established and new artists

  • The Speak Truth to Power Lounge, designed by Sifiso Shange, is open for business

  • The FOOD I LOVE YOU KITCHEN is also open

  • The old Queen Victoria Maternity Hospital has been converted into a creative hub that houses 60 businesses and support organisations 

  • A new five-storey visitors’ centre is under construction and will open this year

  • The People’s Park, which will host large festivals and events, is also under construction

  • And the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) is doing its final inspection next month for Con Hill’s declaration as a World Heritage Site

The Women Presidents Organization

WPO board member Fortunate Mdanda
WPO board member Fortunate Mdanda was featured as part of a WPO interview series on LinkedIn.

The Women Presidents Organization (WPO) is one of our favourite international partners, doing phenomenal work to create a global network of women leaders.

These are remarkable women who draw on each other’s insights to drive further business growth and success. Flow has been a proud member of this non-profit for women presidents of multimillion-dollar companies for nearly 10 years.

How amazing is it that, outside of the United States and Canada, where the WPO was started, South Africa has the most members – the most women entrepreneurs who have founded multimillion-dollar organisations – of anywhere in the world! There are currently 79 WPO members in South Africa.

Festival of Excellence in Dramatic Arts.

the Festival of Excellence in Dramatic Arts
A production staged during the Festival of Excellence in Dramatic Arts. (Image: FEDA)

Each May, around 1 000 high school students stage more than 50 productions – mostly original, and often edgy and provocative – at the Joburg Theatre’s Lesedi Theatre during the Festival of Excellence in Dramatic Arts (FEDA).

FEDA provides a voice for the next generation of artists, sparks critical conversations about difficult issues including race, gender and social justice, and taps into the energy of our youth to challenge and change perceptions.

Started by two passionate drama teachers, the festival is now 15 years old. How incredible is that?

South African National Biodiversity Insitute

Unathi Nkayi helped launch SANBI’s outdoor gym.
Former Idols judge and fitness advocate Unathi Nkayi helped launch SANBI’s outdoor eco-friendly gym at the Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden.
(Image: Flow Communications)

Biodiversity is life. And that’s why the work done by the South African National Biodiversity Institute is so vitally important to our survival.

SANBI has some incredible projects on the go: 

  • Groen Sebenza creates internship positions for young people in biodiversity management
  • Persons with disabilities can now enjoy the Karoo’s natural treasures thanks to the Karoo Desert National Botanical Garden’s new Braille Trail
  • In the Northern Cape and Limpopo, SANBI is building water reservoirs and developing food gardens that are resistant to climate change
  • SANBI has also just opened the Thohoyandou National Botanical Garden in Limpopo
  • Of course, we love spending time at our very own Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden – an oasis amid the hustle and bustle of Joburg

We’re sending a big green shout-out to SANBI!

Wits University, Wits Enterprise and Wits Business School

Wits University, Wits Enterprise and Wits Business School logos

Wits University has just turned 100, but this centenarian is definitely not geriatric in its thinking. Wits Business School, for one, is rated in the top five business schools on the continent – and no wonder. It’s empowering people to change the future of Africa for the better and is raising the bar on how business is done on the continent. 

And Wits Enterprise helps researchers to commercialise their innovations. These include game-changing molecular diagnostic tests for tuberculosis and a smart mini-grid to provide plug-and-play electricity to homes in poor areas. 

Wits is building impact as a world-class, progressive and innovative African university for the next 100 years and beyond. And we fully endorse that vision – to Wits, a toast!

Bob the turtle and the Two Oceans Aquarium

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Bob the turtle was released back into the ocean this year. (Image: Two Oceans Aquarium)

Bob, an endangered green turtle, arrived at the Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town eight years ago, after being picked up on a beach, malnourished and brain-damaged after ingesting plastic.

Bob started to make unexpected progress, with the aquarium’s staff teaching him to hunt for his food. Earlier this year, Bob was released back into the Indian Ocean off the KwaZulu-Natal coast, equipped with satellite trackers. After a short holiday north of Ballito, he cruised south, right along the South African coastline. 

