NDU DONSA. JOHANNESBURG, ZA · ACROSS AFRICA

BRAND IN
SPORT &
CULTURE.Across Africa.

I take global sponsorships — the FIFA World Cup, AFCON — and make them local and fan-led, market by market. Then I turn them into customers for the banks Visa partners with.

Explore the workDownload my bio

Brand & Sponsorship Director, Sub-Saharan Africa, Visa
Previously Head of Strategy, Ogilvy

Ndu Donsa in a colourful football jacket at a Visa and FIFA World Cup event

NDUDUZO “NDU” DONSAJOHANNESBURG · 2026

CULTURE IS THE ENGINE.COMMERCE IS THE PROOF.

01 / SELECTED WORK

SPORT · FANDOM · PARTNERSHIPS

THE WORK.VISA · 2024 TO NOW

The biggest platforms in the world mean more when people see themselves in them. Same method every time: make the global asset local and fan-led, then turn it into customers.

BELIEF
BEFORE
THE BUZZ.

RONWEN WILLIAMS × VISA01 / 2025–26

Ronwen Williams × Visa

TALENT & PARTNERSHIPS / SOUTH AFRICA

Backed before qualification.
Carried through to the World Cup.

Ronwen Williams × Visa. Backing the Bafana Bafana captain before World Cup qualification, then building fan experiences around him, with Absa as commercial partner.

ATHLETE PARTNERSHIPFAN EXPERIENCES
More

I signed and ran the partnership: from AFCON 2025 fan trips to children from Ronwen’s foundation walking out with the national team, and on to the World Cup. Absa was the commercial partner.

The opportunity was to build an ongoing platform around talent, community and fandom.

Visa · Absa · Migration

Ronwen Williams meeting a young supporter
Ronwen Williams partnership.
Ndu Donsa, Ronwen Williams and the team at the partnership shoot
Behind the partnership.
Ndu’s post on the partnership
AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS02 / 2025

ONE CAMPAIGN.
EVERY MARKET.
Fan-led.

Football field tilted diagonally across the poster

FANDOM / SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

AFCON, on home terms.

One regional campaign. A different local conversation in every market. Football fandom at the centre of Visa’s AFCON 2025 work.

More

I led a campaign across the major Sub-Saharan markets, making the work local and fan-led under Visa’s CAF payment partnership. The platform gave partner banks a way to connect with customers through football.

Visa and its agency partners. Partner details and campaign imagery to follow with clearance.

Ndu Donsa overlooking the pitch during AFCON
At AFCON 2025.
Ndu’s AFCON notes
Ndu Donsa in conversation at a Visa and FIFA World Cup event
NDU AT THE VISA × FIFA WORLD CUP EVENT, SOUTH AFRICA

GLOBAL SPONSORSHIP / LOCAL ACTIVATION

FIFA World Cup 2026, Sub-Saharan Africa.

Creator-led campaigns, mall activations, out-of-home and fan experiences across Sub-Saharan Africa, with final-viewing events in Kenya, South Africa, Angola, Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire.

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I led the Sub-Saharan programme, with creator content, out-of-home, merchandise and local fan experiences. Final-viewing events ran in Kenya, South Africa, Angola, Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire.

In Kenya and South Africa, the work centred on the fan’s own story, told through creators and experiences on the ground.

Visa and its agency partners. Photograph courtesy of Ndu Donsa; campaign imagery to follow.

A Visa fan lounge set up for a football viewing event
Bringing the viewing experience to fans.
Ndu’s World Cup wrap-up
15COUNTRIES
13LANGUAGES

04 / THE NEW TRAVEL GAME PLAN

Visa’s FIFA travel platform.

Visa’s FIFA travel platform with Pep Guardiola and Ronwen Williams. A CEMEA campaign adapted to local markets; I led the Sub-Saharan work.

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Live in 15 countries and 13 languages across the wider campaign. The Sub-Saharan work included South Africa, Nigeria, Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire: a shared platform with a local expression in each market.

Visa · Serviceplan Group Middle East · Dejavu

Ndu Donsa and Pep Guardiola at Visa’s CEMEA headquarters
With Pep Guardiola at Visa’s CEMEA headquarters, Dubai.
Ndu on meeting Pep
More from the work
TO BE CONFIRMED

The Showrun

South Africa. Sponsorship activation with a banking partner; property, year, partner credit and imagery to follow.

TO BE CONFIRMED

Red Bull Symphonic × Absa

Music and brand partnership in South Africa. Scope, year and imagery to follow.