At the moment, he’s living his best life, swimming off the coast of Cape Town, and will hopefully keep going for another 50 years.

    Good Work Foundation

    HAZYVIEW GWF Headquarters
    Meccano mania! Good Work Foundation staff are enthusiastic about building better futures for rural children and young adults.
    (Image: Good Work Foundation)

    The Good Work Foundation doesn’t just change lives – it transforms them.

    This tenacious and gutsy education non-profit has grown over more than a decade to profoundly affect and improve thousands of lives every year. And not just any lives but rural lives – people who the system tends to ignore at best, or completely forget at worst. Rural lives DO matter.

    Good Work Foundation brings the wonder, creativity and joy of digital learning to children and young adults in the far reaches of Mpumalanga and the Free State.

    It’s not easy giving young people hope and helping them get employed but heck, Good Work Foundation does it with a big broad pink smile on their faces. 

    ForAfrika

    We love working with our client, ForAfrika
    We love working with ForAfrika, which works to improve people's lives every day. (Image: ForAfrika)

    Where to start with ForAfrika? Did you know it is Africa’s largest indigenous non-governmental organisation? That’s right!

    Last year, ForAfrika provided assistance to more than three million Africans – sustainable, empowering assistance, not handouts. They enable people from South Sudan to Angola to not just survive, but thrive. 

    Our work with ForAfrika has opened our eyes to the challenges experienced by organisations offering aid. It has given us insight into what it takes to raise the necessary funds to do this important work.

    We’ve been privileged to share stories about the positive difference ForAfrika makes in the areas of food security, early childhood development, empowerment of women and sustainable agriculture. 

    ForAfrika is the epitome of ubuntu.

    St David’s Marist Inanda

    St David’s Marist Inanda has been a partner of Flow's for a number of years
    St David’s Marist Inanda has been a partner of Flow's for a number of years. (Image: St David’s Marist Inanda)

    Our partners at St David’s Marist Inanda know that education is a fundamental human right – for everyone.

    That’s why, in January 2023, St David’s took the bold step of establishing a satellite campus in Alexandra – not an outreach school, but a new education model for independent schooling in South Africa. 

    Instead of only taking talented boys out of the township to the original campus, St David’s is committed to bringing access to educational excellence to the township. By ensuring that top-class education takes place on both campuses, this unique model will go far in breaking down the inequality that exists between Alex and Sandton as the children learn and grow up together.

    Halala, St David’s, for bridging the gap and broadening access to quality education.

    Heartlines

    Heartlines leads with the heart to speak to the head. The team harnesses the power of storytelling to encourage positive social change through films, multimedia, books, workshops, webinars – the works.

    Because only when you speak to the heart through stories – not dry stats or data – can you truly connect with people. It’s a common language.

    Heartlines opens up conversations about why fathers matter, and why it’s important to align your money decisions with your values. They believe that by sharing our experiences, we gain a greater understanding of each other. A more empathetic society might sound like a pipe dream, but Heartlines is chowing that elephant, chunk by chunk.

    One of the things we love about Heartlines is the difference they make in South Africans’ lives. They use the power of storytelling to produce amazing films like Beyond the River (have you seen it?) and online materials to tell inspiring stories of South Africans with gees. To find out more, go to their website (we built it, heh heh).

    Daily Maverick

    The Daily Maverick hosts the most inspiring conference every year called The Gathering. Their motto: wherever there is a problem, there is a solution. You would search long and hard to find a more patriotic bunch of people who are so deeply invested in South Africa’s future

    We were involved in last year’s conference, producing an online streaming platform for the event.

    If you have an extra R100 a month, subscribe and support independent journalism in South Africa. For speaking truth to power, we say viva Daily Maverick, viva.

    The Gathering’s online platform
    The Gathering’s online platform had a chat wall that enabled attendees to engage with the topics under discussion.