TO BE CONFIRMED

Visa × Disney

Lilo & Stitch and Mufasa: The Lion King in Nigeria. Campaign scope and imagery to follow.

TO BE CONFIRMED

Visa Pay, DRC

The DRC launch and regional bank co-marketing platforms. Public details and results to follow.

ON THE HORIZON

Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games

Details after launch.

02 / THE REACH

SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

AFRICA ISN’T
one audience.

Different languages, different ambitions. I work across Anglophone and Francophone markets and build for the difference.

20+

Sub-Saharan markets
in the remit.

A globe of Africa with dots on all 13 listed markets and a larger dot in South Africa

SOUTH-EAST AFRICA

  • South Africa
  • Kenya
  • Mauritius
  • Zambia
  • Uganda
  • Botswana
  • Mozambique

WEST-CENTRAL AFRICA

  • Nigeria
  • Ghana
  • Senegal
  • Côte d’Ivoire
  • Cameroon
  • DRC

13 selected markets shown from a 20+ market remit.

DEEPEST EXPERIENCE

03 / THE PERSON BEHIND THE WORK

NDUDUZO “NDU” DONSA
VISA × FIFA WORLD CUP · SOUTH AFRICA

I CAME TO THIS
from the culture.

Before the boardrooms, there was campus radio. Music. Stories. An obsession with how we see ourselves, and how the world sees us.

At Wits, I studied new media and popular culture, anthropology and film. Later came GQ cover stories on Riky Rick and Kwesta, the early editorial work at SlikourOnLife, and a podcast on brands and urban culture.

That perspective came with me to Quirk, Foxp2 and Ogilvy. Fifteen-plus years into building brands, it still shapes the work I lead at Visa: making global sponsorships mean something locally, and making that connection work commercially.

More of the story on LinkedIn

2004–08

Culture first.

Wits. New media and popular culture. Campus radio, broadcasting and content.

2011–15

Strategy takes shape.

Quirk, then Foxp2. Digital thinking and the craft of building brands.

2015–24

African brands. Big stages.

Ogilvy, Cape Town and Johannesburg. From integrated planning to Head of Strategy.

2024–NOW

Culture meets commerce.

Brand and sponsorship at Visa. A remit that connects more than 20 African markets.

Swipe through the years

IN OTHER PEOPLE’S WORDS

LINKEDIN RECOMMENDATIONS
“It was clear from the start that he had his finger firmly on the pulse of popular culture… Ndu always managed to open my eyes to a different side to South Africa, and that for me is the measure of a great strategist.”
Alex GoldbergExecutive Creative Director · worked with Ndu at FoxP2 and Ogilvy Cape Town · 2019
“He made it his business to understand our clients’ business and offered up insights that led to solid strategic platforms… He is an intuitive planner but structures his thinking in such a way that is logical and easy to understand.”
Tom PrenticeAgency leader, ex-Ogilvy and WPP · worked with Ndu on Audi · 2019

04 / THE FOUNDATION

BEFORE
Visa.

The connection between brands, culture and business was there long before Visa.

#6

STRATEGIST
AFRICA & MIDDLE EASTLoeries Official Rankings, 2020

Carling Black Label#NOEXCUSE / 2017

Strategy for #NoExcuse, using the brand’s football sponsorship to challenge excuses for gender-based violence. Purpose expressed through the brand, its voice and its packaging.

Ogilvy Cape Town · Carling Black Label

DStvSOUTH AFRICA + 16 AFRICAN MARKETS

Acquisition, retention, retail and brand strategy across the region. Work included the Explora Ultra × Netflix launch with Siya Kolisi, the 2018 and 2022 World Cup campaigns, DStv Business and regional festive campaigns.

Ogilvy Johannesburg · DStv

Audi Q2#UNTAGGABLE / 2017

A local strategy for a global launch, built on how society labels people. Thando Hopa brought that cultural insight to life for the introduction of Audi’s compact SUV in South Africa.

Ogilvy Cape Town · Audi South Africa

Diageo & Coca-ColaNIGERIA · UGANDA · SOUTH AFRICA

Repositioning Gilbey’s Gin and Master’s Choice in Nigeria, relaunching Bell Lager in Uganda, and developing the relaunch strategy for PowerPlay in South Africa.

Ogilvy Johannesburg · Diageo · Coca-Cola

RECOGNITION

Loeries Official Rankings

#6 Strategist, Africa & Middle East · 2020

Effie Awards

South Africa juror · 2022

Vega SchoolFormer lecturer, Vega School.