    Climate 360

    Albertus Louw at the Climate 360 event
    Television personality Albertus Louw was the master of ceremonies at the Climate 360 event.

    Did you know that the European Union is South Africa’s largest investor, accounting for 40% of our foreign direct investment?

    We’ve worked with the EU member states on a number of initiatives – and one of the best is Climate 360, an annual conference that seeks to build capacity in the climate change space.

    This is not a doom-and-gloom conference; we’ve had more than 25 South African businesses and non-profits presenting on the amazing work they are doing to secure South Africa’s transition. And the EU recently announced a multi-billion-euro deal to help South Africa transition from its coal-based economy to renewables.

    We’ve had more than 50 speakers in the two years that the conference has been held – sparking valuable conversations about this vitally important topic. 

    Air Côte d’Ivoire

    Tweet from influencer, Ulrich Janse van Vuuren
    Flow launched an influencer campaign to help promote the new Air Côte d’Ivoire route.

    We’ve worked with a few airlines, and Air Côte d’Ivoire is high on our list of favourites. 

    Last year, the airline industry was still reeling from Covid-19 when Air Côte d’Ivoire decided to open up the skies – instead of closing them off.  It launched a route between Johannesburg and Abidjan – the fastest route between South Africa and Côte d’Ivoire.

    Quickly learning some essential French, we worked closely with the gentle, polite team to launch the new route. And it’s going SO well!

    We were wowed by their African positivity and focus on making things happen in a bureaucratic industry of note. Greylisting or not, more business is opening up in Africa.

    Air Côte d’Ivoire – for linking West and Southern Africa and driving trade, industry, investment and tourism, félicitations!

      Rockefeller Foundation

      Yup, it’s true – we just love saying that we work with the Rockefeller Foundation. The Rockefeller Foundation’s sole objective is to improve the lives of people, especially in Africa.

      They are not just investing billions, but are also implementing projects that really do change lives. One of our favourite Rockefeller Foundation projects is AfricaNenda. This independent, African-led organisation aims to accelerate the growth of instant payment systems to benefit Africans who are financially excluded. 

      We feel very privileged to do such meaningful work. Thank you, Rockefeller Foundation – you rock!

      The AfricaNenda home page
      AfricaNenda is a start-up that facilitates financial inclusion across the African continent.

      Hollard

      Hollard is more than just part of the Flow family. We match perfectly in values and Hollard’s underpinning philosophy is “Better Futures” – which might as well be ours as well. 

      Hollard walks the walk in everything they do. They are solely focused on creating better futures for people – and those better futures make better business sense. 

      Over the last few years, we’ve worked with Hollard to make better futures for all kinds of people – small-business owners in the Big Ads for Small Business campaign, rural women in the Keiskamma tapestry project, and truck and bus drivers in Hollard Highway Heroes, to name just a few. 

      Hollard’s clear articulation of its commitment to South Africa and its people gives us hope and inspiration every single day. It’s never just a campaign for them or us – it’s about people whose lives we have the privilege of impacting on. For the better.

      Hola, Hollard!

      Well, there you have it. The power of storytelling and being agents for change – in action

      We could tell so many more wonderful stories about the inspiring things our partners do.

      See, the lights may go out at any minute but there is really so much good being done in South Africa. It drives home the much-talked-about notion of shared value. We share the same values as our partners – and that creates shared value for everyone. Real, tangible value.

      Last year Flow was privileged to take part in the Stanford Seed programme. Stanford University selects a total of 160 companies from South-East Asia and Africa with the aim of alleviating poverty. And these companies are flying.

      We genuinely feel that sometimes we need to step back from all the doom and gloom and focus on the positives. Maybe that way, we can build up to a tsunami of change. Wouldn’t you rather be engulfed by a tsunami of positive vibes than swallowed up by a wave of negativity? We know we would!

      A big, heartfelt thank you to all of our partners for walking the talk and being the change they want to see in the world. You ARE making a difference. Let’s keep on keeping the faith.

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